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The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 4:06 pm
Is this the least flash, least click-baity thread title? Yes.
Neurological Link Between Epilepsy and Religious Experiences
Quote:“Past research has indicated that humans might have a distinctive neurological tendency toward being spiritually oriented,” said Brick Johnstone, a neuropsychologist and professor of health psychology. “This research supports the notion that the human propensity for religious or spiritual experiences may be neurologically based.”
Quote:“We found a strong correlation between philosophical religious thoughts and epilepsy, but no correlation between emotional thinking and epilepsy,” said Greyson Holliday, co-author and MU undergraduate student studying psychology. “This study suggests that people may have natural neurological predispositions to think about religion but not in a way that is necessarily associated with emotion.”
Future research is already planned, but it seems that this indicates that deep spiritual experiences are indeed just a product of the brain. Some people have brains more likely to have those experiences, and some people don't.
For me, this completely destroys the notion that we chose to believe or not. It seems we come pre-wired one way or the other (I'm sure environmental factors still play a part).
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 4:14 pm
That might be so. I am grounded to reality and when I hear people talking about spirituality, it baffles me.
Don't get me wrong, I like mystery and doubt, something that motivates me to dig deeper and find out what is up. But I don't fear doubt. To paraphrase Feynman, I can live with doubt, uncertainty and not knowing. It makes things much most interesting, to live in doubt, than to have answers that might be wrong.
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 4:15 pm
Let me be the first to assert that this proves that humans are wired to believe in the existence of a supreme being who created and rules the universe. That's exactly what that study said.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 4:28 pm
Action/Reward/Memory feedback, dopamine/glutamate.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 7:03 pm
Makes sense. Healthy adult brains don't have imaginary friends.
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 9:55 pm
I guess that proves that belief in God is the default position after all. We are naturally born theists!
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 10:05 pm
(March 10, 2017 at 9:55 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: I guess that proves that belief in God is the default position after all. We are naturally born theists! No, it proves that there is a sliding scale, where some people are born wired to have these natural experiences strongly, some moderately, some weekly, some not at all.
So, if loving god is a choice, why did he create some people able to do it easily, and some not able to do it at all, hardwired into their brains?
Also, are you not at all bothered that religious experinces are deeply connected to brain siezures and halucinations? God is just a figment, one science has located in your brain.
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 10:49 pm
I would have thought that most people are religious because their family and everyone around them is.
As a child, doing what grown-ups do makes a lot of sense.
It is my belief that most people don't question their beliefs in adulthood because of mental laziness and being too busy with life.
The transition from theist to atheist takes a massive amount of thought over a long period of time, for most, I would assume.
Especially for those who did it pre-internet.
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 10:52 pm
(March 10, 2017 at 9:55 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: I guess that proves that belief in God is the default position after all. We are naturally born theists!
Luckily, lots of us grow up.
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RE: The connection between religion and neuropsychological processes in the human brain
March 10, 2017 at 10:57 pm
(This post was last modified: March 10, 2017 at 10:58 pm by ignoramus.)
(March 10, 2017 at 9:55 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: I guess that proves that belief in God is the default position after all. We are naturally born theists!
That might be correct but bear in mind that the brain has been evolving for millions of years...
Logic and other complex thought processes came about only when a high enough enough level of consciousness was reached.
If we were to blindly follow our ancestral lizard brain it would still be OK to knockout a woman with your club and drag her into your cave by the hair...
This is how obsolete this divine seeking phenomenon is.
Think of it as a vesitigal process. And stop believing in primitive mythology!  Nao!
No God, No fear.
Know God, Know fear.
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