Is there a kind of nature talked about in stories that transcend human nature?

[kyupol]

Consciousness... is it a by product of the brain or is the brain just a transmitter of consciousness as a radio is a receiver of signals from a radio station?

I've read the arguments on the condition of the brain when NDE occurs (near death experience). Is the brain officially dead when the person experiences them or is the brain still having activity that produces the NDE?

But there's a book written by a neurosurgeon who says heaven is real...
https://www.amazon.com/Proof-of-Heaven-Eben-Alexander-audiobook/dp/B009UX6NGI

And there's also the idea of how our consciousness both individually and collectively are interlinked...

Why do children inherit behaviors of their ancestors? Genetics? Genetics deal with physical traits but what about certain quirks, skills, and knowledge of language?

• my mother freaked out when I was scratching my back the exact same way as her great grandfather who died long before I was born.

• A few people testify that I spoke conversational Spanish (no Tagalog or English) up to about age 4... when today I don't speak Spanish. I'd need subtitles . Yes Spanish is close to Tagalog but a Filipino and Mexican would need to speak English or one of them has to learn the other's language to converse properly.

• never taught my son martial arts... and haven't trained or practiced in a long time. Push ups at most. But at age 3, he was doing "chain punches" and trying to armbar when I played with him. And at age 5, an 8 year old physically attacked him in the playground. Bigger kid was standing up, kicking my son repeatedly when he got down the slide. Obviously had strength, and position advantage. But my son didn't need my help. Bigger kid was on the ground 10 seconds later, taking my son's punches. I had to yell at him to stop beating the other kid. I know what I saw. My son acted like he had some of my experience. Where did he learn that? In the womb?

In Tagalog, we have a word called "mana" which means "inherit". Not just physical traits but skills as well get inherited.

Mana is in video games too... usually a blue meter that tells you how much your character can cast magic Where did the game makers get that?

The dictionary definition? Sorry I disagree. Everyone has mana. Not just certain people.

mana
in American English
(ˈmɑnɑ)
noun
in some indigenous beliefs, as in Polynesia, a dynamic supernatural power or influence dwelling in and flowing from certain individuals, spirits, or things and capable of producing great good or evil

[KevinReijnders]

Just because some things are difficult to explain or have yet to get a scientific explanation doesn't mean magic is the answer.

The brain is not a cosmic radio receiver, near-death experiences are brains doing wacky shit in extreme circumstances.

Kids pick up a lot from their environment and genetics are a far bigger contributor on behavior than we might often think.
Knowing Spanish as a Filipino is not crazy. It has a history as a Spanish colony after all. Young children are knowledge sponges and absorb every bit they come in contact with, especially languages. The fact that you don't know it now just means you didn't maintain it.

Where did video game makers get the word mana from? How about reading a book?

it also has to be said that humans are hard wired to see and recognize patterns, even when there are none. We're unreliable narrators and our memories themselves are elastic and pliable, more often than not changing over time and we subconsciously or not, subtly altering the narrative. This is why, for example, witness testimony in court isn't the end-all-be-all.

[thepenmonster]

Eben-Alexander

I didn't think I'd ever see this old fraud's name again, but I guess some turds never flush.

[ThunderChicken]

I would say that inheriting behaviour is more proof that it's all chemical. You may think your scratching your back the way your great-great grandfather did is significant, or that your son knowing a certain punch is mystical, but just look at inherited behaviours in animals - especially animals whose parents do not raise them at all, or don't teach them those behaviours. Birds of paradise, with their incredibly intricate dances to attract partners, is a good example. Who taught those birds to dance like that? Certainly not their parents, who boot them out of the nest as soon as they have their flight feathers. Peacock spiders have similar dances, and they are abandoned by their mother as soon as she lays the eggs. Pacific salmon return to streams to spawn and then they die, just like their parents did. A freshly born zebra colt knows to avoid the lion without ever having seen a lion.

These are not learned behaviours, nor are they some sort of remnant of a soul. They are instinct, and nature (including humans) is absolutely full of instinct.

The whole concept of a soul (and religion in general) is little more than man coming up with a reason to be superior to the animals he slaughters and eats.

[abigaillmartin]

Which reminds me…

Let’s think like my favorite magic loving skeptic here.

[llobucervallince]

soooooo... you really like the assassins creed games, don't you

[abigaillmartin]

I’m taking psychology and this Kevin is exactly what we are learning. Our brains do recognize patterns and we are very adaptable beings and we can change and make changes in our lives.

[Stargazer31]

There are things in this world that we can't explain, but that doesn't mean it's magic. Nor that our beliefs about them are the "correct" ones

[heguendm]

Awesome.
You know, I find it funny. Like really funny. People still insist on thinking about magical stuff and somehow denny science and technology... While using a smart phone or a computer... that is conected to the air (we know wifi doesnt work like that but humor me), we got satelites, we can see your internal organs, with Xray, TAC, MRI, ultrasound... still we believe in the magic man in the sky, the great prophet, or the Aka who knows what records...
The reason is simple I think, laziness.
Yeah, couse to believe in magic requieres no effort. You can help any religion grow bu "believing", but to help tech or science grow, you need a lot of work, studying, learning, thinking.
Show me a believer, I will show you a lazy person.

