What is matter anyways?--from organisms to cells to proteins to molecules to atoms to electrons to light? The most famous equation in modern physics is Einstein's E=MC2 which if we pause for a second is as mysterious as anything written in our ancient religious scriptures and measurably more radical. My point is that the resistance we have to reductionists who say, we are "just matter" is because we tend to think of matter as flat. It is, of course, anything but. Thus maybe the reason we opt for dualism or the idea that something must be "beyond" matter is because we haven't come to grips to the amazing plasticity and mystery inherent in matter itself. In other words, we are using an extremely outdated and misleading definition of matter and in so doing losing sight of the wonderfulness of what physics and neuroscience is saying. We are not lessened because we are just matter, just as we wouldn't be lessened in Sach Khand if we were made of just "light."
About the Author: David Christopher Lane is a Professor of Philosophy at Mt. San Antonio College and an Adjunct Professor in Religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach. Professor Lane received his Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, where he was also a recipient of a Regents Fellowship. He has two M.A.'s (one in Sociology from UCSD; and one in the History and Phenomenology of Religion from GTU, Berkeley). Dr. Lane has previously taught at the University of London, California School of Professional Psychology, and Warren College at the University of California, San Diego. He has written a number of books, including The Radhasoami Tradition (Garland Publishers, New York, 1992) and Exposing Cults: When the Skeptical Mind Confronts the Mystical (Garland Publishers, New York, 1994). He was instrumental in releasing the life and work of Baba Faqir Chand, which is published under the title The Unknowing Sage (MSAC Philosophy Group, Walnut, Fifth edition, 2014). Dr. Lane is married to Andrea Diem-Lane, who is also a Professor of Philosophy at Mt. San Antonio College. They have two children, Shaun-Michael and Kelly-Joseph. Professor Lane is currently working on a series of films detailing his research work in India and elsewhere.