[Turtle]

Just now listening to this author on the radio. This is what I keep talking about.
The GOD Part Of The Brain - Matthew Alper

Will post commentary later. Enjoy.

[catholiboy]

Out of interest:
what significance, if any, do you assign to this in theological terms?

[InfiniteNow]

A lowest common denominator indeed...

Originally Posted by From the link above

Every known culture from the dawn of our species has maintained a belief in some form of a "spiritual" reality. Wouldn't this suggest that human spirituality must represent an inherent characteristic of our species, that is, a genetically inherited trait? Furthermore, being that spirituality, just like language, represents a cognitive function, wouldn't this suggest that our "spiritual" instincts, just like our linguistic ones, must be generated from some very specific physical part within the brain? I informally refer to this site as the "God" part of the brain, a cluster of neurons from which spiritual cognitions, sensations, and behaviors are generated.

In the reviews:

What a wonderful book you have written. It was not only brilliant and provocative but also revolutionary in its approach to spirituality as an inherited trait. For years, I had studied cases of people who suffered from varying degrees of head injury in which the victims showed radical changes in their religious behavior after their accidents. Though I was intrigued by this particular phenomenon, I could never really make sense of it until I read your book. For this I cannot thank you enough."

~Arnold Sadwin, M.D., F.A.P.M., F.P.C.P,
(Ex-chief of Neuropsychiatry at University of Pennsylvania)

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by catholiboy

Out of interest:
what significance, if any, do you assign to this in theological terms?

That belief in God, an after-life, angels, demons, etcetera, has its cause in the physical structure of the brain. That such belief is 'hardwired' in the same way musical or language ability is hardwired. That such hard-wiring manifests in a population as a distribution curve (Bell curve), so that we have in the example of music, those who are tone deaf (an extreme), those with avergae musical ability (the mean) , and musical prodigies (the other extreme).

So too then with belief in a spirit world, i.e. in the population we have a distribution curve of belief that is directly related to the amount of activity in the parts of the brain that generates this 'spiritual' sense. The average person -according to surveys- says they believe in God (the mean), a few people are ardent believers (an extreme), and a few are ardent atheists(the other extreme).

So in a very real sense for spirtual belief (an illusional effect derived from a brain mechanism), what you believe is not your fault, what I believe is not my fault, and what 'they' believe is not 'their' fault.

[catholiboy]

Don't you nonetheless think that this kind of thinking could pave the way for discriminatory thinking against religion?

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by catholiboy

Don't you nonetheless think that this kind of thinking could pave the way for discriminatory thinking against religion?

Anything is possible. For myself however, it has paved the way to just nod and smile at religion as long as it stays out of government. Afterall, do we discriminate against someone who can't carry a tune?

[catholiboy]

Originally Posted by Turtle

For myself however, it has paved the way to just nod and smile at religion as long as it stays out of government.

I agree with the government thing.
Very much so.

[Turtle]

Web Search Results1 - 10 of about 5,030 for neurotheology

neurotheology article

Let those who can, read.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by sciam.com

Researchers are unearthing the roots of religious feeling in the neural commotion that accompanies the spiritual epiphanies of nuns, Buddhists and other people of faith.
...
The key, Ramachandran speculates, may be the limbic system, which comprises interior regions of the brain that govern emotion and emotional memory, such as the amygdala and hypothalamus. By strengthening the connection between the temporal lobe and these emotional centers, epileptic electrical activity may spark religious feeling.
...
When the Buddhist subjects reached their self-reported meditation peak, a state in which they lose their sense of existence as separate individuals, the researchers injected them with a radioactive isotope that is carried by the blood to active brain areas. The investigators then photographed the isotope’s distribution with a special camera—a technique called single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT).
...

Searching for God in the Brain: Scientific American

It's all in your heads folks.

[Garry Denke]

Originally Posted by catholiboy

Out of interest:
what significance, if any, do you assign to this in theological terms?

Greetings catholiboy,

bible says

Geotheomechanics
by Garry Denke

We all know that there is no god on geo
(earth) so geotheomechanics is simple

--
(a) geotheomechanics roots

here is no god on geo (earth)
0

here is a person on geo (earth)
1

(b) geotheomechanics branches

here is a person who has no god above the geobrain
0 / 1 = 0

here is a person who has no god beneath the geobrain
1 / 0 = 0, 1, & infinity...

here is a person who multiplies the geobrain by no god
1 x 0 = 0

here is a person who divides the geobrain by no god
1 / 0 = 0, 1, & infinity...

here is a person who adds no god to the geobrain
1 + 0 = 1

here is a person who subtracts no god from the geobrain
1 - 0 = 1

(c) geotheomechanics synthesis

a person who has no god above the geobrain
is a person who multiplies the geobrain by no god
0

a person who has no god beneath the geobrain
is a person who divides the geobrain by no god
0, 1, & infinity...

a person who adds no god to the geobrain
is a person who subtracts no god from the geobrain
1

(d) geotheomechanics analysis

0 = geotheoatheist/geotheoagnostic
0, 1, & infinity... geotheochristian/geotheocatholic
1 = geotheomuslim/geotheojew

(e) geotheology biotheology projections

0 = geotheoagnostic/geotheoatheist biotheononpolarbrain
0, 1, & infinity... geotheocatholic/geotheochristian biotheotripolarbrain
1 = geotheojew/geotheomuslim biotheomonopolarbrain

geotheomuslim/geotheojew proof (a.1)
1 / 1 = 1
geotheojew/geotheomuslim proof (1.a)
1 / 1 = 1

(f) geotheobipolarmechanics

the "new/new" geobrain
0 / 0 = 0, 1, & infinity...
(no god over no god)

All power = 0^0

--
Whereinabove words "the geobrain" appear
substitute "herself"/"himself" accordingly

rock / rock

rock head