[Silver7]

You know, I find it funny. Like really funny. People still insist on thinking about magical stuff and somehow denny science and technology...

Magic is just supernatural science ...So yeah magic it is

[jwabeasley]

Magic is the art and science of causing changes in accordance with will.

It works great, and low level magic is practiced routinely by advertisers and politicians. That it doesn't look like D&D or Harry Potter doesn't make it less real; war doesn't look like Rambo, being a musician doesn't look like Josie and the pussycats, but that doesn't mean war doesn't exist or that people can't be musicians.

Advertising in particular traces most of its principles and techniques to the New Thought movement of American occultism.

Astrology and other forms of divination are also used regularly by world leaders and high profile people - everyone from Putin to Pelosi use astrologer services. JP Morgan famously used astrology for investment advice. Just understand that the pop-astrology personality test side of astrology has the same relationship with the subject proper that pop-science newspaper articles have with science proper.

Further, even beyond my narrow definition of "magic," humans encounter experiences outside of standard Science(tm) all the time. These experiences are usually called supernatural, but I don't think they are unnatural or even rare. Nearly everyone I have met has had at least one supernatural or religious experience. Several people I know have them frequently. If you don't know anyone who has had one, I suggest that they don't perceive you as safe to confide in on those matters.

At the end of the day, humans have about 6 inches of fatty tissue to understand the complexity of the universe, it's foolish to think we have it all figured out. I find it repellent to science (that is, a way of knowing the world via observation and testing) to insist that common features of many people's experience just don't happen just because your theory of the world doesn't account for that. It wasn't long ago that scientists insisted that continental drift and meteorites didn't happen on the same principle.

[Stargazer31]

The cool thing about science is that it's real whether you believe it or not

[KevinReijnders]

Magic is the art and science of causing changes in accordance with will.

Weirdly enough I find that that definition takes the magic out of magic. It pretty much reduces it to human motivation and the desire to act on it. What makes magic, magic is the supernatural. Whether it is a immense belief in the divine, pacts with a spiritual being or other occult sources.

It works great, and low level magic is practiced routinely by advertisers and politicians. That it doesn't look like D&D or Harry Potter doesn't make it less real; war doesn't look like Rambo, being a musician doesn't look like Josie and the pussycats, but that doesn't mean war doesn't exist or that people can't be musicians.

Eeeeh, I wouldn't call what politicians and advertisers do magic. They use psychology, persuasion and even manipulation. There's nothing magical about it imo, it's using (and often abusing) the quirks of the human brain and sociological phenomena to achieve a goal (usually power and/or money).

Advertising in particular traces most of its principles and techniques to the New Thought movement of American occultism.

Where it traces its roots from is not that important imo. Understanding why those practices work is more important, the explanation behind it. In fact, science and the scientific method evolved out of a religious, hermetic and philosophical traditions. But the thing that matters here is not God, or any other spirituality, but the techniques of formulating an argument and providing evidence to support it.

Astrology and other forms of divination are also used regularly by world leaders and high profile people - everyone from Putin to Pelosi use astrologer services. JP Morgan famously used astrology for investment advice. Just understand that the pop-astrology personality test side of astrology has the same relationship with the subject proper that pop-science newspaper articles have with science proper.

That doesn't make astrology any more real or give it any more merit. If anything it just shows that even world leaders are just superstitious humans in the end and we shouldn't trust them blindly. It directly pokes holes in their supposed genius or right to occupy the positions they have or the wealth they own..

Further, even beyond my narrow definition of "magic," humans encounter experiences outside of standard Science(tm) all the time. These experiences are usually called supernatural, but I don't think they are unnatural or even rare. Nearly everyone I have met has had at least one supernatural or religious experience. Several people I know have them frequently. If you don't know anyone who has had one, I suggest that they don't perceive you as safe to confide in on those matters.

I can confidently say that I have never experienced a religious or supernatural experience in my life so far. I do know people who have described to me experiences you could call a religious experience. The thing is, I do not deny the experience of those people, nor do I invalidate them, what I do do however, is explain them in a manner that does not involve the divine or the spiritual or magic.

At the end of the day, humans have about 6 inches of fatty tissue to understand the complexity of the universe, it's foolish to think we have it all figured out. I find it repellent to science (that is, a way of knowing the world via observation and testing) to insist that common features of many people's experience just don't happen just because your theory of the world doesn't account for that. It wasn't long ago that scientists insisted that continental drift and meteorites didn't happen on the same principle.

I don't claim to have all the answers, nor does the scientific community. If they id, there wouldn't be a scientific community anymore. The thing is, I am comfortable with answering some questions with "I don;t know" and don't feel the need to fill that hole with magic or any other supernatural explanation.

Scientist will also get things wrong, and engage in incredible hubris. They're all also still human and for what ever reason they might want to maintain a reputation or a certain status. That doesn't mean however that because science was wrong in the past it automatically proves the veracity of the supernatural. If anything that means humanity as a whole just still has a lot more to learn and to discover.

As I said earlier, if we had all the answers, we wouldn't have scientists.

[abigaillmartin]

Agree with you right there.