Neuroimaging studies, new hype in psychedelic realm and associated research serve more to give credibility to otherwise “savage and crude”, subjective ancient practices of explorations of consciousness in the eyes of materialistic science and regulatory establishment, than to approximate anything about the nature of consciousness or practical ways of altering it towards desired direction ( for example alleviation of suffering, specifically ever more widespread, despite advances of neuroscience, maladies such as depression )
Evidence in support of materialistic interpretations of the mind-brain relationship dominates scientific journals and the public media, while evidence to the contrary is often overlooked or downplayed. The close correlations between specific brain processes and mental abilities are undeniable, but it is less clear that all states of consciousness and mental functions are always contingent upon brain activity. Despite sharing the predominant conviction among cognitive scientists that the brain produces mental activity, behavioral psychologist William Uttal calls the use of imaging technology to locate specific traits in the brain “the new phrenology.” Reviewing current neural theories of mind, he concludes that “we do not yet have the barest glimmerings of how the brain makes the mind.” Perhaps this assumption should be seriously questioned.