I thought you all, or at least some of you, might find this interesting:

Full story can be found at

http://www.msnbc.com/news/519130.asp

Searching For the God Within

The way our brains are wired may explain the origin

and power of religious beliefs

By Sharon Begley

NEWSWEEK

Jan. 29 issue - He begins the way he begins every

meditation session, lighting candles and jasmine

incense before settling into a lotus position. He

focuses inward, willing the essence he regards as his

true self to break free from his desires, worries and

senses.

THERE IS A difference this time, though. The young

Tibetan Buddhist has a length of twine beside him and

an IV in his left arm. As he approaches the

transcendent peak of his meditative state, he tugs on

the twine. At the other end, in the next room, Dr.

Andrew Newberg feels the pull, and quickly injects a

radioactive tracer into the IV line. Then Newberg

whisks him into a brain-imaging machine called

SPECT-and the man´s sense of unity with the cosmos

gets boiled down to a computer readout. A region at

the top rear of the brain which weaves sensory data

into a feeling of where the self ends and the rest of

the world begins looks like the victim of one of

California´s rolling blackouts. Deprived of sensory

input by the man´s inward concentration, this

"orientation area" cannot do its job of finding the

border between self and world. "The brain had no

choice," says Newberg. "It perceived the self to be

endless, as one with all of creation. And this felt

utterly real."

The tension between science and religion is about to

get tenser, for some scientists have decided that

religious experience is just too intriguing not to

study. Neurologists jumped in first, finding a

connection between temporal lobe epilepsy and a sudden

interest in religion. As V. S. Ramachandran of the

University of California, San Diego, told a 1997

meeting, these patients, during seizures, "say they

see God" or feel "a sudden sense of enlightenment."

Now researchers are looking at more-common varieties

of religious experience. Newberg and the late Dr.

Eugene d´Aquili, both of the University of

Pennsylvania, have a name for this field:

neuro-theology. In a book to be published in April,

they conclude that spiritual experiences are the

inevitable outcome of brain wiring: "The human brain

has been genetically wired to encourage religious

beliefs."

Even plain old praying affects the brain in

distinctive ways. In SPECT scans of Franciscan nuns at

prayer, the Penn team found a quieting of the

orientation area, which gave the sisters a tangible

sense of proximity to and merging with God. "The

absorption of the self into something larger [is] not

the result of emotional fabrication or wishful

thinking," Newberg and d´Aquili write in "Why God

Won´t Go Away." It springs, instead, from neurological

events, as when the orientation area goes dark.

Neuro-theology also explores how ritual behavior

elicits brain states that bring on feelings ranging

from mild community to deep spiritual unity. A 1997

study by Japanese researchers showed that repetitive

rhythms can drive the brain´s hypothalamus, which can

bring on either serenity or arousal.

That may explain why incantatory hymns can trigger a

sense of quietude that believers interpret as

spiritual tranquillity and bliss. In contrast, the

fast rapturous dancing of Sufi mystics causes

hyperarousal, scientists find, which can make

participants feel as if they are channeling the energy

of the universe. Although the inventors of rituals

surely didn´t know it at the time, these rites manage

to tap into the precise brain mechanisms that tend to

make believers interpret perceptions and feelings as

evidence of God or, at least, transcendence. Rituals

also tend to focus the mind, blocking out sensory

perceptions-including those that the orientation area

uses to figure out the boundaries of the self. That´s

why even nonbelievers are often moved by religious

ritual. "As long as our brain is wired as it is," says

Newberg, "God will not go away."

If brain wiring explains the feelings believers get

from prayer and ritual, are spiritual experiences mere

creations of our neurons? Neuro-theology at least

suggests that spiritual experiences are no more

meaningful than, say, the fear the brain is hard-wired

to feel in response to a strange noise at night.

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), January 31, 2001

Answers

Good stuff Bee.

My favorite book on the subject is A History Of God by Karen Armstrong (1994).

My favorite quote: "The idea of God formed in one generation by one set of human beings could be meaningless in another. Indeed, the statement "I believe in God" has no objective meaning, as such, but like any other statement only means something in context when proclaimed by a particular community. Consequently there is no one unchanging idea contained in the word "God"; instead, the word contains the whole spectrum of meanings, some of which are contradictory or even mutually exclusive. Had the notion of God not had this flexibility, it would not have survived to become one of the great human ideas. When one conception of God has ceased to have meaning or relevance, it has been quietly discarded and replaced by a new theology. A fundamentalist would deny this, since fundamentalism is antihistorical: it believes that Abraham, Moses and the later prophets all experienced their God in exactly same way as people do today,"

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), February 01, 2001.

Another good read. Asimov's Guide To the Bible. Isaac Asimov 1981.

