I just watched this video from AsapSCIENCE about what it feels like when you are dying, and one of the things they noted that happens is "seeing light." Of course, this is also something common in mystical experiences. They explained a possible cause of this phenomenon in NDEs.
Many people want to reduce our life and consciousness to the physical brain today, but I think we can go much deeper to the Source of our Life and all things.
The mind-body problem has vexed philosophers and scientists for ages. How do these two relate? Mysticism may hold a key to penetrating the problem to its source.
Transcending dualism back to the nondual unity of the One, of the Singularity, is something which we may approach from scientific, philosophical, and mystical perspectives.
The hard problem of consciousness may lead us to an irreducible mysticism in the nature of the mind and body, namely that they are two sides of the very same one thing.
Nihilism is a philosophy that says that life is meaningless. It says there is no objective meaning, intrinsic value, or purpose in life. What does mysticism and the mystical experience say about that?
What is qualia? What is the source of individual instances of subjective conscious experience, like seeing the redness of an apple? Where does the redness come from? I don't know, but here are some ideas. Energy in our environment impinges upon our sense organs causing a cascade of electrochemical reactions and nerve impulses that are [...]
There was a fascinating show that my wife and I watched last night on Mind Field with Vsauce (Michael Stevens). It was season 3, episode 7, titled "Behavior and Belief."
Many ancient texts, including the Bible, note that seeing God brings death to the person. But then we also read of some who claim they saw God and lived to tell about it. What's going on? Which is it?
"The [mystical] visions are not ends in themselves but means to an ineffable religious experience that exceeds normal concepts. They will be conditioned by the particular religious tradition of the mystic. A Jewish visionary will see visions of the seven heavens because his religious imagination is stocked with these particular symbols. Buddhists see various images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas; Christians visualize the Virgin Mary [or Jesus]. It is a mistake for the visionary to see these mental apparitions as objective or as anything more than a symbol of transcendence."