Links to Spirituality Found in the Brain | Hacker News Reader

Links to Spirituality Found in the Brain

news.yahoo.com

18 pointsepi0Bauqu15 comments

Deciding that spirituality is a defect from this is the wrong conclusion.

The experience of spirituality itself is natural and desirable. As described in the article, it's "self-transcendence." I experience self-transcendence when I listen to good music, look at good art, or otherwise get wrapped up in ideas that are bigger than (transcend) my day-to-day life in an inspiring way.

I think this has also been recorded as happening to astronauts when they look down on the earth. It really depends on the definition of spirituality though and unfortunately in the US a lot of people carry a lot of baggage when it comes to just what that looks like to them.

Translating to english it says that one possible cause of religion is brain damage.

I don't know how good their science is but no wonder they had to hide the conclusions behind convoluted language.

They may distinguish between religion and spirituality.

Since the parent of this comment was voted up...

Maybe there are different acceptable ways to exist and there is no 'correct brain'. This one adaptation allows for a different skill-set than some other adaptation.

As opposed to.... where?

The heart, of course!

As opposed to not found.

Gotcha.

"Self-transcendence 'reflects a decreased sense of self and an ability to identify one's self as an integral part of the universe as a whole,' the researchers explain."

To me this sounds like an imbalance that would turn a person in to a doormat/easy mark/sucker since it overwhelms the counterbalancing selfishness that protects the individual. In a healthy individual, this part of the brain would help motivate what Tony Hseih calls "relatedness" and "connection to a larger vision". It would be interesting to know how the patients' oxytocin levels were effected, since there might be a bonding/safe-and-warm-feelings response happening in response to the world at large. It would also be interesting to see similar studies of LSD takers who report "a cosmic connection".

Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but is this article suggesting that brain damage is causally linked to increased spirituality?

If so... lmao?

Well, kinda. The researchers supposedly found that one particular sort of brain damage sometimes makes people more "spiritual" in some sense. Brain damage can be causally linked to all sorts of things, including some things that occur naturally and are generally reckoned good things -- e.g., I think sometimes someone whose brain is damaged will develop musical talents they didn't have before -- so I think it would be premature to conclude that "spirituality" in general is the result of a malfunctioning brain.

(The idea of a link between "spirituality" and brain failure is quite old. For instance, it's been known for a long time that temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with some sorts of religious experience.)

There was a pretty fascinating talk at TED by Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist who experienced a massive stroke ("my stroke of insight"). On the one hand she observed her own neurological functions shut down with clinical curiosity, and on the other she had a very strong impression of losing her sense of self and being completely connected with the world.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke...

Would it be considered "cruel and unusual punishment" to inflict brain surgery upon habitual violent criminals?

Almost sounds like something from the Soviet era, or earlier.

Presaged in the book _Vacuum Flowers_ http://amzn.com/0441858767

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