Buddha on the Brain

This article is great. The Dalai Lama was invited to speak to a group of scientists. Dr. Richard Davidson, who was a friend of Ram Dass, invited His Holiness to speak at the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting. In exploring the the connection between the measurable (science, upper-right) and the intangible (conciousness, upper left) it's interesting to hear the protests given by members of the scientific community:

The protesters complain that the Tibetan leader isn't qualified to speak about brain science...his presence muddles the distinction between objective inquiry and faith. "We don't want to mix science and religion in our children's classrooms," says Bai Lu, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, "and we don't want it at a scientific meeting." One of the petition organizers, Lu Yang Wang, is even more blunt: "Who's coming next year?" he asks. "The pope?" Yi Rao, a professor in the neurology department at Northwestern University, dismisses Davidson's study as rubbish. "The science is substandard," he says. "The motivations of both Davidson and the Dalai Lama are questionable."

Substandard? I don't think so.
Apples and oranges. Two different (equal) quadrants. What are scientists after, anyway? The truth? It's not going to be found looking through a monological lens my friends.