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God and the brain – is there a God spot in the brain?

The relationship between God and the brain is a field of study that that for many years been subject to countless research analogies each trying to prove or dissolute the essence of objectivity in the study. The scholarship approach to the study refers to it as neurotheology to connote the study of the relationship between neuroscience and theology (Newberg, 2010). Neuroscience is a broad subject of study encompassing the fields of cognitive, neurology, social discourse and psychology but figuratively neurology refers to the comprehensive study entailing to the functionality and set-up of the brain. Theology on the other hand refers to the empirical study of a specific religion and their atonement to belief particularly to God (Newberg, 2010). The study of neurotheology therefore is a composite science that tries to find the link between belief in God and the role played by the brain in accounting for this belief. The subject has managed to purport both positive and negative results since its inception in 1975 after publication of “Biopsychological Determinants of Religious Ritual Behavior” by Eugene and Charles arguing that neuropsychology was the stem to which the spiritual phenomenon religion establishes itself (Seybold, 2005). This study will provide critical analysis to the subject of determining whether rationally there is an existence of a God spot in the brain.

The brain is clearly the most complex entity of the human body considering the various branches of science concentrating on the shear nature of the brain in its entirety. The brain consists of an interlinked network of connections for the purpose of signal transmission each signal embedded with a message to serve a particular function. It is from this complexity factor that different hypothesis and analogies have developed throughout the existence of man in his quest to understand the essence of the brain and its purpose to the human psyche (Albright, 2000). Some studies have managed to prove that indeed there does reside a spot in the brain purposefully for God while other studies disapprove with entirety the context of the hypothesis to existence of a God spot in the brain. The complexity of the brain according to William James and Flower is a result of experiences both intrinsic and extrinsic to human character hence attributing to growth of a more personal and spiritual perspective (Kapogiannis et.al, 2009). The experiences that manifest with the occurrence of epileptic seizures have been used to justify the thesis of the existence of a God module in the brain with research showing that the left temporal lobe in the onset of this seizure emanates euphoric feelings that are associated with the manifestation of God in the Brain. The part of the brain attributed to this discourse is designated as repository for divine experiences in the human life and as a repository for religious misconceptions in the human life. Through this insightful experience, it is proclaimed that the spiritual essence in the “self” manifests hence arguably this means the complete human brain is a God module (Albright, 2000).

The “self” and the aspects it encompasses form one of the major conundrums studied in psychology in a bid to expound its relationship to human behaviour. Philosophy and religion have formed the basis of the study where according to western philosophy; the “self” is described as an entity in singularity both subjective and unique to every individual. Religion such as Christianity takes a firmer description of the self by proclaiming denial of the “self” to levitate into dependence of God (Han et.al, 2008). The consequences of such belief to the human psyche remain a mystery in relation to how it establishes in the workings of the brain. Studies of the brain show that there exists a brain structure attributed to self-referential processing. To establish if religious influence played a part in self-referential processing, candidates in a research were required to answer questions of a personal nature and to give their judgement on whether their conception represented the self or other values. Research through use of brain imaging showed that indeed human behaviour was influenced by religious beliefs in the ability of the brain to process information about the “self” (Han et.al, 2008). However the finding were passive in nature since they did not conclusively attribute the processing capability of the brain to any neural basis that would distinctively separate the basis of using Christian religion as the subject of study and if another religion subjected to the same study would yield the same results.

Religion beliefs have been a part of human life for the longest time now and are found in every community and social context studied in anthropology. This therefore means that human nature and behaviour intrinsically and extrinsically is characterized by religious and spiritual discourses. It is for this reason that the analogy to the existence of the “God spot” stems to justify the susceptibility and crucial impact that spirituality plays to the human psyche and more generally to their interaction in a societal context. However, from a scientific perceptive there does not exist a spot localized on the brain responsible for experiences attributed to divinity of God but hypothetically, it is important to note the essence of “the spot” to human recollection of spirituality and religion since it surpasses contextualisation to resonate even in secular people who still remain spiritual in nature.

References

Albright, C. (2000), The “God Module” and the complexifying brain. Zygon, 35: 735–744. doi: 10.1111/1467-9744.00311Han, S., Mao, L., Gu, X., Zhu, Y., Ge, J., & Ma, Y. (2008). Neural consequences of religious belief on self-referential processing. Social Neuroscience, 3(1), 1-15. doi:10.1080/17470910701469681Kapogiannis, D., Barbey, A., Su, M., Zamboni, G., Krueger, F., Grafman, J., & Raichle, M. (2009). Cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, 106(12), 4876 – 4881. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0811717106Newberg, A. (2010). Methodological principles for research in neurotheology: Practical and philosophical implications. NeuroQuantology, 8(4). Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.neuroquantology.com%2Findex.php%2Fjournal%2Farticle%2Fview%2F368&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGIzI6frEqc9GCzEh6BbFkv5-yNvw” t “_blank” http://www.neuroquantology.com/index.php/journal/article/view/368Seybold, K. (2005). God and the brain: Neuroscience looks at religion. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 24(2), 122-129.