Newberg, Neuroscience, and Religious Experience in the Washington Post

Michael Gerson of the Washington Post has just published a piece entitled, "A Searcher With Faith in Mind." He highlights the recent book out (How God Changes Your Brain [Ballantine, 2009]) by neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, who has been doing ample work concerning the affect of religious experience and practice on the brain for the past decade or so.

Gerson outlines Newberg's latest work, forwarding strong support for the biological side of religious/spiritual exeriences. Newberg's findings show that spiritual practice (such as prayer, breath control, contemplation, etc.) alter the neural connections in the brain and lead to lasting feelings of contentment, love, and unity. Though these practices don't require a belief in God or Ultimate Reality, strong religious belief tends to amplify the effect on the brain and fosters hightened "social awareness and empathy." Newberg's latest work suggests that what type of God one focuses one tends to affect the brain and thus one's experience accordingly. That is, when one sets attention on a loving God the frontal lobes and the anterior cingulate are strengthened, which are areas concerned with empathy and reason. Whereas, when one sets attention on a wrathful God the limbic system is activated, which controls aggression and fear. God we choose to put our faith in creates our experience in that God's image (regardless of that God's actual reality).

Ever since I've encountered it in seminary, I've been excited about the work Newberg has been doing, but, more importantly, I admire his attitude toward religion. He is not religious in any way, but possesses a profound respect for religious experience and expression. He doesn't carry the smug conceit of scientism that the only things worthy of being deemed "real" are those that science can detect, quantify, and analyze. Though neuroscience can't tell us whether or not God or Ultimate Reality exists (this is beyond the realm of science), but it can provide a neurobiological underpinning to help explain and support the reality of religious experience.

The affect of the non-physical and invisible on the physical and visible, as well as practices like prayer and contemplation having great influence on mental and physical well-being, is something that the Unity tradition has been affirming since Charles and Myrtle Fillmore (co-founders of Unity). But this new work by leading neuroscientists like Newberg and others is an important corroboration of the beliefs, principles, and practices in which many of us put our faith.

Check out Gerson's article!