(March 20, 2014 at 9:09 am)Thall Wrote: It was a very strange experience. Hard to understand and hard to explain. it's kept me from being able to think of myself as a gnostic athiest due to lack of understand what on earth biologically/spiritually/whatever happend.
I've never experienced religious ecstasy but I have the kind of brain which produces subjective experiences such as 'seeing ghosts and sensing presences etc. This led me to an interest in that branch of neuroscience which is known as neurotheology.
God On The Brain is a BBC documentary which, I think, is a good place to start.
It begins with temporal lobe epilepsy, goes on to research indicating that the brain can produce experiences due to various causes and ends with certain practises which are used by those who want to have these experiences. Humans have been using various techniques for thousands of years, including taking psychoactive substances which are referred to as entheogens when used for this purpose.
Entheogen
Where are the snake and mushroom smilies?