Author Howard Bloom (website(1)), returned to C2C as the main guest on Thursday night, discussing the nature of the soul, and the intersection of science and religion. The word soul has 23 definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary, Bloom reported, and he related the importance of the soul to one's passions (like in "soul music") which can be imprinted at an early age.
While Bloom defined himself as an atheist or a "pantheist," he recounted an out-of-body experience he had, where his consciousness floated up to the ceiling as he was dancing in front of a group of 350 people. He conceptualized this transcendant experience as possibly connected to an unusual outflow of energy, rather than being a religious incident per se.
By way of explanation, he cited the work of scientist Michael Persinger(2) who concludes there is a neuropsychological basis for the belief in God. His experiments have shown that when a certain area of the brain is stimulated, people were induced into having religious experiences.

1. http://www.howardbloom.net/
2. http://www.laurentian.ca/neurosci/_people/Persinger.htm

Portrait of Howard

Above is a caricature of Howard Bloom, drawn by the illustrator Will Robertson.

Bumper Music

Bumper music from Thursday December 04, 2003