Also see more complete research on this.
Also the
supernatural
the continuing major research which links religious beliefs and
visions with neurological processes. Authored by Dr. Raj Persaud,
consultant psychiatrist to the Maudsley Hospital in London, England,
the report notes "discoveries from modern neurology that establish a
link between religion and particular brain areas," and the possibility
that biologists may have even discovered "the location of god."
Scientists, historians and philosophers have long debated the
existence of a "god module" in the human brain that may account for
religious visions, feelings of ecstasy and related phenomenon.
Epilepsy seems to play a role in some of these experiences, and
Persaud notes that a particular form of the illness involving the
brain's temporal lobes seems to be related to "distinctive religious
fervor."
"Jeffrey Saver and John Rabin from the UCLA Neurologic Research Center
argue that substantial numbers of founders of religions, prophets and
other religious figures, display symptoms which suggest they suffered
from epilepsy," observed Dr. Persaud. Mohammad, Joan of Arc and even
the apostle St. Paul are cited.
Another researcher exploring the link between neurophysiology and
religious belief is Vilayanur Ramachandran, director of the Center for
Brain and Cognition at the University of California. His Brain and
Perception Laboratory at UCSD pursues research into perception,
phantom limb phenomenon (where patients experience mislocalized
sensations) and other dysfunctions. In 1997, Ramachandran headed a
research team which suggested the discovery of a "God module" in the
human brain which could underpin an evolutionary instinct to believe
in religion. The London Times noted, "A study of epileptics who are
known to have profoundly spiritual experiences has located a circuit
of nerves in the front of the brain which appears to become
electrically active when they think about god." Media, the scientific
community and the academy all began a renewed debate on whether the
phenomenon of religious belief was somehow "hard-wired" into our
anatomy.
"There may be dedicated neural machinery in the temporal lobes
concerned with religion," the University of California team reported.
"This may have evolved to impose order and stability on society."
In the laboratory, Dr. Ramachandran and his colleagues studied people
with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), along with a group of highly
religious volunteers and those whose religious beliefs were not known.
The subjects were shown a list of 40 words, which included sexual,
violent, religious and "neutral" terms. Responses were measured to
track the amount of communication between parts of the brain.
The non-religious group showed sweaty palm activity (a gauge for
arousal and an indirect way of measuring certain neural activities)
when presented with sexual terms. Patients with Temporal Lobe
Epilepsy, though, were disproportionately aroused by the religious
words. That and other research led the Ramachandran team to conclude
that human beings may have evolved specialized circuitry in the brain
for the purpose of mediating religious experiences, and that the TLEs
are at the extreme end of the spectrum.
The Financial Times piece also noted the work of Canadian psychologist
and neuroanatomist Michael Persinger; he recently found that "one of
the main differences between the 19 per cent of high school students
who had religious experiences before their teens, and the rest, was
the presence of a head injury or a blackout at least once during
childhood." Indeed, head injuries have been considered a factor in
the religious experience of prominent leaders such as Ellen White, a
cofounder of the Seventh-day Adventist movement. As a young girl, she
was in a three week coma followed by a long period of amnesia -- which
may account for her claims of religious visions.
Persinger has also done pioneering work on the effects of "luminous
display" energy and the experience of religious/paranormal events
including visions and even alleged UFO sightings.
The role of the brain and a possible "God module" continues to be
debated, and reported widely. It promises to educate us about the
nature not only of our evolutionary and anatomical heritage, but the
objects of our beliefs as well.