Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief

There is a very good overview of current scientific research and argument regarding the nature of religious and mystical exerience here. Recent research into the neurological origins of religion, the stunning compatibilities between various religious myths and inclinations, the function and universality of ritual (across the animal kingdom), the commonness of lesser mystical experience and ritual-such as music, art, or by simply taking a bath, and the social cohesian and function that religion plays in virtually any society, are all discussed.The book also details the long standing arguments about whether various deep religious experience is an expression of some kind of mental disorder(s), or a higher brain function useful for specific purposes. It notes for example that highly religious persons throughout the ages have often also been significant achievers. This appears to be imcompatible with the notion that they are 'mentally disordered'. The book asserts that for whatever reason 'altered brain states' occur, there was/is a significant evolutionary reason for them to have been selected in the first place. This is an important point;- altered brain states, including mystical/religious experience, probably had their origin in the struggle for existance, which was then utilised for other circumstances. The origin of myth-making and ritual in the human condition for example, is discussed in this way. There are also discussions on the importance of conflict, contradiction and resolution in religious ritual and myth, and their likely evolutionary origins.Many of the books early assertions appear to be summations and ideas strung together from elsewhere, but the book in the second half becomes more controversial in asserting that the altered mental states or 'higher reality', as described variously by mystics, may in fact BE an alternative/higher reality, and not a cultural interpretation of unusual brain functioning. This is a bold assertion, which requires some weighty evidence. The evidence presented in this book however appears to rest mostly on shaky anecdotal support, "I experienced a highly significant event, therefore my interpretation of this event must also be correct". The authors suggest that various mystical/religious experience may imply the existance of an independant 'higher reality', which brain evolution has already cottoned onto. The authors seem to suggest that whilst most people who have some kind of religious experience do in fact misinterpret them, it is still possible that they are ultimately right-an independant and profound reality exists, independent of the evolution of the senses and the self. Whilst conceding the possibility, I personally need more evidence of this concept of 'God' to accept that this experience isn't just a fundamentally important ability of the brain, to give us survival, purpose and meaning, but not necassarily a connection to an external 'God' or 'reality', however you may want to define this 'reality'.Ultimately there are two possibilities this book suggests to account for religious experience. 1) It is fundamentally a state of mind, selected by evolution and useful for survival in predominantly past environments 2) It is the evolution into a higher reality, something we are perhaps 'evolving into'. The jury is out for me on this one. I don't know whether as a scientist we are evolving into "religion", or out of it, but I do recognise its origins in the evolution of the brain. It seems clear to me, that evolution selected the altered mental states this book describes (and some of which I have experienced) for various individual/group survival purposes, which can then be used/modified for other purposes. Whatever is the case, soemthing strange is going on in this brain of ours.I agreed with the books view that many of the simple things we do for example, as humans, are simply variations of the 'ritual' experience-such as taking a relaxing bath, or listening to rythmical music. These have been shown to stimulate areas of the brain in a similar way to relgious ritual and association. Interestingly, there also seems to be a link between various altered brain states/mystical/religious experience and the evolution of the orgasm. There are many similarities-they are associated with the same brain areas, and they both produce deeply profound and satisfying 'brain-body' experiences. The evolution of some religious experience may in fact be linked with a kind of schism in the sexual experience within the brain. It is an interesting idea.There is also good balance in this book between recognising that 'religious experience' is not all for fuddy-duddies. It is real, and it has played a huge and benificial part in human development. It is asserted however, that it is often misunderstood. Rather than being a window to 'God', it may simply be a neuorological ability of the brain, to deal with difficult environments. It's apparently unusual social expression is easily misunderstood.The book only briefly touches on the negative side of religious experience, and simply notes that any human activity can be perverted, or misused. It was not the purpose of this book to focus on the negative social aspects of religion, other than to perhaps note that it is possible much of this is possibly the incomplete mental expression of these mental mechanisms.The title pretty much covers the content-'God' isn't going away so easily, primarily because we have a biological tendancy to religious experience. Science is only just beginning to learn of the social benefits of various religious states and mental associations. This book is definitely a step in the right direction. I don't think any scientist can call himself a lover of humanity who doesn't seek to at least examine the basis and the implications of the ideas presented in this book, with an open mind.

Even though this book was published 15 years ago, the research it's based on hasn't quite made it to the public sphere. And some of the work being done from this research has done everything possible to eliminate a Christian base by citing on the Zen monks as the sole research subjects. The book is even-handed in dealing with all major religions, and I'm grateful that the authors didn't succumb to the zeitgeist and eliminate their research on Christian faith and Christian forms of prayer.I'm impressed that any scientist would be willing to suggested physical evidence for a non-rational experience, but this is what they've done.The book occasionally skirts the atheist's assumption that science can explain everything. I wish all those scientist who assert that God doesn't exist because we can't find him (with our limited sense based perceptual capacities) would take a hard look at the research referenced in this book.Now I want even more research.

