Can anyone give me an example of a spiritual experience that doesn't just fall into the realm of senses that are heightened or communicating better?
I don't like the term "spirituality". It doesn't have any clear meaning to me, while at the same time it has the ability to encompass anything the user likes. Its modern usage wraps the old religious baggage with the new age laundry, like a mouldy old trunk full of stinky damp straw men. I would say that of course, being a biased atheist.
It does not mean that I am not interested in digging into the notion behind the term a bit more.
In 'Brain Cuttings', Carl Zimmer has a chapter on anaesthesia and talks about a possible way it works by disrupting communications between the senses (a bit like that TED talk about the neuro-scientist that experienced brain damage).
Think of what are the opposite effects of anaesthesia. What would some specific sense heightener provide? What would some anti-anaesthesia heightened sense communication device be like? Perhaps meditation performs this action.
Given that idea, to me Aesthesia is a good secular replacement word of Spiritual.
