There is a fundamental misunderstanding of science in that article. The author describes science as:
Quote:Stage 1: Observation and identification of problem;
Stage 2: Formulation of hypothesis;
Stage 3: Experimental verification with same results in repeated experiments;
Stage 4: Establishment of laws or theories.
and then what Patanjali considers as proof (and by extension, what spirituality considers as proof):
Quote:Stage 1: Direct perception (prataksha);
Stage 2: Inference (from observations);
Stage 3: Competent evidence (authorities);
Stage 4: The proof.
and then a conclusion stemming from misunderstanding of science:
Quote:The first two stages appear to be the same in the modern and ancient concepts of scientific temper.
They are not the same. Science too is done through our perceptions, but it is with the knowledge that our perceptions are inherently
biased. So science has corrective measures for those biases whereas Patanjali's system does not.
Quote:In the third stage, the ancient system accepts competent evidence from the authorities, but the modern system lays stress on experimental verification.
And that is why science is so successful. It doesn't trust authority. Religions do. To resolve that conflict, a logical step religious apologists need to take is change the meaning of science:
Quote:Endowed with a true scientific temper, Swami Vivekananda emphasized the need for proper investigation before discarding various extraordinary mental phenomena when he stated: ‘It is not the sign of a candid and scientific mind to throw overboard anything without proper investigation. Surface scientists, unable to explain the various extraordinary mental phenomena, strive to ignore their very existence.
And what constitutes proper investigation?
Quote:And then he insisted on experimental verification of the effects of Ràja yoga in the following words: ‘What little I know I will tell you. So far as I can reason it out I will do so, but as to what I do not know I will simply tell you what the books say. It is wrong to believe blindly. You must exercise your own reason and judgment; you must practise, and see whether these things happen or not. Just as you would take up any other science, exactly in the same manner you should take up this science for study.’
So the proper investigation is to trust our biased brains. That is the basis of spirituality - truth is what our brains tell us. But truth according to a scientific world view is - that which confirms to the real world that exists independently of us, not which seems right to our brains.
The rest of the article is just a nebulous word play that arises of that fundamental misunderstanding.
To apply the logic of the article, if 2 or more people have the same hallucination (say by tripping on LSD), the hallucination
has to be real. But science will not consider such hallucinations as real.