very interesting Paul, and I completely agree with you, but then I come at the question from a religious viewpoint which you understandably resist. But, I wonder if we can find an answer and common ground in the idea of dual aspect monism. Harald Atmanspacher has perhaps done more than anyone in recent memory to bring forward this idea that can be traced to the ancient Greeks, through Spinoza and Bertrand Russell and includes some of the greatest physicists of all time like Schrodinger, Pauli, Eddington, Wheeler, Bohm and Polkinghorne. I've written extensively on this if you are interested. It is monistic but sees all there is as manifested in two aspects, a mental one and material.