The Spiritual Brain: Kind words from a reader

Robb Massey writes,

I just wanted to say I started reading The Spiritual Brain this week, and so far am loving it. This is a topic I haven't bothered to pursue much, but the more I read the book, the more fascinated I become with it. It attracts people too...I was at Starbucks the other day, and I kept noticing people looking over at it in interest (I would set it down on a table and get my coffee). Some guy asked if he could see it, took the title down, and is determined to buy it. That may not seem like much, but I have to say I never had that happen at Starbucks before, and I read there quite often. I think average people are generally more interested in 'spiritual' topics, and when they see something about a neuroscientist making the case for the existence of the soul, it immediately sparks their interest. This is the sort of topic average people are hungry for, even if they think they want to believe otherwise, and with the recent bombardment of the atheist agenda in the media and in the timing couldn't be better. Thank you for writing it!

Robb, Mario and I are glad to be of help! The topic had the same effect on me, actually. The book itself was Mario's idea and I was brought in to help with the writing. But the more I looked into it, the more I realized how a proper understanding of consciousness is that our consciousness is a force of nature, not some illusion waiting to be explained away.

One outcome is that I will never again look at health care or workplace environment issues in the same way. What we experience (= our consciousness of an event) - is a critical part of that event, and has a major influence on our health and welfare. For example, if your workplace is managed by the Gestapo's "Employee of the Year" clone, you don't just take home your pay cheque. You take home health problems too.

We are never in it "just for the money." We are in it for everything that is going to happen to us, as a consequence of being where we are. As a result of doing that research, I began to realize that reductionism doesn't work, in health and mental health issues.

Then later, Robb wrote to say

This book is a people-magnet! Yet again, a guy sitting next to me on a plane saw what I was reading and began asking me all kinds of questions. It became a 90 minute conversation about truth, God, Jesus, religion(s), politics, how he did drugs, etc etc. I think I am going to recommend this to anyone who wants incite conversation on any level, even if they don't read a single page. ha

Robb, I hope that guy realizes really soon that drugs are not going to give him anything he doesn't already have, except introductions to people he is better off without, health problems that doctors may not know the answer to ... oh, and a much lower bank balance ... again, thanks for writing ...