{"id":33983,"date":"2023-11-14T13:00:16","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T21:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33983"},"modified":"2023-11-14T08:34:22","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T16:34:22","slug":"the-mysteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-mysteries\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mysteries."},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sci-Fi novelist Arthur C. Clarke once said, \u201cAny sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.\u201d[1]<\/a> I know that quote because it\u2019s provided the seed for many of my favorite stories, from superhero movies like Thor and Dr. Strange, to Sci-Fi shows like Star Trek, to mysteries like Sherlock Holmes, to just about anything<\/em> having to do with backwards time travel.<\/p>\n

In these narratives \u201cmagic\u201d is simply a primitive understanding of deeper scientific truths that have yet to be discovered and explained.<\/p>\n

In the book Spellbound: Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Unconscious Mind[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, Daniel Lieberman tackles what we often call magic, and exposes its secrets, through neuroscience, to rational explanations of mysterious ways, and he provides practical tools to access those ways for our benefit.<\/p>\n

Many of the explanations lead back to Carl Jung, the \u201cfather of analytical psychology\u201d[3]<\/a> who found significant connections between psychology and the spiritual. Jung was a huge influence on Joseph Campbell who popularized the monomyth. Spellbound<\/em> is heavily indebted to Jung, and hardly mentions Campbell, but it\u2019s not difficult to connect dots between all three.<\/p>\n

On a different level, Spellbound<\/em> reminded me of Daniel Kahneman\u2019s Thinking, Fast and Slow[4]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, and Bobby Duffy\u2019s Why We\u2019re Wrong About Everything[5]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, and David Rock\u2019s Your Brain at Work<\/em>[6]<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. <\/em>How the brain works and accesses the unconscious mind plays a big part in those books, like it does in Spellbound<\/em>. They all seem to be saying that the more we understand and apply neuroscience, the more control we can have over our own wellbeing.<\/p>\n

Whether exposing the magic, or connecting dots from superstition to neuroscience, the effort is valuable. We should<\/em> learn truths that lie behind ancient smoke and mirrors, and we should<\/em> learn to access the seemingly unscalable wall of our subconscious. It can be quite helpful to sometimes pay attention to that man behind the curtain<\/em> when we\u2019re trying to discern the usefulness and veracity of the great and powerful Oz.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

But the question I have after reading Spellbound<\/em> is, when does neuroscience end, and the supernatural begin?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong; I believe in science. I think science and faith co-exist quite well. As I\u2019ve observed, those things we rightly understand about science end up supporting those things that faith, rightly understood, has told us all along. And I fully trust those things we don\u2019t understand yet about either will someday reveal themselves in perfect alignment.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not sure we can, or should, explain away all the supernatural as a primitive understanding of scientific truths that are yet to be discovered and explained.<\/p>\n

For instance, here are some questions….<\/p>\n