Spiritual experiments

Nothing in our every-day experience gives us any reason for supposing that water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen; and yet when we subject water to certain rather drastic treatments, the nature of its constituent elements becomes manifest. Similarly nothing in our every-day experience gives us much reason for supposing that the mind of the average sensual man has as one of its constituents, something resembling, or identical with, the Reality substantial to the manifold world; and yet, when the mind is subjected to certain rather drastic treatments, the divine element, of which it is in part at least composed, becomes manifest, not only to the mind itself, but also, by its reflection in its external behavior, to other minds. It is only by making physical experiments that we can discover the intimate nature of matter and its potentialities. And it is only by making psychological and moral experiments that we can discover the intimate nature of mind and its potentialities. In the ordinary circumstances of average sensual life, these potentialities of the mind remain latent and unmanifested. If we would realize them, we must fulfill certain conditions and obey certain rules, which experience has shown empirically to be valid.

--Aldous Huxley, Introduction to The Perennial Philosophy (1962)

Huxley's analogy between discovering the nature of water and the nature of the human being seems far-fetched at first, but upon further reflection his point is well taken.

1. This is a useful analogy for the idea that just because something is not revealed or apparent in the ordinary state of consciousness does not mean that it is false or invalid.

2. Also useful in understanding the many ways of altering consciousness that have been used for religious purposes--fasting, chanting, asceticism, drumming, meditating, etc.

3. He also notes an important connection between science and religion--the empirical validity of certain "experiments" that lead to a certain knowledge of the human being. Ken Wilber discusses this in detail, particularly in The Marriage of Soul and Sense: Integrating Science and Religion. The principle is that the scientific method is not just applicable to physical science, or even psychological science. It is applicable to spiritual matters, in that humans have developed empirically verifiable methods (not unlike the methods necessary to deduce that water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen) over time to discover or realize the true nature of the human being.