I’ve always believed that the mind is apart from the brain with its complex network of neurons. The brain’s intricate biological system reflects the outer landscape through which it evolved.
Now, in our human evolution we’ve reached a point where much of this outer landscape no longer excites us – excites our neurons – either as a landmark or a pathway, while the inner landscape, the mind, has not yet managed to fill the void.
Once we feared gods, but they, even though unseen, were part of the outer landscape. It cannot be said how much they are still outside of us, but there is no doubt that they have moved into the mind. Certainly we are haunted psychologically by them, but we are also spiritually buoyed up.
Doubt is a spiritual practice – we need to consciously ritual with doubt. Mind you, that goes for you whatever camp you are in, atheist or faithful.
And it doesn’t matter what religion you are coming from either, whether it is science or art, Christianity or Confucianism. Personally, I put my faith in ecosystems, which are still as undefinable as any god.