This is an interesting response, and who knows, maybe at some point down the line I'll agree with you more.

"Science is beginning to show us that consciousness is most likely eternal, a permanent deal, and that materiality is a part spirituality — we are actually made of little more than photons. The development of quantum physics and the field of noetics is radically changing the way scientists see reality."

Of course, I have heard of metaphysical theories along these lines, but I am not aware of any actual scientific research indicating that consciousness is most likely eternal. I would be interested in reading about it if you have a link. I do agree that quantum physics has been quite a surprising field of study, but I don't think most people who study it full-time see any reason to believe it has anything to say about the existence of a spirit realm.

Also, I would love to be able to go back 50,000 years and experience a typical lifetime from that era. How differently they must have seen the world. Certainly, a lot of those views have been either lost or are considered obscure/untrustworthy today.

I'm open to the possibility of being wrong, but my opinion at present is that it's more likely for visions of the spirit world to be a product of the brain's capacity for creativity rather than a reflection of something that is real. And I know that probably seems very dismissive for someone who perceives supernatural things, and I'm sorry.

I could agree that living with belief in the supernatural like you're describing tends to make people happier, and that perhaps our brains are adapted for it after many thousands of years of learning to see the world that way. However, to me that is a different question than "is it literally real?" I think our brains have an astounding ability to perceive abstract concepts as real things -- like laws, countries, money, etc.

I do think it is possible to treat the planet with respect without an animist perspective. I can sympathize with the idea that non-human entities deserve respect (sometime soon I should be publishing an article along the lines of "how psychedelics transformed my ethics" where I talk about this in more detail). Even though I don't believe in a spirit world, I empathize with animals and forests and all the other natural, complex systems we share our planet with. And, even from a purely selfish, human-centered perspective, it's in our best interest to do so because our continued survival literally depends on so many complex interactions with a delicate biosphere that we are so carelessly disrupting.

And actually, I think scientists are among the most vocal in advocating for this respect, even though they don't deal with the idea of the spirit realm at all. They are the ones trying to warn us about climate change, loss of biodiversity, habitat loss, agricultural impacts, etc... so from my perspective, the problem is not so much a physicalist worldview, but rather religious ideas like "God made the world for us to use as we see fit" and with the greed of the most powerful people and governments.

I feel like you and I would pretty much agree in how we should treat the world, but we arrive there from completely different perspectives on the idea of spirit.