After two semesters with Resnik & Halliday and further four years of
scientific training , one tends to be a non
believer. However after one crosses 40 and the count down begins; after
one faces the world more or less alone
;after one goes through a variety of experiences over the period , some
of which are encounters with the Occult ,
One tends to be more open to the non scientific.

Other way for me - now that I must get some answers, I am appalled at my own acceptance of non-scientific truths around me on the grounds that the purveyors were good reputable people and I was deficient in not paying attention to these natters.

In this connection the following article makes an interesting reading
(The News Week 5th March issue)
NOTHING DIVINE ABOUT GOD ?
(SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES COULD BE THE CREATION OF OUR NEURONS)

Thanks for bringing this article to our attention.

He begins the way he begins every meditation session, lighting candles
and jasmine incense before settling into a lotus position.
He focuses inward, willing the essence he regards as his true self to
break free from his desires, worries and senses.
There is a difference this time, though. The young Tibetan Buddhist has
a length of twine beside him and an IV in his left arm.
As he approaches the transcendent peak of his meditative state, he tugs
on the twine. At the other end, in the next room. Dr
Andrew Newberg feels the pull, and quickly injects a radioactive tracer
into the IV line. Then Newberg whisks him into a
brain-imaging machine called SPECT- and the man's sense of unity with
cosmos gets boiled down to a computer readout. A
region at the top rear of the brain weaves sensory data into a feeling
of where the self ends and the rest of the world begins.

Fascinating way to utilize new technology to do bio-research. Interestingly, I feel that a lot of this kind of work is better suited to graduates of IITK with bio background, rather than Indian Sir Doctor trying to understand SPECT properties. That is the fundamental difference between doctors here and back home - out here they seem to be able to understand and manage well technical issues.

Deprived of sensory input by the man's inward concentration, this
'orientation area" cannot do its hob of finding the border
between self and world. "The brain had no choice," says Newberg. "It
perceived the self to be endless, as one with all of
creation. And this felt utterly real.
The tension between science and religion is about to get tenser, for
some scientists have decided that religious experience is just
too intriguing not to study. Neurologists jumped in first, finding a
connection between temporal lobe epilepsy and a sudden
interest in religion. As V. S. Ramachandtan of the University of
California, San Diego, told a 1997 meeting, these patients,
during seizures, "say they see God" or feel "a sudden sense of
enlightenment"

To that I may add neural/psychological explanations for feelings of passage through corridors of light, out-of-body experiences, and reincarnation claims. Scientifically, it pays to be skeptic before approaching a test, but not dismiss fantastic claims without evidence either. This elementary wisdom avoidance lies behind a lot of prevalent conspiracy theories and urban legends in US. Basic questions I ask are

1. To which reputable authorities have your people presented your case to

2. Why was the evidence turned down

Now researches are looking at more common varieties of religious
experience. Newberg and the late Dr Eugene d'Aquili, both
of the University of Pennsylvania, have a name for this field:
neuro-theology. In a book to be published in April, they conclude
that spiritual experiences are the inevitable outcome of brain wiring.
'The human brain has bee n genetically wired to encourage
religious beliefs."
Even plain old praying affects the brain in distinctive ways. In SPECT
scans of Franciscan nuns at prayer, the Pennsylvania
team found a quieting of the orientation area, which gave the sisters a
tangible sense of proximity to and merging with God.
"The absorption of the self into something larger is not the result of
emotional fabrication and wishful thinking" Newberg and
d'Aquili write in Why God Won't Go Away. It springs, instead, from
neurological events, as when the orientation area goes
dark.
Neuro-theology also explores how ritual behavior elicits brain states
that bring on feeling ranging from mild community deep
spiritual union. 

Sounds like typical US boon daggle to extract money - invent a name, and then convince some politician to fund outside the normal grant process on the idea of associating the name of his highness with inception of this new area. By now professors should become wise to its possibilities!

A 1997 study by Japanese researches showed that
repetitive rhythms can drive the brain's hypothalamus, which
can bring on either serenity or arousal. That may explain why
incantatory hymns can trigger a sense of quietude that believers
interpret as spiritual tranquility and bliss.
In contrast, the fast rapturous dancing of Sufi mystics causes hyper
arousal, scientist find, which can make participants feel as if
they channeling the energy of the universe. Although the inventors of
rituals surely did not know it at the time, these rites
manage to tap into the precise brain mechanisms that tend to make
believers interpret perceptions and feelings as evidence of
God or at least, transcendence, Rituals also tend to focus the mind,
blocking out sensory perceptions - including those that
orientation area uses to figure out the boundaries of the self. That's
why even nonbelievers are often moved by religious ritual.
"As long as our brain is wired as it is, "says Newberg, "God will not go
away."

A very scientific conclusion.

If brain wiring explains the feelings believers get from prayer and
ritual, are spiritual experiences mere criterions of our neurons?
Neuro-theology at least suggests that spiritual experiences are no more
meaningful than, say, the fear the brain is hardwired to
feel in response to a strange noise at night. Believers, of course, have
a retort: the brain's wiring may explain religious feelings -
but who do you think was the master electrician? and so the conflict continues

Master electrician perhaps was evolution by punctuated equilibrium.