本論文討論哲學上一個基本的爭議。那就是我們的心智、意識、以及心靈是否就是我們腦中生化反應的延伸產物。就這個議題而言，唯物論者與宗教界人士持完全相反的看法。首先，本論文提出人類某些智慧能力並不是目前已知存在於我們腦中的物質作用所產生。邏輯上，這樣的觀察意味著，某些目前尚未為科學界所熟知的自然現象必然在我們心智、意識、以及心靈的形成上扮演重要的角色。本論文接著提出目前科學界對宇宙的了解仍極為有限。尤其是，科學界估計目前我們所能觀測或偵測到的物質與能量只約占宇宙總物質與能量的4%。其餘的96%，則是由我們目前仍所知不多的暗物質（約占22%）與暗能量（約占74%）所組成。由此我們可推論，某些存在於自然界但尚未為我們所認識的作用力與現象可能是解開我們心智、意識、以及心靈之謎的關鍵。只是這些尚未為我們所認識的作用力與現象有可能與暗物質與暗能量有關，也有可能無關。總之，本論文的主軸是我們應持開放的態度來探討宗教哲學與宗教界有關宗教體驗的記載，因為這些文獻可以在我們進一步探討宇宙中的未知現象時，提供極有價值的線索。基於這樣的邏輯，以及為數眾多的宗教體驗報告，本論文進一步提出一類型的心物一元論。此心物一元論的核心假說是，某些存在於自然界中但尚未為物理學界所徹底了解的作用力與現象是形成我們心智、意識、以及心靈的關鍵。然而，這樣的論述並未排除目前已熟知的作用力與現象，例如電磁力與化學反應，也扮演某種角色。

This article addresses one fundamental controversy in philosophy. That is whether our minds, consciousnesses, and spirits are derivatives of the biochemical events occurring in our brains. In this respect, materialists and religionists hold essentially opposite views. The discussion of this article begins with showing that some human beings' intelligent capabilities are not the derivatives of the material effects that have been found occurring in our brains. Logically, this observation implies that some natural effects other than those that have been identified by scientists to be existent in our brains must play important roles in formation of our minds, consciousnesses, and spirits. The discussion is followed by showing that the existing scientific knowledge about our universe is still very limited. In particular, it is estimated that only about 4% of the total mass-energy in the universe can be detected by modern technologies. The remaining 96% is composed of dark matter (about 22%) and dark energy (about 74%), which we still do not quite understand yet. Therefore, it is likely that there are some other forms of natural forces in the universe yet to be discovered and some of these undiscovered forces and effects, which may or may not be related to dark matter and dark energy, may be the key for unwinding the mystery of how minds, consciousnesses, and spirits take shape. Accordingly, one main theme of this article is that we should open our minds and acknowledge the religious philosophies and the phenomena that have been filed by religionists because they may provide us with valuable clues in our journey toward obtaining a comprehensive picture about our universe. Based on this logic and numerous reports of religious experiences, this article proceeds to propose one form of spirit-matter monism. The proposed model of spirit-matter monism hypothesizes that some natural forces and interactions that have not been well investigated in modern physics must play major roles in formation of minds, consciousnesses, and spirits. In this respect, the proposed model does not exclude the possibility that the well-known natural forces and interactions, e.g. the electromagnetic field and chemical interactions, also play some roles.