The Spiritual Brain : A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul

"Do religious experiences come from God, or are they merely the random firing of neurons in the brain? Drawing on his own research with Carmelite nuns, neuroscientist Mario Beauregard shows that genuine, life-changing spiritual events can be documented. He offers compelling evidence that religious experiences have a nonmaterial origin, making a convincing case for what many in scientific fields are loath to consider--that it is God who creates our spiritual experiences, not the brain. Beauregard and O'Leary explore recent attempts to locate a "God gene" in some of us and claims that our brains are "hardwired" for religion--even the strange case of one neuroscientist who allegedly invented an electromagnetic "God helmet" that could produce a mystical experience in anyone who wore it. The authors argue that these attempts are misguided and narrow-minded, because they reduce spiritual experiences to material phenomena. Many scientists ignore hard evidence that challenges their materialistic prejudice, clinging to the limited view that our experiences are explainable only by material causes, in the obstinate conviction that the physical world is the only reality. But scientific materialism is at a loss to explain irrefutable accounts of mind over matter, of intuition, willpower, and leaps of faith, of the "placebo effect" in medicine, of near-death experiences on the operating table, and of psychic premonitions of a loved one in crisis, to say nothing of the occasional sense of oneness with nature and mystical experiences in meditation or prayer. Traditional science explains away these and other occurrences as delusions or misunderstandings, but by exploring the latest neurological research on phenomena such as these, The Spiritual Brain gets to their real source." -- Provided by publisher

does Religious Experience Come From God, Or Is It Just The Random Firing Of Neurons In The Brain? The Spiritual Brain Proves That Genuine, Life-changing Spiritual Events Can Be Documented. The Authors Make A Convincing Case For What Many In Science Are Loathe To Consider—-that It Is God Who Creates Our Spiritual Experiences, Not The Brain.

publishers Weekly

following C.s. Lewis's Dictum That To 'see Through' All Things Is The Same As Not To See, Neuroscientist Beauregard And Journalist O'leary Mount A Sweeping Critique Of A Trend In The Pop Science Media To Explain Away Religious Experience As A Brain Artifact, Pathology Or Evolutionary Quirk. While Sympathizing With The Attraction Such Neurotheology Holds, The Authors Warn Against The Temptation To Force The Complex Varieties Of Human Spirituality Into Simplistic Categories That They Argue Are Conceptually Crude, Culturally Biased And Often Empirically Untested. In Recently Published Research Using Carmelite Nuns As Subjects, Beauregard's Group At The University Of Montreal Found Specific Areas Of Brain Activation Associated With Contemplative Prayer. But These Patterns Are Quite Distinct From Those Associated With Hallucinations, Autosuggestion Or States Of Intense Emotional Arousal, Resembling Instead How The Brain Processes Real Experiences. Insisting That We Have Never Entertained The Idea Of Proving The Existence Of God, The Authors Concede That The Results Of Our Work Are Assumed To Be A Strike Either For Or Against God And That On The Whole, We [don't] Mind. Never Shrinking From Controversy, And Sometimes Deliberately Provoking It, This Book Serves As A Lively Introduction To A Field Where Neuroscience, Philosophy, And Secular/spiritual Cultural Wars Are Unavoidably Intermingled. (sept.)

copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Toward a spiritual neuroscience The God program is there such a program? The God module does it even exist? The strange case of the God helmet Are mind and brain identical? Toward a non-materialist science of mind Who has mystical experiences? what triggers them? Do RSMEs change lives? The Carmelite studies : a new direction? Did God create the brain or does the brain create God? Drawing on his own research along with others' work in neuroscience as well as some research in NDE (near-death experiences), the author proves that genuine spiritual experiences can be documented and they generally have life-changing effects. He explains how such experiences work and the difference they make in the lives of the individual. Drawing on work in neuroscience and near-death experiences, Beauregard argues that genuine spiritual experiences can be documented, and they generally have life-changing effects. This book explains how such experiences work and the difference they make in the lives of the individual Draws on high-profile brain and near-death-experience research to present a case for God's existence as indicated by neuroscience, arguing that God, rather than brain neurons, is directly responsible for creating spiritual experiences. Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 30, 2007).