1.2.5.2 Non-Materialist Interactions

If there is a non-material world it either interacts with the material world, or it doesn’t.  In this case, interaction includes being the subject of mystical experiences or the source of miraculous events.

●   If there is no interaction, then we really will never know anything about the non-material world.  No meditation, prayer, yoga, hymn or any other practice will bring us into contact with the non-material world.  Whether it exists or not is irrelevant to anything, including values and meaning.  So believing in it adds no explanatory value and few people have such beliefs.  We can act as if a non-material world that has no interaction with the material world doesn’t exist.

●   If there is some interaction between the material and non-material worlds, then the effects of the interaction must be observable, or not observable.  Observable here simply means that someone can perceive or feel the effect in some way, as a result of some religious practice or just randomly.  This may include sensing the non-material world as a presence, a being, a voice, a suggestion, an overwhelming epiphany or a gentle sense of comfort and belonging. 

●   If the effects of the interactions are not observable in any way then we still will really never know anything about the non-material world.  It is as if there were no interaction.  It has no impact on our lives, otherwise it would be observable.  Believing in such a world again has no explanatory value, most believers don't believe in it, and we can act as if it doesn’t exist.

●   If the non-material world interacts with the material world, and the effects are observable in the above sense, then we can and should investigate it further.  Religious people do this all the time.  They try to categorise their experiences, find ways to repeat them and work out the implications for our lives.  We discuss religion in detail in Part 4.  But here we can suggest that the way religious people interpret these experiences depends on their whole being, their attitude, knowledge and feelings, and especially on their cultural background. 

Ø  A person from a Hindu background who experiences a mystical presence during yoga may interpret this as an experience of Brahman, the Absolute, with the implication that the observer should perhaps leave their family, enhance their yoga practice and protect cows.

Ø  A Christian who has an identical experience while singing hymns in church is likely to interpret this as a communion with God or Jesus, with the implication that the observer should lead their family to follow the Ten Commandments and oppose gay marriage.

Ø  Scientists investigating the same phenomena can take brain scans of people having such experiences, measure the oxygen level in their blood, and look at a myriad of other things, to work out if there is a materialistic explanation for the same experience.  Scientists have found that electromagnetic stimulation of a certain area of the brain can make some people feel that there is an unknown presence in the room.  Hymn singing and yoga practices might increase the carbon dioxide and reduce the oxygen in the blood stream and this may make some people more susceptible to a mystical experience.  The experience can still have a profound and positive effect on the individual, leading them to be more tolerant and caring.  A materialist explanation doesn’t destroy the value of the experience, it simply alters how it is interpreted and how the values are expressed.