The religious worldview has been contrasted with the scientific one for the last five hundred years, but even more so in the last one hundred and fifty, due mostly to the advances and different perspectives in biology. It would be fair to say though that the religious worldview has "survived" the scrutiny of science, and that religion, in many different forms and holding to many different deities, is alive and well. Many have predicted the demise of religion due to scientific advances, but this has not yet happened. In fact, just the reverse has happened: religious belief has increased at a time when scientific advances have been the most rapid. In retrospect it is perhaps not surprising that this has happened. Science does not answer as of yet many fundamental questions that are deemed important by many to the human condition, such as the possibility of life after death. In addition, some of the scientific and technological advances have themselves caused extreme anxiety, motivating some to seek the spiritual comfort of religion.In the last few decades, advances in neuroscience have offered another challenge to religious belief. These advances have called into serious question the notion of free will and even that of personal identity. Further, many of the researchers in this field have claimed that religious feelings and visions are nothing other than neuronal activities in the brain. These researchers have not explained however the evolutionary advantages of these feelings, if any.The authors of this book examine the evidence for the view that religious thought is purely neuronal, and the evidence that it can be given a purely naturalistic explanation. If religious belief or mysticism can be giving a purely biological grounding, this would be of significance to those who want to devote their lives to its practice. The authors' discussion is highly interesting, especially the first five chapters, where they discuss many of the latest results in neuroscience. The book is written for a general audience, and so no background in neuroscience is assumed. However, readers could appreciate the book more if they come to the book with some knowledge of the brain regions and neuronal processes, and familiarity with the experimental techniques used in the imaging of the brain.One of the more interesting discussions in these initial chapters concerns the authors' notion of "cognitive operators", which represent the collective functions of different structures of the brain. As an example of a cognitive operator, they give the one that is responsible for solving mathematical problems. This mathematical cognitive operator thus represents all of the structures and functions of the brain that are responsible for arriving at the solution of these problems. The notion of a cognitive operator is thus a kind of coarse-grained representation of brain activity, as it does not make explicit reference to the activities of individual neurons. As the authors explain, cognitive operators shape thoughts and feelings, but are not themselves ideas. A cognitive operator could be viewed as somewhat similar to the concept of a `schema' that has been floated about recently in the literature on cognitive neuroscience. The authors discuss eight cognitive operators that they believe are most relevant to religious experience: the `holistic operator', which, as the name implies, enables one to view the world as a whole, and arises in the activity of the parietal lobe; the `reductionist operator', which allows the world to be dissected into its component parts; the `abstractive operator', which forms general concepts from the perception of individual facts, finds links between facts; the `quantitative operator' which allows the abstraction of quantity from percepts; the `causal operator', which allows the interpretation of events as sequences of causes and effects; the `binary operator', which allows space-time relationships to be reduced to simple pairs of opposites (up-down for example); the `existential operator', which gives a sense of existence to sensory information processed by the brain; the `emotional value operator', which assigns emotional responses to the processes of cognition and perception. The functioning of all of these operators, the authors assert, can be observed using brain imaging techniques, such as PET and fMRI.The authors do not depart from the neuroscientific viewpoint that whatever a human experiences can be associated with activity in certain regions of the brain. Therefore if an individual is having a genuine experience with a deity, it will show up in brain activity. This opens up the possibility of doing controlled experiments that show what areas of the brain are active when certain individuals are having religious or mystical experiences.Myth-making, ritual, and other activities associated with religion are not a cause of alarm for the authors. Many have taking these activities to be proof of the scientific inadequacy of religion, but they are very comfortable in using them as support for their belief that the brain is actually meant for communication with a deity. Indeed, religious ritual results in neurological effects that convert a religious belief into a religious feeling. This allows the actual experience of the presence of a deity, an experience that mystics have reported throughout the ages. Humans, in the view of the authors, are compelled to act out their myths due to the neurological processes of the brain. They also want to distinguish between mysticism and psychotic delusion, arguing in particular that hallucinations cannot provide the mind with an experience that is as "convincing" as a mystical one. Mystical experiences are rich and coherent, and are actually remembered in the same way as ordinary past events. Further, mystical spirituality beings as an act of free will, and results in what the authors refer to as `deafferentiation' in certain areas of the brain. This results in the "loss of self" that can accompany mystical experiences.The authors' assertions are interesting, and they clearly believe that they have given evidence that experience of a deity is in fact real. One could just as easily argue that these brain activities are mere fantasies. The authors acknowledge this also.

This is highly enlightening reading for anyone interested in nature v. nature, brain function, meditation, or spirituality. It shouldn't offend either the religious or the non-religious. It's scientific at it's core, but allows for spiritual application. It has enhanced my understanding of the brain and how it views life. Can't say enough about it.

Excellent book and very nicely explained things buy a doctor.

Sehr gutes , interessantes BuchBeantwortet viele FragenMacht neue aufMotiviert sich wiedereinmal mit Neuro Forschung zu beschäftigen . Gut geschrieben!

It is scientifically explained by the doctors.

This is the second time I have bought this excellent book - the original was loaned to someone and hasn't yet reappearedand I couldn't bear not having a copy to hand.The subject Neurotheology and the Science of Belief may sound a little daunting but the subtitle 'Why God won't go away' is much more exciting and helps the reader understand the nature of belief and how we are 'hard wired' for God - unbeatable in its field!

Good scientific reasoning for religion