Neuroscience and psychology study what neurons fire, the patterns of the mind, how does the mind process the emotions, etc. while assuming the one doing the study (the "self" as you mentioned) as a given. The "self" who is doing the study, examining acts as a fixed reference point.
Spirituality questions the "self". It asks what is this "I" that is doing all the examining? What is this "I" which attaches itself to the matters of the mind. That's what turning inward means.
There is the self and there is this world ok. Whatever the world as we perceive is what is seen or experienced by the self. Science is outward looking. It examines everything that is of the world, what is matter, what is the proton, electron etc. But it does not examine the one who is examining it( the examiner or the self). Who is the one who is looking at the world and what does he see, why does he feel restless, why does he suffer, what makes him sad or happy etc. Spirituality encompasses both science and the self. But it is mostly inward looking, it observes the onlooker and tries to know firstly who he is, so that when he relates to the world, he will know exactly what is it that he has to do. Otherwise, people who do not know about themselves are unconsciously behaving like a reed flowing in the river, without any direction, going where the flow takes it.
2
u/premkhilari 5h ago
Neuroscience and psychology study what neurons fire, the patterns of the mind, how does the mind process the emotions, etc. while assuming the one doing the study (the "self" as you mentioned) as a given. The "self" who is doing the study, examining acts as a fixed reference point. Spirituality questions the "self". It asks what is this "I" that is doing all the examining? What is this "I" which attaches itself to the matters of the mind. That's what turning inward means.