Zero
12th December 2006, 19:56
Found this article tucked away in my philosophy text.
Originally posted by "L.A. Times"
Searching for the Devine
There is new evidence that Humans are hard-wired to believe in God
By Vince Rause
One night last April, the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared in the attic of a house a few miles from my home. The Virgin manifested herself upon a closet door as a blur of soft golden light, suggesting a figure draped in flowing robes. The owner of the house explained that the image appeared only at night, when the street lights came on and the casement window facing the street was open.
Outside the house, hundreds of people stood in line, waiting for hours to catch a glimpse of the miracle. As I watched it on T.V., I asked myself: How is it that in our enlightened society, so many people could be lured into the night by such a sorry excuse for an apparition of glory?
And second: What latent, restless urge was nagging me to drive right over there and take my place in line?
Im having lunch with Andrew Newberg at a restaurant in suburban Philadelphia. Newberg, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and I have met to discuss his biological theory of religion, which he believes provides a neurological basis for the great human hunger for God. The theory has made Newberg, 35, a leading figure in [get this] the emerging science of Neurotheology, which explores the links between spirituality and the brain.
Newberg tells me something Im not sure I can grasp: that the fabled higher reality described by mystics might, in fact, be real.
You mean figuratively real I say with a troubled squint.
No, he says. As real as this table. More real, in fact.
Youre saying your research proves this higher reality exists? I ask.
Im saying the possibility of such a reality is not inconsistent with science, he says.
But you cant observe such a thing in a scientific way, can you?
Newberg grins. He hasnt simply observed such a state; he has managed to take its picture.
Newbergs theory is based on research begun in the 1970s by the late Eugene DAquili, a psychiatrist and anthropologist. DAquilis theory described how brain function could produce a range of religious experiences, from the profound epiphanies of saints to the quiet sense of holiness felt by a believer during prayer.
In the early 1990s, DAquili teamed up with Newberg, a radiologist. The two refined DAquilis theory and began testing it. They used an imaging technology called SPECT scanning to map the brains of Tibetan Buddhists meditating and Franciscan nuns engaged in deep, contemplative prayer. The scans photographed blood flowindicating levels of neural activityin each subjects brain at the moment that a person had reached an intense spiritual peak.
When the scientists studied the scans, their attention was drawn to a chunk of the brains left parietal lobe they called the orientation association area. This region is responsible for drawing the line between the physical self and the rest of existence, a task that requires a constant stream of neural information flowing in from the senses. What the scans revealed, however, was that at peak moments of prayer and meditation, the flow was dramatically reduced. As the orientation area was deprived of information needed to draw the line between the self and the worldthe scientists believedthe subject would experience a sense of a limitless awareness melting into infinite space.
It seemed they had captured snapshots of the brain nearing a state of mystical transcendencedescribed by all major religions as one of the most profound spiritual experiences. Catholic saints referred to it as mystical union with God. A Buddhist would call it interconnectedness.
These are rare experiences, requiring an almost total blackout of the orientation area. But Newberg and the DAquili believed lower degrees of blockage could produce a rage of milder, more ordinary spiritual experiences, as when believers lose themselves in prayer or feel a sense of unity during a religious service. Their research suggests that all these feelings are rooted not in emotion or wishful thinking, but in the genetically arranged wiring of the brain.
Thats why religion thrives in an age of reason, Newberg says. You cant simply think God out of existence, he says, because religious feelings rise more from experience than from thought. They are born in a movement of spiritual connection, as real to the brain as any perception of ordinary physical reality.
Does this mean that God is just a perception generated by the brain, or has the brain been wired to experience the reality of God? I ask.
The best and most rational answer I can give to both questions, Newberg answers, is yes.
The rest of the article goes on to explain the readers own personal experiences, that have no relation to the story at hand.
What is the religious perspective on this?
Originally posted by "L.A. Times"
Searching for the Devine
There is new evidence that Humans are hard-wired to believe in God
By Vince Rause
One night last April, the Virgin Mary was said to have appeared in the attic of a house a few miles from my home. The Virgin manifested herself upon a closet door as a blur of soft golden light, suggesting a figure draped in flowing robes. The owner of the house explained that the image appeared only at night, when the street lights came on and the casement window facing the street was open.
Outside the house, hundreds of people stood in line, waiting for hours to catch a glimpse of the miracle. As I watched it on T.V., I asked myself: How is it that in our enlightened society, so many people could be lured into the night by such a sorry excuse for an apparition of glory?
And second: What latent, restless urge was nagging me to drive right over there and take my place in line?
Im having lunch with Andrew Newberg at a restaurant in suburban Philadelphia. Newberg, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and I have met to discuss his biological theory of religion, which he believes provides a neurological basis for the great human hunger for God. The theory has made Newberg, 35, a leading figure in [get this] the emerging science of Neurotheology, which explores the links between spirituality and the brain.
Newberg tells me something Im not sure I can grasp: that the fabled higher reality described by mystics might, in fact, be real.
You mean figuratively real I say with a troubled squint.
No, he says. As real as this table. More real, in fact.
Youre saying your research proves this higher reality exists? I ask.
Im saying the possibility of such a reality is not inconsistent with science, he says.
But you cant observe such a thing in a scientific way, can you?
Newberg grins. He hasnt simply observed such a state; he has managed to take its picture.
Newbergs theory is based on research begun in the 1970s by the late Eugene DAquili, a psychiatrist and anthropologist. DAquilis theory described how brain function could produce a range of religious experiences, from the profound epiphanies of saints to the quiet sense of holiness felt by a believer during prayer.
In the early 1990s, DAquili teamed up with Newberg, a radiologist. The two refined DAquilis theory and began testing it. They used an imaging technology called SPECT scanning to map the brains of Tibetan Buddhists meditating and Franciscan nuns engaged in deep, contemplative prayer. The scans photographed blood flowindicating levels of neural activityin each subjects brain at the moment that a person had reached an intense spiritual peak.
When the scientists studied the scans, their attention was drawn to a chunk of the brains left parietal lobe they called the orientation association area. This region is responsible for drawing the line between the physical self and the rest of existence, a task that requires a constant stream of neural information flowing in from the senses. What the scans revealed, however, was that at peak moments of prayer and meditation, the flow was dramatically reduced. As the orientation area was deprived of information needed to draw the line between the self and the worldthe scientists believedthe subject would experience a sense of a limitless awareness melting into infinite space.
It seemed they had captured snapshots of the brain nearing a state of mystical transcendencedescribed by all major religions as one of the most profound spiritual experiences. Catholic saints referred to it as mystical union with God. A Buddhist would call it interconnectedness.
These are rare experiences, requiring an almost total blackout of the orientation area. But Newberg and the DAquili believed lower degrees of blockage could produce a rage of milder, more ordinary spiritual experiences, as when believers lose themselves in prayer or feel a sense of unity during a religious service. Their research suggests that all these feelings are rooted not in emotion or wishful thinking, but in the genetically arranged wiring of the brain.
Thats why religion thrives in an age of reason, Newberg says. You cant simply think God out of existence, he says, because religious feelings rise more from experience than from thought. They are born in a movement of spiritual connection, as real to the brain as any perception of ordinary physical reality.
Does this mean that God is just a perception generated by the brain, or has the brain been wired to experience the reality of God? I ask.
The best and most rational answer I can give to both questions, Newberg answers, is yes.
The rest of the article goes on to explain the readers own personal experiences, that have no relation to the story at hand.
What is the religious perspective on this?