Andrew Newberg, M.D., Eugene D’aquili, M.D., Ph.D., and Vince Rause in their book Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief all present a theory that the religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the human brain.
Andrew and Eugene base this revolutionary conclusion on a long-term investigation of brain function and behavior as well as studies they conducted using high-tech imaging techniques to peer into the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. What they discovered was that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads one to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid, tangible reality. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call “oneness with the universe” and the Franciscans attribute to the palpable presence of God is not a delusion, or subjective psychology, or simple wishful thinking. The inescapable conclusion is that God seems to be hard-wired into the human brain.
From Andrew Newberg’s Website
I’m only going to grab one quote from Newberg’s website because I want to tell you what I believe based on my reading of his book and my life experience. I believe humans have the ability to feel things that can not be adequately explained by words. And, maybe should not be explained by words. At the beginning of this article I wrote this:
So as a result early in our lives we hear the word God.
The word God is just a word that we all use, misuse, love, hate, or spend our lives coming to understand or reject. What is important is all of our life experiences that allow us to give meaning to the word and what we feel about the word.
I think “faith in something” has a biological origin that gives the human species a evolutionary advantage. Think of how hard it was to survive ten thousand years ago. No supermarkets. No cars. No modern medicine. Just your small tribe and what ever customs that they were able to pass on to the next generation.
In a past Street Prophets article I wrote about nursing a friend through hospice. In that article I did not go into detail about his losing his faith. He had faith in the KEYTRUDA® medication treatment he was receiving. After 4 months of the treatment there was some progress in shrinking the tumors. All the literature I read said it could take upwards of one year to have its maximum effect. But, for many reasons he lost faith. And gave up. And died.
The point I’m trying to make is what if he had been able to keep his blind faith in the medication and had not given up there was a small statistical chance that the medication might have given him a total cure if he had held on for the full year.
Same thing for the ten thousand year old tribe. The tribe is starving. If everyone in the tribe had faith in something they just might have lasted a few more days and found food.
I do not say this often, but I’m an atheist. My friend was a “seeker of the truth.” When I first met him he was a follower of the Law of One.
The Law of One books were channeled by L/L Research (Carla Rueckert, Don Elkins, and Jim McCarty) between 1981 and 1984. The books (there are five) can be purchased from L/L Research’s online store or freely downloaded from their library. This site includes all of the questions and answers from the books, as well as about 60 more questions and answers that were discovered in the Relistening Project.
In addition he had an extensive library of just about every spiritual, metaphysical, craft book, and UFO book ever published. A life time of searching for answers. And when it came down to the end none of it gave him any comfort. He told me he wasted his life on nonsense and became bitter. And as mention in my article the election of Trump was the final act of reality that killed his spirit.
But, I had faith or a feeling of faith. Not in God or any channeled wisdom but just simple faith in that it was my place to be to care for him. And I attribute this to being sensitive to my body and what it feels. I could not have gotten through the six months caring for my friend with out faith.
I think atheists and religious individuals could get along better if both groups acknowledged that there is a biological basis for these feelings. Now these groups may disagree over what what to do with these feelings. But, just the simple respect of acknowledging them is a start.
When ever I talk to a extremely Right Wing Christian I deliberately do not talk about logic or dogma. The last thing in world I would do is try and talk them out of their beliefs. What I do is try and find common ground with our feelings. And by doing that I make the conversation personal and simple.
Best,
Jonathan