ScientificAmerican has an interesting article on the physiology of religious experiences.
The spiritual quest may be as old as humankind itself, but now there is a new place to look: inside our heads. Using fMRI and other tools of modern neuroscience, researchers are attempting to pin down what happens in the brain when people experience mystical awakenings during prayer and meditation or during spontaneous utterances inspired by religious fervor.
This might seem strange, but logically it makes sense. If we use separate parts of the brain to manage different activities, why wouldn’t religion be represented? Is the same part of the brain responsible for all epiphanies, or does religion hold a special place?
I can see people on both sides of the debate getting worked up over this, but to me it’s just the next logical step. The deeper we go, the more things are related. This reminds me of Einstein’s cosmic religious feeling.
Searching for God in the Brain [ScientificAmerican]
Update: Doug Kyle points us in the comments to a documentary investigating the connection between epileptic seizures and religious experiences.
I find this terribly fascinating. We’ve discussed this issue some in some of my religious studies course and it’s certainly one of the more pregnant fields (neurotheology it is sometimes called.)
What I found remarkable is that “religious experiences” are in a different part of the brain than say, psychotic hallucinations or other forms of diminished cognitive experience.
What does it mean? I have no idea. But it does refute the “they’re just crazy” argument (at least, heh, sometimes!)
Haha, true. Although, I would guess that many fanatics are created by societal conventions and shared beliefs, rather than religious epiphanies. Definitely something to think about though.
Nice find, John. The more research of this type, the better. Whatever your beliefs, experience will have a physical correlate. I do get irritated by the people who look at, or even those doing the research, who look at the results and think they know what it means, though. Like Paquette said in the article, it turns the work into a 21st century phrenology.
Dr. Michael Persinger’s research, and others looking into this very topic are covered by the documentary “God on the Brain” and can be found here: http://www.dkyle.com/friends/welcome.html#God%20On%20The%20Brain
The above series is quite interesting and opens with a man who had a severe epileptic episode that left him with a profound religious experience. Both before and after the experience, the man is a staunch atheist.
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Not covered in the article are a number of studies on shamanism and shamanic drumming as well. Science has already shown that the fast mono-rhythmic drumming leads to a decrease in brain-wave frequency that in many people approaches those found in a dreaming person. This essentially results in a lucid dream and is essentially, where the visions of such a practice come from (although why the things that appear are what they are is debated ranging from spiritual reasoning to the psychological). This drop in brain wave patterns is also where Trance music got its name… unfortunately though I don’t have any sources to quote on this.
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MIT was also working with buhdists back in 2003. I’m not sure if that’s still going on but their findings are probably public if anyone’s searching for more information.
Thanks for the info, Doug. I’ll update the post.
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