A quality that extends beyond the quantifiable. Quite simply it can not be defined in terms of proof or evidence. To an atheist it is unprovable and to a believer in a Deity, it requires no proof.
What you’re describing is nothing more than “feelings”. That’s a pretty straight-forward concept. Feelings are both material and non-material such as pain and anger, respectively.
Non-material concepts are not
fully non-material. You need a brain to substantiate them. Damage or impact to the brain directly affects the development and delivery of the concepts. You are simply assuming a spiritual nature for these things, and not submitting any case to support it. I am submitting they are the effects of the brain along with neurons and chemicals within the brain, and I can demonstrate how they can be manipulated by physical impact.
By way of example, I can
1. end all thought by killing that brain
2. create an emotion by chemical inducement of that brain
3. limit the thought and emotion of the brain by removing sections of it.
A theoretical and similarly non-material (yet unproven), explanation for déjà vu is very simple and interesting. The brain is in two separate hemispheres with a cortex crossover between them. Sometimes, one hemisphere lags behind in perception, so in effect, the left side of the brain is experiencing something and your right hemisphere is slightly out of sync, and so when it catches up you get the distinct yet vague impression that you have “done this before” – and in a sense, you have, by a few milliseconds. You are simply assuming a spiritual nature for these types of things, and not submitting a case to support it.
To a non-believer it would be considered to be the result of beneficial stimulation of the limbic system. To a Believer, it is a means of non verbal communication with a Supreme entity.
The conclusion then must be that there are many supreme (no caps) entities as believers of most competing religions can make this claim.
Let’s suppose I have “feelings” that David Koresh is the one true god. He is as historically significant (and just as dead), as most other historical religious figures. And let’s face it, dead historical figures seem to be much higher on the worship strat than live ones. Because these are my feelings, no proof is required on my part that David Koresh is, in fact, the one true god. I'm just applying your own standards here. And, as many of us know, David's exit from this world was, as one might describe:
in pain and suffering for his belief. That also seems to confirm my feelings that he is the one true god.
If the above paragraph sounds flaky, it was intended to.
Believing in something that is completely absent proof, and, that which is said to not ever
require proof, seems to me to suggest someone who is completely resistant to reality.
