There is an eagerness in passing off mystics as madmen who just dont have the faculties to 'rationalise' like more privileged souls. They just dont want to accept that mystics might have actually transcended the ordinary world of constant striving and serving the will. The 'rational' people go about their business with an air of importance regarding their intellect and their ability to 'rationalise'. Practical reason is consequently propounded and life begins to be based on this. The doors of perception are consequently closed since one begins to rely wholly on the senses and their input.

This was just something going on in my mind as to how easily one begins to rely on realism right from the formative years, the consequence of which closes the mind off any 'paranormal' experience. Where then does spirituality come from? Have the rationalists ever thought of this? Or are they prepared to cast off all 'spiritual' experiences as hogwash or scientific 'special cases'?

Corrections: Here, I have wrongly trivialised spirituality as just another concept antithetical to materialism. I do not agree with Schopenhauer on that note. However, due to lack of any other term (idealism may be one), I have stuck with spirituality.