Why do people deny the universe is entirely material? Thoughts and concepts emerge from the material brain!?

I think it's mostly enculturation. They were taught that stuff growing up and just assumed it's true because others believe in it. Education is the key to solving this.

Because they are to concerned with themselves and what happens to them once this material life is over. As matter we just become part of the universe and add to its continuing expansion, for ever growing.

Because they're constantly high on cheesecake.
As am I, at this very moment.

The universe doesn't exist.
The world is flat.
And cameras capture YOUR SOUL.

I may still be high.
And articulate at the same time.

I know... I know... I'm so cool.

People don't understand the concepts of electricity or magnetism in the frame of neuroscience, apparently.

Thoughts and concepts EMERGE from the material brain, but are not in themselves material. If it is your opinion that that makes them material, that is fine. However, they can't be measured or quantified, which either makes them A. non-existent or B. immaterial. Look into philosophy, you will find long-winded arguments on both sides of the fence. :)

I don't believe everything is material, people allow them selves to be persuaded into believing so. some see the glass as half empty or half full others just see the glass and are happy with just that.

Some people do indeed deny this. And they do so for the same reason that others deny that the universe "is" much larger than our limited experience has thus far revealed itself to be.

The reason? Ignorance.

And thus, devout fundamentalist christians and rigid, materialist atheists really sleep in the same bed together, mumbling incoherently at one another and fighting over the blankets. The "blankets", of course, are their individual Belief Systems that they decide to identify themselves with and feel insecure without. Just like a gang member, or any other pack animal.

"Maybe there is no "god" - oh, to consider such a thought after denying my sexuality and hating myself in His name for the past few dozen years! What about my Jesus underwear? How can I pretend to sound spiritual now??"

"Maybe there is a "god" - oh no! You mean I might not know everything there is to know? Just like people a relatively short time ago in human history didn't know that the microcosmic atomic world even existed, or anything about the reality of the DNA helix - and would think of such things as "cosmic foo foo" is approached with such fantasies? What about all my signed Richard Dawkins videos and coffee mugs?? How can I pretend to sound intellectual now?"

Yes, the brain is a funny thing, isn't it? Why do people deny that they really don't use theirs much?

Because you left out the main ingredient perception. Every person perceives everything differently. Some more closely than others but they all perceive things differently. With this you have to ask what is real and what is not. It’s a circular debate that never ends. It’s the age old question from Philosophy 101. If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound? Yeah you can say perception comes from the material mind but wouldn’t all those perception be the same if those thoughts and concepts just came from a mechanical brain that functions like everyone else’s? If a person was hallucinating and said a tree is in front of us and you said no there is not, is the tree really not there? To their perception and reality it is standing right there. To the rest of us we would think there is absolutely nothing “material” standing in front of us. Like I said it’s a circular debate that really can’t be answered because everyone’s perception of what is “material” will differ.

Thoughts and concepts EMERGE from the material brain, but we have yet to pinpoint where and what thoughts are. In science all we know is where a general area is, but nothing so specific as say...a single memory of what the ocean looks like. We don't know where or what it is.

Why don't you ask the people who deny that the universe is entirely material?

The universe isn't entirely material. How do you touch love? It may be created by the physical brain, but it lives in your spirit. How do you touch motivation? Fear? If you remove the chemical components from your head, you have no life. Are you saying all you are is a random collecton of chemicals? You have no soul, no spirit, no consciousness? No desires and wishes and wants... or none of those matter? No hope?

If so, why are you still alive? What makes you get up in the morning, what assigns meaning to your life?

If the answer to that is nothing... then yeah I guess you are a purely material being, with nothing to live (or die) for. You are stuck. It's hopeless.

Or, you could accept that there is a core component of all of us called the spirit... we do not have enough knowledge, as of yet, to figure out where it's housed, what it is exactly, what it can become.

Maybe the material brain emerge from thoughts and concepts and maybe the physical plane is one dimension of the universe....

Unfortunately, most people don't have enough time to ponder such concepts. I think most people are too busy chasing after money or trying to get a better job, and society doesn't really encourage us to think about this.

In the U.S., most people are Christian and perhaps they were raised that way and aren't willing to question it. Perhaps they are afraid they might lose friends and family if they do. That's a lot to lose for most people.

Actually, it's quite comforting for most people to believe in many of the religious belief in Christianity and other religions, which say that there is something beyond the naturalistic world. I mean, if you acknowledge that we live in a material universe, it means that life is short and then you die!

I've read Dawkins, and I love his work. I don't think he would deny that there is something truly wonderful and amazing about being alive. There is a certain awe that we can still have in the face of this material universe, and there are still things we don't know.

So, I do believe we live in a material universe and I believe that science is still in its infancy and must humbly admit there are still some phenomena it doesn't quite understand.

On the other end, there's no need to believe in supertition in the face of this.

Perhaps we need to maintain a sense of awe and humility, and curiosity, too.

Because they have learned to know that the Spirit is real and matter is mirage. Matter changes and causes misery to people who attach to it; spirit is immutable, hence it exists eternally and causes no intellectual pride.