I just watched this video from AsapSCIENCE about what it feels like when you are dying, and one of the things they noted that happens is "seeing light." Of course, this is also something common in mystical experiences. They explained a possible cause of this phenomenon in NDEs.
Many people want to reduce our life and consciousness to the physical brain today, but I think we can go much deeper to the Source of our Life and all things.
The mind-body problem has vexed philosophers and scientists for ages. How do these two relate? Mysticism may hold a key to penetrating the problem to its source.
The hard problem of consciousness may lead us to an irreducible mysticism in the nature of the mind and body, namely that they are two sides of the very same one thing.
Nihilism is a philosophy that says that life is meaningless. It says there is no objective meaning, intrinsic value, or purpose in life. What does mysticism and the mystical experience say about that?
We often want to run from our imperfections, instead of accepting them for what they are—incarnations of the Divine.
What is qualia? What is the source of individual instances of subjective conscious experience, like seeing the redness of an apple? Where does the redness come from? I don't know, but here are some ideas. Energy in our environment impinges upon our sense organs causing a cascade of electrochemical reactions and nerve impulses that are [...]
"To me, mystical or spiritual experience is what happens when your ego is put aside. Spiritual experience is about a sense of merging with something larger than you. And it's your ego that stands in the way. To the extent that you can subdue it, or just put it off to the side for a few hours, amazing things happen, and you realize that you are part of a larger energy..."
In modern times the nature of the human ego has also been recognized by many in scientific disciplines, in psychology and other fields. I described some of this in an earlier post, in the psychological study of cognitive development in children. But what about losing the sense of "self," the sense of an "I"?
Culadasa (John Yates), former neuroscientist who became a meditation master, is the author of an excellent recent book published about meditation, The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness.