What tipped you from being a materialist skeptic?
Good question, and it's hard for me to put a finger on anything specific and say "that's what did it". I haven't had any notable paranormal experience. I suppose it was more of a slow realization, or change of perception. Subjectively, I give some credit to meditation, although I can't say for sure that it was directly responsible for the change. The only part of it that is noticeable from the outside would be contentness/happiness.
This is purely my subjective experience, and others will certainly vary -
Mindfulness made me much more perceptive of the world around me. Although I specifically read about meditation from secular sources and avoided any kind of religious traditions (I was a scientist, damn it! I thought religious folks were just blinded by dogma), I felt my way of thinking start to move me toward certain Buddhist ideas. I started to perceive more from myself, my environment and the people around me. Empathy began to grow beyond what I have ever known. I grew a sense of calm, where only a year prior I would frequently experience anxiety. Right now, I go through every day with this calm, a sense of "It's all OK" in the back of my mind. My sense of self-importance has diminished greatly. I don't feel like I am any more important than a bum on the street. Neither is Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, the president, or anyone else. We all just ARE.
Maybe it is the weakening of my ego that tipped the scale, so to speak. I don't need to be right. I don't need to be the smartest guy in the room. I don't need to have a tidy answer to explain away other people's experiences. I don't need a complete, defined belief system, I'll just take each moment as it comes - always open and searching for what might be. I'll embrace the unexplained, and follow the mystery wherever it leads.
When I was a skeptic, I used to say "I don't believe in magic". Now I am the opposite - I feel that everything IS magic. Your perspective makes all the difference. I am overwhelmed by love of life. I see beauty everywhere. I read poetry every day. I listen to the conversations of strangers in a bus station, and it makes me smile. I can sit in nature for hours with no one for miles around and feel completely connected. If I get something I want, I am happy. If I don't, I am happy anyway.
I don't worry about death. If this is all there is, well it was a great time, right? I don't care if I am remembered by future generations. If you somehow proved that materialism is correct and the entire universe was meaningless, I admit I would be disappointed. But then I would just have to laugh. Because the whole situation is kind of ridiculous, isn't it? Nothing to get too serious about anyway.
Even so, I wish I could live a million lifetimes in a million different ways. I want to live one life as a deep sea fisherman in South America, a life as a poor homeless man on the streets of Cairo, a life as an overworked Japanese businessman, a life as a militant atheist arguing on online message boards, and a life as an Indian yogi sitting 12 hours a day on top of a mountain. And maybe I'll get that chance - maybe I'm doing it right now ;)