The science of spirituality intrigues me. One of my first posts at this blog was about that topic. When I was a Mormon, I was very prone to powerful spiritual experiences. I’d often cry during prayer or scripture study, I saw ghostly apparitions, and, on several occasions, I experienced what I then thought were demonic possessions. These phenomena anchored my testimony for years until I discovered naturalistic explanations for them. (That isn’t to say, though, that all spiritual experiences are necessarily reducible to the brain.)
Neuroscientist Dr. Michael Persinger has done a lot of pioneering research concerning the brain and spiritual experiences. He is perhaps best known for his ‘God helmet’, an electro-magnetic device that is able to induce spiritual and out-of-body experiences in patients.
V.S. Ramachandran, another noted neuroscientist, has also done some research with implications for the science of spirituality. His study of split-brain patients raises a thorny theological question.
For more about the relationship between the brain and spirituality, I’d refer you to a previous post and this interactive NPR article.
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It’s interesting, no matter how far back in time you go, no matter what culture you study, humans have always believed in a Supreme Being. They must have had those God helmets even back in Neanderthal times. (hummina hummina hummina)
Obviously not. But didn’t you hear the part where he talked about external stimuli having the same effect?
I think trying peyote would be pretty cool.
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Jon Adams says: “…I was prone to powerful spiritual experiences…ghostly apparitions…demonic possessions…” Sounds like he definitely had a problem, but I doubt it was the Mormon Church…! Maybe that’s how got into atheism, which he thinks made him all better… Or maybe he’d feel better with therapy–or a little weed now and then… And he’s preaching to the world about paranoia…?
Wait…how’d you make the leap from spiritual experiences to paranoia?
It wasn’t hard: Alleged spiritual experiences are generally interpreted by psychiatric professionals as some form of psychosis or schizophrenia–paranoia being one of the more prominent and common manifestations. Hey man, I’m not the one here bragging about paranormal experiences before you saw the light and withdrew from the LDS faith, and God altogether. That’s your province…! Either you had the experiences or you didn’t. I’m not questioning that. Either they were real–in which case you telling them belies your credibility as an atheist–or they weren’t. If you made them up, your credibility is still in question… If you are suggesting that they were somehow a product of your Mormon upbringing and environment–your childhood experience, as it were–maybe you should seek the help of a professional, because you aren’t out of the woods yet… It depends on what you really believe, and I suspect that you aren’t quite sure yourself. If you were so confident, you wouldn’t be so defensive.
We should get lunch sometime. You’re in the Draper/Sandy area, no?
Last time I had lunch in Utah was 10 or 12 years ago. And it’ll probably be just as long before I do it again…Thanks anyway.