TruthBook Religious News Blog

Saturday, April 19, 2008
by: Barbara L. Minton

(NaturalNews) During the concentration of prayer, the encompassing peace as we draw near death, a mystical revelation, or the sense that God is talking to us, we experience the most intense experiences of our lives. Since the beginning of time, people have imbued such experiences with religious significance. But in recent years, scientists have begun to explore this spiritual realm, asking their own questions about what goes on in our brains during these extraordinary events. They have been coming up with some fascinating answers that have given birth to a new field of brain science: neurotheology, the cognitive neuroscience of religious experience and spirituality.

Early Studies and Results

In a vanguard experiment on the physical sources of spiritual consciousness, Michael Persinger, Ph.D., professor of neuroscience and psychology at Laurentian University in Canada, isolated an area of neurons in the brain's temporal lobes that repeatedly fire bursts of electrical activity when one contemplates God or has feelings of spirituality. Attempting to try to stimulate these bursts, Persinger isolated an area near the front of these temporal lobes, the amygdala, an almond shaped organ that infuses events with intense emotion and a sense of meaningfulness.

He then passed a controlled electrical current through coils on the head of his 80 subjects, creating a magnetic field that mimicked the firing patterns of the neurons in the temporal lobes. This resulted in an induced spiritual experience. The subjects reported an "opiate-like effect with a substantial decrease in anxiety, a heightened sense of well-being" that gave them the sense of not being alone. This sense was described by some as a religious experience.

At the same time While Persinger conducted his experiments, Vilayanur Ramachandran, Ph.D., director of the Brain and Perception Laboratory at the University of California at San Diego, also tuned in to the cosmic consciousness. He announced that he had discovered the 'God Module' in the brain which could be responsible for man's evolutionary instinct to believe in religion.

Ramachandran and his team studied the brains of people with an unusual type of epilepsy that affects the brain's temporal lobes. The study compared epileptic patients with normal people and a group who said they were intensely religious. Electrical monitors on their skin, a standard test of activity in the brain's temporal lobes, showed that the epileptics and the deeply religious displayed a similar response when shown words invoking spiritual belief.

According to the Ramachandran led research team, the most intriguing explanation is that the seizures cause an over-stimulation of the nerves in a part of the brain dubbed the God module. "There may be dedicated neural machinery in the temporal lobes concerned with religion. This may have evolved to impose order and stability on society." The results indicate that whether a person believes in a religion or even in God may depend on how enhanced is this part of the brain's electrical circuitry.

The idea of a single God module is regarded by most scientists, including Ramachandran, as too simplistic. A Canadian researcher, Mario Beauregard, and his student used a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brain activity of Carmelite nuns while they were reliving the experience of unio mystica, an intense sensation in which they report feeling the presence of God.

With fMRI imaging, changes in blood flow in the brain may be monitored in almost real time. This allows researchers to see which regions of the brain become more or less active in different conditions. Beauregard observed that the nuns' ecstatic state was associated with a distinct pattern of activity in several areas of the brain. The researchers concluded that "mystical experiences are mediated by several brain regions and systems".

Other researchers have probed the experiences of people with temporal lobe epilepsy with interesting results. In Switzerland, Olaf Blanke and his colleagues found that electric stimulation of specific brain regions can trigger repeated out-of-body experiences. Although these experiences are somewhat common, they were not rigorously studied until Blanke came upon a case of a woman he was treating for epilepsy.

A part of the woman's brain near the junction point of the temporal and parietal lobes was stimulated with an electrode, producing the experience. Every time that part of her brain was stimulated, she described the experience as floating above her own body and watching herself.

Brain Mechanisms and Religious Experience

Shahar Arzy, a colleague of Blanke's, purposed that the junction between the temporal and parietal lobes may have played a part in some of the pivotal events in world religions. As Arzy and co-authors pointed out, many of the world's religions feature revelation experiences that take place on mountains. Many non-religious, non-mystic mountaineers have also had similar experiences while in the mountains. Time spent at high altitudes may affect the brain, according to Arzy, and "facilitate the experience of a revelation".

Arzy suggests mechanisms that could be involved in this experience. High altitudes have a significantly reduced level of oxygen which can affect the temporo-parietal junction. Stays at high altitude, particularly in solitude, might lead to low resistance to stress and loss of inhibition.

History is full of charismatic religious figures. Could any of them have been epileptics? Were the visions of Bible characters like Moses or Saint Paul reflective of temporal lobe epilepsy? There is no way to know.

