Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Era · 08-07-2004, 07:41 PM

http://www.geocities.com/freethought_bc/Persinger.htm

Quote:

My results aside, Persinger's work has put him at the forefront of a new field called neurotheology, the attempt to understand religion from the brain's point of view, or why, as another neurotheologist has said, "instead of God creating our brains, our brains created God."
Michael Persinger didn't build his helmet to find God. He set out to locate (and perhaps summon) the creative state necessary for scientific discovery. A common type of epileptic seizure without obvious convulsions - an electrical storm in the brain that has long been associated with mystics and visions - is centred for the most part in the temporal lobes. Persinger guessed that by gently tickling those areas with a magnetic pattern programmed to resemble an epileptic seizure, he might induce similar feelings of insight and significance. Sure enough, his first subjects reported meaningful experiences, most commonly the "sensed presence." When asked to describe them, they didn't call the feelings creative or inspirational, but religious.

http://www.arn.org/docs/news/searchofgod042301.htm

Quote:

EINSTEIN FELT IT. It's what draws people to church, prayer, meditation, sacred dance and other rituals. Chances are you've felt something like it too--in the mountains, by the sea, or perhaps while listening to a piece of music that's especially close to your heart. In fact, more than half of people report having had some sort of mystical or religious experience. For some, the experience is so intense it changes their life forever.

Sceptics of religion are quick to claim that the brain's hardwiring proves that God has no real existence, that it's all in the brain. "The real common denominator here is brain activity, not anything else," says Ron Barrier, a spokesman for American Atheists based in Cranford, New Jersey. There is nothing to indicate that this is externally imposed or that you are somehow tapping into a divine entity."

But Newberg isn't so sure. "We can't say they're wrong," he says. "On the other hand, if you're a religious person, it makes sense that the brain can do this, because if there is a God, it makes sense to design the brain so that we can have some sort of interaction. And we can't say that's wrong, either. The problem is that all of our experiences are equal, in that they are all in the brain. Our experience of reality, our experience of science, our mystical experiences are all in the brain."

Comments are appreciated.

By the way, a mystical/religious hallucination is not a sign of craziness; it does occur to perfectly ordinary people. Whether it is caused by stress, sleeplessness, migraine headaches, solitary confinement and hallucinogens.
Moreover, it is considered as spiritual enlightenment in some cultures.
However, in my opinion, superstition is harmful irrational mysticism.
A problem that usually arises from hallucinations is when the individual cannot differentiate fantasy from reality.

Regards,

Era

reprise · 08-07-2004, 07:48 PM

This topic might be a better fit for Science & Skepticism, depending on which direction the discussion takes.

reprise · 08-08-2004, 02:51 AM

As Era has now started a thread on this topic in Science and Skepticism, I'll close this one.

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08-07-2004, 07:48 PM	#2
reprise Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Sydney Posts: 3,997	This topic might be a better fit for Science & Skepticism, depending on which direction the discussion takes.

08-08-2004, 02:51 AM	#3
reprise Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Sydney Posts: 3,997	As Era has now started a thread on this topic in Science and Skepticism, I'll close this one.

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