God, Science and Mind

Book excerpt: An exercise in Open Philosophy -- a worldview open to the full range of human experience including science, spirituality and traditional philosophy. Naturalism is exposed as a closed, a priori worldview. God is not an alternative to, but the completion of, scientific explanation. The foundations and data of evolution do not show randomness, but Mind in nature. Evolution aims at verifiable targets and develops means in advance of need. While God is proven deductively, the fine-tuning argument makes a strong case despite the anthropic principle. The rules of evidence are discussed critically before reviewing data on mind ranging from neuroscience, connectionism, & cybernetics to introspection, parapsychology, near death experiences & mysticism -- even I-Thou relationships. Current theories are inadequate to important data points. Traditional philosophy suggests a single substance, two-subsystem theory integrating a data processing brain and an intentional, immaterial soul to solve the mind-body problem.