Originally Posted by
awuh1 
Fair questions. Let me just say that I sincerely respect your skepticism. Believe me, I've been there and done that for a vast majority of my life. My beliefs were firmly grounded in empirical evidence. I did not wish to be bothered with "dogma and belief" (as you put it in your OP). Nothing short of the brief experience which I had one morning could have changed that. I've described it in detail here if anyone is interested.
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...xperience.html It was not my intention to inject of this experience into a discussion on this forum out of respect for the rules here. I'll let what I wrote there answer your questions. My interest in physics came only after this remarkable experience. You see, I don't believe in the "supernatural". I believe things can be explained. I just don't think that we are presently able to do this with our limited understandings. David Bohm, John Bell, Michael Talbot and several others are theoretically framing things that very strongly resonate with me. Empirical data is accumulating that's backing up this view. They are on to something. I know it. I don't have to believe it. I know it because I have experienced it. Perhaps when you initially asked for a discussion of "Science and scientific methods, critical thinking and healthy skepticism" you did not anticipate an interest that sprang from a personal experience. I guess that's quite understandable. I suspect my interest in physics and about how we have come to know and understand our physical world is coming from a very different place than most people who post here. My intention was not to make anyone uncomfortable, nor was it to impose my beliefs on anyone else. If you are currently like I was several years ago, nothing short of an experience like mine could change your mind anyway. I think I've said much more than I intended to initially. My apologies if I have offended anyone.
Wow, you and I are probably way more alike than you ever would ever believe. I too had a very similar experience to you. I wasn't always a pro active skeptic and I definitely wasn't always an atheist.
I never came at 12 step work, my GA meetings my therapy with any animosity, I was in it boots and all, if you said pray, I would be first with my head bowed. I did not have anger very much towards religion. I was for a while "the spiritual guy" in my meetings and forums and groups. I had experiences that felt amazing, where you walk around feeling connected and it kind of feels like the universe. I remember sitting not more than 5 years ago, with the evidence of my own experience confidently saying I JUST KNOW.
How did I become an atheist? Thats a story I will write tonight.
The last thing I want to do AWUH is upset you and change your experience. And I do regret to some extent my original response to your "I AM"
Post. Maybe this thread isn't the best place for your ideas, I will leave that up to you.
The thing with the personal experience you mentioned, of course I want to hear of everyones experiences, thats part of the point of the thread. One of the problems with my experiences like that, I imagined I was becoming open minded through the experience, like you have been thrust into a new way of thinking, for me there is something building up behind it an investment that takes the "spiritual experience" and makes it sacred, I tended to lock it in a jar and hold it close to my chest. This ultimately was close minded, everything I read, every spiritual book on my shelf, every audio book and podcast ended up being polish for my sacred jar. Its amazing how my brain works like this and how selective I became in my contemplation of my experience.