Good afternoon, AR. This is my first post on the board, though certainly not my first post as it relates to theological, societal, and political debate. I reply often on the Facebook links sent out by the Republic, and I'd like to think have held my own in debates about the nature of the universe and metaphysics.

On that note, I want to discuss and debate something that rides the rim of religion so closely I wonder if perhaps it hasn't fallen into the abyss. As Abrahamic religion begins its slow decline into societal obselesence, 'New Age' ideas have begun to spring up unbidden (and often unwanted) from the dregs of people's need for structure to their mythology. Spirit stones, chakra lines, ufology, and a host of other unjustified beliefs about the world began to grow up like parasites picking at a wound that just started to heal.

While we can all agree that our 'Sacred Leylines' have about as much to do with anything in reality as the 'Divine Plan', I want to talk about one aspect that has me scratching my head. In a book I would otherwise recommend, 'The End of Faith' ends on a bizarre note where the author claims that 'spiritual experiences' can be had in the real world via (explicitly) meditation and (tacitly implied) psychedelic drug use. I can't abide by the latter, but the former has me intrigued.

Most meditative practices I've seen come from Eastern religions such as Buddhism and involve strong introspection and occasional feats of endurance such as fasting or performing physical acts that require a high degree of patience and strength. It's known by observation and experimentation that physical activity and exercise has positive effects on the brain and body, both long and short-term, so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that an enhanced state of mind beyond even these boundaries of sensation are doable.

My question to everyone is where the line must be drawn as it relates to these practices. Excluding the obvious x-factors like politicizing meditation, forced obeyance of mantras, etc., where else must we as rational people say that this is bunk?

Or, perhaps on the more stringent end, is the whole lot of it a fabrication? A biomechanical form of pareidolia? Are 'Spritual Experiences' real or only real to those who claim them?