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jedharris comments on Crowley on Religious Experience - Less Wrong
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But... why?
Suppose there is such a thing as spiritual enlightenment that is not captured by conventional religion, suppose neither Eliezer nor Adam get it. Further, suppose you attain it. Sure, it's a novel experience, but so are drugs for many folks. What do you expect to get out of it?
"No free lunch" is a basic tenet in knowledge acquisition. Want to know how life emerged? I'm sure we can all suggest books, university courses, museums, documentaries... but meditation? Mysticism? Yogis? They all may be a wonderful experience, with a feel of enlightenment to them, but they cannot impart any novel knowledge apart from themselves.
Another commenter suspects that mystical experience is underestimated by rationalists. Well, what is their true value? What knowledge do they carry?
Regardless of value, the experiences Crowley reports are very far from a free lunch -- they take a lot of time, effort, and careful arrangement.
Don't think of them as knowledge, think of them as skills -- like learning to read or do back of the envelope calculations. They enable certain ways of acquiring or using knowledge. We don't know that the knowledge is at all unique to the mode.