Given the extent to which religion gets discussed on TIPS in recent
years, I thought that some of you might be interested in reading the
following article from the current New Scientist. I have reproduced the
first few paragraphs below.
Jeff
-------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.newscientist.com/newsletter/features.jsp?id=ns22871
New Scientist April 21, 2001
IN SEARCH OF GOD
Are our religious feelings just a product of how the brain works? Bob
Holmes meets the researchers who are trying to explain our most sacred
thoughts
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.
But what is "it"? The presence of God? A glimpse of a higher plane of
being? Or just the mystical equivalent of déjà vu, a trick the brain
sometimes plays on your conscious self? At some level, of course, all
our thoughts and sensations--however unusual--must involve the brain.
Indeed, experiments on the brain have led neuroscientists to suggest
that the capacity for religion may somehow be hardwired into us. If so,
why do people's religious experiences differ so profoundly, moving some
so deeply while leaving others cold?
Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia, has been fascinated by the neurobiology of religion for
more than a decade. He admits it's an awkward role for a scientist. "I
always get concerned that people will say I'm a religious person who's
trying to prove that God exists, or I'm a cynic who's trying to prove
that God doesn't exist," he says. "But we try to approach it without
bias." Earlier this month he published a book, which lays out the most
complete theory to date of how mystical or religious experiences can be
generated in the brain.
Together with the now deceased Eugene d'Aquili, a colleague from Penn,
Newberg was keen to study the sensations that are unique to religious
experiences but shared by people of all faiths. One of these is the
sense of "oneness with the Universe" that enthralled Einstein. The other
is the feeling of awe that accompanies such revelations and makes them
stand out as more important, more highly charged, and in a way more real
than our everyday lives.
[For the rest of article, go to:
--
Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (480) 423-6213
9000 E. Chaparral Rd. FAX Number: (480) 423-6298
Psychology Department [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale, AZ 85256-2626
"Science must begin with myths and with the criticism of myths"
Karl Popper
“No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.”
Lily Tomlin
Listowner: Psychologists Educating Students to Think Skeptically (PESTS)
http://www.sc.maricopa.edu/sbscience/pests/index.html
