In my atheist discussion group this month, we watched a video of a magician and psychologist who, through power of suggestion, induced an admitted atheist to experience what, to all appearances, was a religious conversion.  Without warning, this person stood up from her chair and began to weep uncontrollably, saying later that she, without any warning, was experiencing deep meaning and unconditional love, feelings that most religious conversions generate as well.
     Does this mean that all conversions are psychological?  To be sure, anyone's conversion is a combination of prior experiences and mental images, external and/or unexpected input, and a given state of one's mind and heart.  If we deny a transcendent basis to conversion altogether, however, we are in actuality denying the integrity of all experiences.  We can no more prove the absence of transcendence in experience than we can prove its presence.  Indeed, it seems that the burden of proof lies on those who deny a transcendent basis for conversion, as they must decide how to reconcile a profound, obvious, and unexpected change of heart with a brain whose innermost corridors, despite our best efforts, we still do not fully know.
     If transcendence exists, it will speak.