Dr. Alok Kanojia

Spirituality.

I think the simplest example of this is a thought.

We have no scientific evidence of a thought.

The only reason that we know that the amygdala is where we feel anxiety for is because we measure what was going on in the amygdala and then we ask the person, what are you feeling when this part of your brain lights up?

So what I love about spirituality personally, it scares me and it frustrates me, but what I like about it is it's the only scientific exploration that no one can do for you.

So what I love about it, so I like learning, I'm not really like a researcher, but I'm a very like clinically oriented scientist, I guess you could say, or science oriented clinician.

And it's the one thing that you can never, like an experience of shunya,

You can look at the brain scan of Shunya potentially, but to experience it, to figure it out, you have to be the scientist.

It is the only kind of subjective experience, which is what spirituality is really about, is attaining certain states, is not something that is ever transmissible.

And that's why people are hesitant to talk about it because we sound like crazy people.

You know, it's like if I mentioned this technique can give you insight into your past lives, like this guy is insane.

But here's the struggle that I had.

You're meditating one day and then you have these memories.

You have you have memories, but they're not from this life.

And then it's like you're like, what the hell is that?

And I'm not even saying that past lives exist.

I want to be really clear about that.

But for me, it was confusing.

It's like really like destabilizing for your understanding of like what the world is.

Especially as a psychiatrist.