Q. put it nicely. I've met people whose consciousness has been influenced by a direct experience with, in their view, the "unexplainable." and isn't it pretty to think so to paraphrase Hemingway. Do we suck all the magic and poetry from the force or presence described by Quatrarius if we think of that unexplainable thing as also part of science? Consciousness, this amazing existence, death, galaxies, and the so far unknowable are all astonishing. I know belief in a "higher power" as described by Q is helpful and comforting and satisfying to many humans. Religions have certainly helped organize and control various societies...but now, it seems like there might be another way to live, without worshipping invisible forces.... But let me continue for a moment. I recently have been imagining humanity encountering the heliocentric way of seeing. Day in, day out, people observe the sun come up and go down, obviously moving around the earth. When Aristarchus of Samos, then Copernicus, and Galileo proposed the idea that the earth moved around the sun, they were rejected and punished. It was unthinkable. Now we take it for granted and see the world through their eyes. Given the limitations of our senses, I imagine that there is something yet to be discovered that will contradict everything we think we know. We will find ourselves disbelieving, like the church of Galileo's day, but gradually our notions of reality and also what we worship will change dramatically. Thoughts? b_b, kleinbl00, insomniasexx, coffeesp00ns, eightbitsamuraiI believe that there is some kind of force or presence that affects or influences consciousness in such a matter as to create humanity, spirituality, etc beyond what can be explained by cell function.