If something known as 'spirit' exists in some form, why can it not be measured or otherwise detected?

Question

Isn't it safe to say that something that cannot be tested for, or measured is outside of reality?

ledbetter:

Sorry, your argument doesn't hold any water at all. Oxygen and gravity can be detected. Though such things as love, and quarks cannot be observed directly, their effects can be measured and models can be created that describe them. The same is true for the Big Bang Theory.

Consciousness' effects also can be observed. FMRI scanners can detect what parts of the brain fire during which activities, and though you do not know how this translates to your consciousness doesn't mean its magic.

Eric_Putkonen:

I'll accept that as a valid answer. However, people who assert that spirit is, in fact, an energy must provide evidence of this energy before they can rightly assert that it exists. Thus far this has not been accomplished and until it is, there is no reason to believe so.

Answer 1

Do you honestly think we have discovered the entire energy spectrum possible?

Only recently in human history has x-rays, gamma rays, and such been discovered. Did they not exit until they were deterected or measured?

~ Eric Putkonen

Answer 2

If you define reality to include only what can be observed, but then that would invalidate the Big Bang Theory, love, quarks, gravity, oxygen, etc. More importantly we have no way to explain how humans experience one singular consciousness. At any given moment, things are going on all over your brain and there is nowhere that those activities are assimilated. We experience everything as one experience. It's a mystery. But just because we can't explain it doesn't mean we don't experience it or that it's not real.

Answer 3

The distance from Earth to Mars is measured in the millions. The distance from, say, New York to Sierra Leone is measured in the thousands. How is it that water is easier to find on Mars than in Africa? You see, we have a difficult enough time as it is measuring, detecting, improving upon the fundamentals.

...On the contrary, the greatest realities in life lie in what you cannot see, measure, detect!

Answer 4

I would consider a spirit something that is supernatural. I don't know how anyone could go about measuring something that transcends the laws of nature by natural means. The absence of empirical data does not negate its existence (i.e. because we couldn't test for Radon 110 years ago doesn't mean that it didn't exist, or that its effects weren't felt, but I digress).

Respectfully

Answer 5

For thousands of years, we could not measure or observe the center of the galaxy. Now we can. To say that something is outside of reality just because we cannot now observe or test it is folly. Reality is things as they really are, whether or not we can observe them or not.

Answer 6

It is usually measured by alcohol content.

160-proof everclear would be 80% alcohol.