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"What you have is an inadequate sample size. You also failed to account for the fact that other people have put faith in Judaism, Hinduism, Satanism, and Scientology and have also remained addiction free."

See # 32. No sample size is required. Ovrtaxt's statements are fact. He has put his faith in someone; that is an essential part of the reasons why he changed his behavior. That's as far as science can go. It's quite simple to recognize and identify the particular reasons and motivations for any decision. Whether the change involved insight, or revelation from a particular source, is pointless to argue on scientific grounds alone. The arugment will never be empirical.

The only thing that can be said about any particular religion, belief system, or claim in general, is whether, or not it is logical and whether, or not it conflicts with reality, or something else, like a moral code.

"That's because you failed to account or test for or disprove other possible causes. After all, correlation (spiritual experience and sobriety) is not causation."

All one needs is a sound sufficient cause that doesn't contradict reality. Again, it's pointless to address the difference, between insight and revelation with the scientific method. Logic on the claimed belief system is all that can be applied. That is theology, not acience.

Exactly. The original post was written to try to provide common ground for discussions of science and philosophy. There are too many intangibles in any philosophical discussion, and the definitions don't hold water in a philosophical context, as I've demonstrated.

Applying empiricism and the scientific method of logical deduction to philosophy is futile. In my humble opinion, the meeting of these two very different disciplines is extremely limited. There's simply not much in common. If I'm wrong, please provide an example or two, I'd really like to explore that idea further.

It's like a surgeon with a patient on the table looking for the conscience. The two realities don't intersect in any meaningful way.

If you really think about it, this is the crux of what makes us more than just another organism. But maybe I'm just getting too philosophical.