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If I may describe what I have observed.
There is a trend which is growing in numbers at a very high rate. 5 years ago, an alternative therapy clinic would be busy; today these same clinics are frantic.
My partner's clinic is booked out weeks in advance; my partner herself is booked out 6mths in advance. The only clients which jump the waiting list at terminally ill patients.
People are gravitating toward these new styles of old disciplines in increasing numbers. In fact, we are referred to by Oncology Departments when they have given up. In such a scenario, we regularly see patients which have been told they only have a few weeks or months to live...many years later, they are still coming for treatments and modern medicine (especially the practitioners who although they cannot explain any of it, are becoming accustom to the possibilities) is slowly looking this way. Even insurance companies are seeing the benefits and cost savings in alternative treatments.
Also what I have noticed is the patients themselves. Once upon-a-time they were all Mung-Beans, now we have doctors, lawyers, scientists, nurses, single mums and dads, you name it-we see it.
Another weird contradictory behavior I have notices is that modern medicine is restrictive in its acceptance of alternative thinking, yet is happy to make an exception to the rule as in the case of Placebo Effect. In fact, the Placebo Effect is widely used in drug testing. Then there's consciousness. Neuroscience hasn't a clue how it arises, yet when someone raises the possibility of it being in some way explainable is science terms, academia freak-out. I put double standard attitudes up there with other ridiculous double standards, like renormalization, and that egotistical twit who cannot see past his own self-importance, Sheldon Glashow.
The last is something which relates to this thread. I have noticed a progressive trend toward the spiritual, and a movement away from the scientific. Back in the 50's someone outwardly spiritual was a "Whacko", now they're "Alternative". This goes for the science too. Many people now feel that science is not offering them a better quality of life, many openly admit that while science offers us many technologies and advancements, we've never been sicker, unhappy and disenchanted with life in general. This of course doesn't rest solely with science: politics, modern societal mindset etc all must be looked at, but it seems that people are now attempting to connect again with their inner side.
What I have attempted to do within the book, is to describe in mostly science terms, an inner gut feeling, instinct, held by many, that there is a deep connection between science and spirituality.
As far as testability goes, if anyone wants evidence and observational agreements with what I have written, come along to the clinic and hang around for a few days and talk to people who have been so cut-n-dry at one time, and now just shake their heads in disbelief. We're going through the motions of attaining accreditation right now and wish to set-up a university. It's a long process, but it's worth it. One day we hope to be able to conduct research and analysis on different case studies, so that theories can be put together, based upon data (fact) and observational agreement.
There's an old saying, "there's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole". We've seen hundreds of people who, when facing death, turn their backs on modern medicine and seek out an alternative, one which their gut instincts have told them to do...why is that?
Lastly, I'm pretty sure most people on this forum don't look at the stars, planets and galaxies to see the mathematics and science in action; they look because of the beauty...unless it's their job or they are making calculations. That goes for mathematics and science itself; people see the beauty in the field of study/enquiry.
At the end of the day, whether anyone here likes it or not, the world is changing. Before too long, whether people like Glashow like it or not, you will see science probing more than just particles. And why? Because people are slowly learning to turning inward…where real understanding comes from and the increasing realisation that maybe there's more out there than what we can experimentally observe.
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