Neurotheology: Which came first, God or the brain? :: Chemistry Neurotheology Papers

Neurotheology: Which came first, God or the brain? à ¬It feels like a loss of boundaryÃâ€"Ità ­s as if the film of your life broke and you were seeing the light that allowed the film to be projectedÃâ€"à ®: Michael Baime describes the sensations he experiences during Zen meditation. Michael is a subject of the brain imaging study performed by scientists Newburg and Dà ­Aquili to track neural activity during Zen meditation. Newburg and Dà ­Aquili wanted to find out which brain sections were most active during the meditative states achieved by Michael and his fellow subjects. (2). Which regions of the brain are most active during spiritual or mystical experiences? Can an understanding of the neuroscience of spirituality prove the existence of God? It can be difficult to unobtrusively track the neuronal activity of those in intense states of meditation or prayer without jolting them back into everyday perception. However, using Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, or SPECT, scientists Newburg and Dà ­Aquili were able to track neuronal activity in skilled meditators without disturbing them. With an intravenous tube in their arm, each meditator focused intently on a single, usually religious image until they achieved their familiar meditative sense of à ¬onenessà ®. When each meditator felt this sense, they tugged on a string to alert the researchers, who then injected a radioactive tracer into the intravenous line. The tracer bound to the brain regions where blood flow was highest. A scanner then made a snapshot showing the regions with the most blood flow, which indicates neuronal activity. (3). Since the meditators were focusing intently, the Prefrontal Cortex, associated with attention, lit up. But more strikingly, the parietal lobes showed very little activity. Part of the cerebrum, the parietal lobes are associated with the orientation of the body in space and processing information about time and space. More specifically, the left superior parietal lobe creates the perception of the physical bodyà ­s boundaries. The right superior parietal lobe creates the perception of the physical space outside of the body. (3). Blocked off from neuronal activity, the parietal lobe cannot create a sensation of boundary between the physical body and the outside world, which may explain the meditatorsà ­ sense of à «onenessà ­ with the Universe. Since the parietal lobes were also unable to perform their usual task of creating our linear perception of time, meditators achieved a sensation of infinity and timelessness.