Fwd: Searching For the God Within--Newsweek

[Guest guest]

The latest Newsweek magazine has the following article " Searching For

the God Within " found at http://www.msnbc.com/news/519130.asp.

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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. 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 human brain has been genetically wired to encourage

religious beliefs. " — BOOK EXCERPT

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.

" The absorption of the self into something larger [is] not the

result of emotional fabrication or wishful thinking. " —

NEWBERG AND D'AQUIL

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. Believers, of course, have a

retort: the brain's wiring may explain religious feelings—but who do

you

think was the master electrician?        

© 2001 Newsweek, Inc.        

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/26/01 4:46:26 AM Pacific Standard Time,

watts_pete@... writes:

<< Searching For the God Within

The way our brains are wired may explain the origin and power of

religious beliefs

By Sharon Begley

NEWSWEEK >>

What absolute abuse of any knowledge about the brain

whatsoever. " where the self ends " ????? WhaT?