Without prejudice it's a pretty good thinkers historically referenced wade through the testaments. When done I couldn't figure out if old Isaac was religious or not. Good testimony I thought to the writer's skill for detachment.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), February 01, 2001.

Being a pig here I know but forgive please.

A passage in Asimov's book describes a temple built, in what's now the Lybian desert, to the Egyptian god Amon Ra. Centuries later it's ruins were used as a caravan stop. Camel dung burnt for heat within the temple ruin produced a buildup of nitre crystals on the cellings. In deference to the temple's origins these deposits were called the Salt of Amon. Known to every pharmacy graduate, and most here over 60 as Sal Ammoniac today. Book's full of that kind of stuff.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), February 01, 2001.

If I understand this, spirituality is achieved thru sensory deprivation. I would think that equivalent satori states could be achieved by prayer, meditation, medication, flotation tanks, etc.

This definition of spirituality seems limited. It ignores any intellectual content. I imagine that any sentient creature could be observed by SPECT to achieve this same status of brain "disorientation" when subjected to the right combination of sensory deprivations. Yet, of all the animals, only humans have religions (as far as we know).

I don't claim to know what God is but my own sense is that God is much more of an idea than a feeling. When we learn to talk to the animals, we can ask them what they think.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 01, 2001.

GOD is =Spirit and they that worship Him-must worship HIM in spiRit &=TRUTH!--------so sais the->LORD JESUS. who by the way-was GOD in the=flesh!! came out of=heaven to show us the========WAY!!!

-- (dogs@zianet.com), February 01, 2001.

Fascinating, AB! Thanks.

Ironically, here's a religious explanation: These findings would just support the "fact" that the pro-religious brain wirings were meant for the predestined ones only.

See Romans 8:28-30 (and lots of other passages) re the Christians. The Qur'an has a predestinarian doctrine as well, but I don't recall the passage(s) offhand.

Al -- what do you think about this?

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), February 01, 2001.

Check out: The "God" Part of the Brain by Matthew Alper

-- nonehere (none@to.give.net), February 01, 2001.

Thank you, AB.

Carlos: oink, oink. More than happy to read your fine contributions to this thread. The Armstrong quote in particular is quite interesting. I would take the following comment of hers: Indeed, the statement "I believe in God" has no objective meaning, as such, but like any other statement only means something in context when proclaimed by a particular community. Consequently there is no one unchanging idea contained in the word "God"; one step further and state that one’s spiritual experience, by communicating it through language, lessens that experience for the experiencer. Spiritual experiences go well beyond that which can be adequately put into words. This is a distillation process which weakens the product considerably.

I’ve found portions of my experiences to be similar to those of others, yet I am cognizant of the fact that what remains unstated, what cannot be communicated to another, offers both proof of the inadequacy of language (and my language skills) and the special nature of spiritual experience. It IS subjective and therefore should not be shoe-horned into stiffened, 'this is the way it is', dogma.

Lars, we must first define which senses are to be deprived of stimulation. Deprivation of stimuli to the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste is one avenue to spiritual experience. These senses can impede the process when going within in pursuit of the nectar, such as with seated meditation or a tank like the one used in the movie Altered States.

We have more subtle senses which are often overlooked because our external senses are deluged with stimuli while undertaking our normal day-to-day routines. The fact that as children we are not taught about them, not encouraged to use them, not given instruction in their use is a tragedy. Meditation is a great way to quiet the five senses so that we may become aware of the subtle ones. These senses can be exercised and strengthened through practice just like any other ability. Once sufficiently adept, the sensory input from the subtle senses becomes available to us quite readily. They serve as tools right along side the others, to be used or disregarded as we see fit.

Spiritual experience can also be achieved through sensory stimulation of both types of senses. The subtle ones must be involved in the process. The key to this, which I am slowly learning, is that the line between self and everything else blurs. For some reason holding on to the concept of self as separate from all else serves to block the flow of experience like a kink in a garden hose slows or halts the flow of water through it.

Cloudy enough for you? :)

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 01, 2001.

This is a distillation process which weakens the product considerably.

Uh, duh. It's a watering-down process, not distillation. Sorry for the confusion.

-- Rich (howe9@shentel.net), February 01, 2001.

''AND THE [WORD] BECAME FLESH-AND DWELT AMONG US'' >>>>>JESHUA JESUS THE=CHRIST OF GOD<<<<<<<

HIDDEN FROM THE WISE[IN OWN EYES]GIVEN TOO THE HUMBLE!!!

-- al-d (dogs@zianet.com), February 01, 2001.

Say what?

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), February 01, 2001.

I think Al-d already has mad cow disease.

-- Al-d is a fruitcake (nutty@fruitcake.yep), February 01, 2001.