It can be difficult for an inquisitive mind not to feel jerked between the extremes of wide-eyed curiosity and cynical skepticism. While both perspectives seek to understand reality, the former may see a world alive with boundless possibility, where the latter may come to see only charlatans and fools.

In an article about the dubious existence of souls, I wondered why some people assume that near-death experiences (NDEs) prove that there is an afterlife. Seems like a stretch to me. There is not a way to know whether an NDE is the last thing we see when we die or the first thing we see when we reincarnate. I suspect it’s the former, but I can not know.

While attending the University of Virginia, I encountered Drs. Raymond Moody and Ian Stevenson’s groundbreaking NDE research. Both were reluctant to claim that NDEs prove the afterlife. Stevenson said that his investigation was suggestive of reincarnation, but it "was not flawless and it certainly does not compel such a belief." As I understand Moody's work, he adopts a similar stance.

Still, there are many things that we all experience that we can not prove in an objective sense. Imagine that you have an NDE that seems more real than anything that happens in everyday life. How do you describe it? How do you know that your mind is not playing tricks on you? Moreover, how do you ever know that your mind is not playing tricks on you? How do you understand it?

Looking through different lenses

Commonly, we think of objectivity and subjectivity as mutually exclusive domains, consisting of independently existing facts on one hand, and personal opinions and experiences on the other.

Generally, the Western worldview has prized dualism, individualism and objectivity. Newtonian physics, which shaped scientific understanding for centuries, is paradigmatic of this perspective, often describing things as discrete objects which interact like billiard balls. Systems are atomistic or reductionist; the whole is the sum of the parts. If people and things are discrete, then we view others objectively, as if we are seeing them from the outside looking in. Theologically, God or the Universe is "apart" from us.

The Eastern worldview is often juxtaposed as being non-dual, interconnected and subjective. Quantum physics, which has eclipsed Newtonian physics as the predominant scientific understanding since the early 1900’s, reinforces this perspective. Quantum physics suggests that everything is linked in an interconnected field. Systems are holistic or relational; the whole is within the parts, as if in a hologram. If people and things are connected, then we view everything subjectively, as if we are seeing everything from the inside looking all around. Theologically, God or the Universe is "a part of us."

In The Way, I describe three perspectives for seeing reality. With a microscope, we are essentially made of the same stuff, matter and energy. Yet with the naked eye, we are apparently separate. With a telescope, we are essentially so interconnected that we see communities rather than individuals, or galaxies rather than planets. But we live everyday life in the middle band of apparent separation.

With a microscope, we are essentially made of the same stuff, matter and energy. Yet with the naked eye, we are apparently separate.

My friend, Danu Poyner, writes:

When I zoom all the way out, life is amazing. And when I zoom all the way in, life is also amazing. But, in the middle band, it can sometimes feel like stress, confusion, and low-level chaos.

What if transcendent experiences are changes in perspective, where we subjectively glimpse a state that is always objectively present at another level of reality?

Glimpses of transcendence

A mystic can be understood as a person who seeks union with God or the Universe through contemplation and self-surrender. Every tradition, including Christianity, has its mystics, though Christianity has tended to be more doctrinal and less mystical than some other traditions. The mystical experience of union is sometimes called a peak or a transcendent experience.

Philosopher Douglas W. Shrader identified seven hallmarks of mystical experiences: Ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, passivity, unity, timelessness, and encounter with the True Self.  Some researchers have estimated that 30% to 50% of the population has had at least one mystical, peak, or transcendent experience.

Some researchers have estimated that 30% to 50% of the population has had at least one mystical, peak, or transcendent experience.

These experiences can occur while meditating or praying, encountering art or nature, having seizures or strokes, receiving brain stimulations or taking hallucinogenic drugs. Some NDEs are described in these mystical terms, as are some out-of-body (OOB) experiences.

In Zen, my primary tradition, practitioners can experience kensho, which is a mystical experience that is often described as a glimpse of the True Self (In Buddhism, the True Self is no-self). Kensho signifies a profound, often fleeting, insight into the nature of existence, which is emptiness or lack of separation. As the Heart Sutra says, "Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form."

If we believe that transcendent experiences are not real, then maybe we should take a closer look. And if we believe that transcendent experiences prove some speculative metaphysical thesis, then maybe we should take a step back. A balanced spirituality requires both curiosity and skepticism.

Interpreting the ineffable

What are we to make of a middle-aged man who has an NDE on an operating table, a soccer mom who has a peak experience at a waterfall, or a Zen practitioner who has kensho in meditation?  As a general principle, if anyone claims to have had a powerful experience, I believe them. I can’t have someone else’s experience, but just because it didn’t happen to me does NOT mean that it didn’t happen.

I can’t have someone else’s experience, but just because it didn’t happen to me does NOT mean that it didn’t happen.

Still, we can acknowledge that the experience is subject to interpretation. Once, a good friend told me that he experienced a miraculous cancer cure. "Now I know that the Christian God is real, because I prayed to Him and He cured me," he exclaimed. 

Now, I am overjoyed that my friend was cured, and I am convinced that something special happened to him.

Still, I asked, "Could the chemotherapy or surgery have cured you? Could intention or positive thinking have cured you? Some people believe that we answer our own prayers through the power of intention. Could Krishna or Zeus have cured you, even though you prayed to another god? Or could your cure have resulted from a false positive, a random act of nature or another unexplainable reason?"

Usually, when I respectfully ask someone if they know that they experienced an act of God, rather than an act of nature, they readily admit that they do not know, even that they can not know. Many acknowledge that their minds might be playing tricks on them. Some think that it is more likely than not that they saw what they expected or wanted to see.

I have also met some former Christians who either cured themselves, cured others, or witnessed cures in religious settings. Others witnessed things that they attributed to demons at the time. Although they no longer believe in God or Jesus or angels or devils, they are unsettled that they do not have any better explanations for these occurrences now.

The wisdom of not knowing

The Universe is always becoming increasingly complex, diverse and interconnected. The more that we know, the more that we know that we do not know. In a black-and-white Newtonian world, there are no paradoxes, but in a Technicolor Quantum Universe, there are unresolved paradoxes all around us.

In another article about believing responsibly, I wrote that spirituality involves a balance between imagination and wonder on one hand, and discipline and skepticism on the other hand. That is, spirituality requires a blend of curiosity and skepticism.

Ultimately, it requires humility, too. There are simply some things that we can NOT ever know. As the Lankavatara Sutra says, "Things are not as they appear, nor are they otherwise."