Researchers suggest that these issues may have played a part in one of the mystical phenomena of ancient times, the oracle of Delphi. George Papatheodorou, an emeritus professor of geology at Patras University, and his colleagues examined the narrow cave where the Delphic priestesses were believed to have delivered their messages. They found high levels of methane, ethanol and carbon dioxide in the cave's air. "The site lies on a fault where gases leak out. These gases cause an oxygen reduction that induces a mild hypnotic state that could well produce hallucinations," he told the Greek Kathimerini newspaper.

Brain Mechanisms and Near-Death Experiences

Neurophysiologist Kevin Nelson, a researcher at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, is exploring the powerful spiritual phenomena of the near-death experience. His results have led him to believe that these experiences may be dream-like states triggered by stress and a common sleep disorder known as sleep paralysis. When people with this condition begin to awake, part of their brain stays in the random eye movement (REM) phase of sleep. They experience inability to move, resulting in frightening hallucinations.

Nelson studied 55 people who experienced near-death phenomena in a range of circumstances, including heart attacks, traffic accidents, and fainting spells. He found that about 60 percent of them reported symptoms of sleep paralysis. In a matched group of 55 healthy volunteers with no near-death experiences, only 24 percent had symptoms of sleep paralysis. Nelson concluded that his findings "anticipate that under circumstances of peril, a near-death experience is more likely in those with previous REM intrusion".

Possible Conclusions

According to the Ramachandran team, it is not clear why such dedicated neural machinery for religion may have evolved. One possibility they saw was the encouragement of tribal loyalty or reinforcement of kinship ties and the stability of closely knit clans. These scientists emphasized that their findings in no way suggest that religion is simply a matter of brain chemistry. "These studies do not in any way negate the validity of the religious experience of God," the team cautioned. "They merely provide an explanation in terms of brain regions that may be involved."

As Ramachandran has said, "We are only starting to look at this. The exciting thing is that you can even begin to contemplate scientific experiments on the neural basis of religion and God."

Labels: brain, God, God Module, Michael Persinger, neurotheology, religious experience, spiritual neuroscience, Vilayanur Ramachandran

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Monday, October 01, 2007

Study asks whether chemicals and communion are one

Monday October 11th, 2004

By Jennifer Woods

Dr. Mario Beauregard, a neuroscientist from the University of Montreal, is using medicine’s most powerful brain imaging tools to study Carmelite nuns when they remember Unio Mystica, the Christian mystical union with God. Most nuns only experience the mystic union once or twice in their lifetime, if at all.

The mystical union happens when a person finds “the center of themselves in God,” said Ilia Delio, a neuropharmacologist and professor of spirituality at Washington Theological Union. During this state, the individual is so immersed in God that “they couldn’t even conceive of their life apart from God,” she added.

Beauregard’s new field, known as spiritual neuroscience, raises questions about the human soul and God. Hoping to find a biological basis for religious experiences, Beauregard has dealt with criticism from those who “are happy with the separation” of science and religion, he said.

Finding nuns willing to participate in the research hasn’t been easy, Beauregard said, as many worry he is trying to prove that religious experiences are simply an illusion of the mind.

Beauregard said the nine nuns in the study are “convinced that we’re going to find something.”

In order to understand what is happening in the brain electrically, chemically and physiologically, Beauregard’s research is divided into three parts.

The first part of the study uses electroencephalography, or EEG, to measure the nuns’ brain waves.

As expected, the scientists discovered a slow brain wave pattern in the nuns, “which is comparable to those previously found in yogis and Buddhist monks during deep meditative states,” Beauregard said.

The second trial will use a PET scan, or positron emission tomography, to measure the brain’s levels of serotonin, which helps regulates a person’s moods.

In the final phase, Beauregard will use functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, which shows the brain’s active areas.

Through this research, it might be possible to help individuals enhance or even induce a spiritual experience, Beauregard said. He said he hopes his research will lead to helping “normal people, not mystics, to have access to that type of experience by perhaps stimulating the brain.”

The scientists are looking for six more nuns to participate in the research. Beauregard expects all three studies will be done in about a year.

Delio said it is important to explore the link between science and religion. “We’re talking about the human person and the human person is not simply spirit. The human person is concrete matter that expresses itself spiritually,” she said.

Jennifer Woods is an editorial intern at Science & Theology News.

Labels: Dr. Mario Beauregard, God, nuns, spiritual neuroscience, Unio Mystica