the crusade of pain limps on...
Category: Religion and Philosophy
An MRI can document which part of the brain goes off when we think about god -- basically the ones that release a pleasing chemical brain bath; a little more evidence for that whole 'opiate of the people' arguement.
I am sure that some people will take the mild buzz effected by having/thinking about religous experiences as a reason to find a religion, and others will think god hardwired us to worship him... I don't know which disgusts me more?
Can humanity ever be stripped of their gods? Not as long as they remain the primary means for humans to deal with 'The Overwhelming.'
This is I suppose why cults are so popular -- they give people a 'high.' I mean, humans live for a small set of feelings and then put up with the rest, right? And they are always looking for ways to feel better that don't involve outright self-destruction...
There are other ways to stimulate this part of the brain of course that do not involve cocaine or god or the neighbors soiled dainties. People should start just whipping out their genitilia during tense business meetings and masterbating as they tell co-workers, "Stress. . . reduction . . technique..." When they bitch , the five finger frolicer could just say, "Hey, you guys pray, right? Well, I am just tapping into the same brain area to get a similar effect."
God spot' researchers see the light in MRI study
Ian Sample, science correspondent
Wednesday August 30, 2006
The Guardian
Brain scans of nuns have revealed intricate neural circuits that flicker into life when they feel the presence of God.
The images suggest that feelings of profound joy and union with a higher being that accompany religious experiences are the culmination of ramped-up electrical activity in parts of the brain.
The scans were taken as nuns relived intense religious experiences. They showed a surge in neural activity in regions of the brain that govern feelings of peace, happiness and self-awareness. Psychologists at the University of Montreal say the research, which appears in the journal Neuroscience Letters, was not intended to confirm or deny the existence of God, but set out to examine how the brain behaves during profound religious experiences.
Mario Beauregard and Vincent Paquette used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 15 Carmelite nuns who were asked to remember the most intense mystical experience they had ever had.
When the scans were compared with others taken beforehand, the scientists found electrical activity and blood oxygen levels had surged in at least 12 regions of the brain. Some regions, such as the medial orbitofrontal cortex, are strongly associated with emotions, while activity in the right middle temporal cortex is believed to be responsible for the impression of contacting a spiritual entity. The scans showed different brain activity from those taken when the nuns were asked to remember intense emotional experiences that involved another person.
The findings contradict previous suggestions that human brains may have evolved with a "God spot" - a single region that lights up in response to deeply religious thoughts. "Rather than there being one spot that relates to mystical experiences, we've found a number of brain regions are involved," said Dr Beauregard.
..>