Conclusion

We have observed that the attempt to give a mechanical explanation of inspiration based on the known principles of physics meets with two fundamental difficulties. First, the process of inspiration can be explained mechanically only if we posit the existence of an elaborate algorithm embodied in the neural circuitry of the brain. However, it is as hard to account for the origin of such an algorithm as it is to account for the inspirations themselves. Second, even if we accept the existence of such an algorithm, the mechanical picture provides us with no understanding of the subjective experience of inspiration, in which a person obtains the solution to a problem by sudden revelation, without any awareness of intermediate steps.

If it is indeed impossible to account for inspiration in terms of known causal principles, then it will be necessary to acquire some understanding of deeper causal principles operating in nature. Otherwise, no explanation of inspiration will be possible. It is here that the world view presented in the Bhagavad-gita might be useful to investigators. The Bhagavad-gita provides a detailed account of the laws by which the individual selves and the absolute being interact, and this account can serve as the basis for a deeper investigation of the phenomenology of inspiration.