The God spot in the brain?
There's a report in New Scientist this week that neurologists may have found the location in our brains that is related to feelings of "transcendence". Scientists have been looking for the "seat of religion" for years now, and the research just published may be the breakthrough they needed.
"By observing brain cancer patients before and after brain surgery, researchers in Italy have found that damage to the posterior part of the brain, specifically in an area called the parietal cortex, can increase patients’ feelings of ‘self transcendence,’ or feeling at one with the universe. The parietal cortex is the region that is is usually involved in maintaining a sense of self, for example by helping you keep track of your body parts. It has also been linked to prayer and meditation.The study, led by psychologist Cosimo Urgesi of the University of Udine in Italy, surveyed 88 brain cancer patients before and after surgery to remove their tumors. They were made to fill out a questionnaire regarding their beliefs, including a section to check their measure of ‘self-transcendence.’ People score highly for this trait if they answer ‘yes’ to questions such as: ‘I often feel so connected to the people around me that I feel like there is no separation’; ‘I feel so connected to nature that everything feels like one single organism’; and ‘I got lost in the moment and detached from time’. The same people also tend to believe in miracles, extrasensory perception and other non-material phenomena.
The scientists found that before the surgery, patients with parietal cortex tumors reported higher levels of self-transcendence than patients with tumors in the frontal cortex. After the tumors were removed, the parietal cortex patients had even higher self-transcendence scores, while the frontal cortex patients showed no change."
Read the full account here.
This is interesting in conjunction with my story of my reform Jewish friend who decided at age 77, in the beginning phases of his decline with dementia, to finally become Bar Mitzvah.
When he was growing up, Reform Jews did not do Bar/Bat Mitzvah, they got "confirmed." Many times before his dementia set in I had asked him if that was important to him; he felt he could not do his Torah portion at his advanced age.
However, at 77, when his dementia and his memory skills were obviously declining, a couple of months after he took a trip to Israel, we were sitting in the living room with friends and he suddenly expressed an urge to become Bar Mitzvah, and did so about 4 months later.
It is of interest that the main changes in his brain at that time by MRI were happening in the parietal lobe.
BTW, he learned his Torah with flying colors, despite the difficulty of it all, and his ability to shine during the ceremony made one of his Christian friends remark to me, "My God, it was like watching the Transfiguration of Christ!" (big grin.)
Posted by Maria L. Evans![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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February 13, 2010 8:31 PM
researchers in Italy have found that damage to the posterior part of the brain, specifically in an area called the parietal cortex, can increase patients’ feelings of ‘self transcendence,’ or feeling at one with the universe.
So a belief in The Transcendent---the Ground of Being, a Higher Power, "God"---is caused by . . . brain damage? Who funded this study, Richard Dawkins?
JC Fisher
...whose part of the brain which is the "seat of the hermeneutics of suspicion" has been activated!
Posted by tgflux![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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February 14, 2010 4:45 PM