Is there a G-d spot in the brain ?

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Hello All:

For some tme now I have been trying to turn up some rational and science-based information regarding mystical experiences. Research is scarce since these episodes are very personal and private for those who have had them. Having experienced several such episodes in my life which led me to do some serious writing about things that I did not have previous experience with, or specific knowledge about, I can tell you all that it is a very unsettling and sometimes scary experience to know that you really have no control over what your brain is directing you to do.

I ran across this article the other day and it seems to confirm my experiences and assumptions that the entire brain of an affected individual participates in the overall experience, and not just a single part of it.

Your comments or questions are welcome of course.

flow....:cool:


No 'God Spot' in the Human Brain
By Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 29 August 2006
01:43 pm ET



The human brain does not contain a single "God spot" responsible for mystical and religious experiences, a new study finds.

Instead, the sense of union with God or something greater than the self often described by those who have undergone such experiences involves the recruitment and activation of a variety brain regions normally implicated in different functions such as self-consciousness, emotion and body representation.

The finding, detailed in the current issue of Neuroscience Letters, contradicts previous suggestions by other researchers that the there might be a specific region in the brain designed for communication with God.

What it means

"The main goal of the study was to identify the neural correlates of a mystical experience," said study leader Mario Beauregard of the University of Montreal in Canada. "This does not diminish the meaning and value of such an experience, and neither does it confirm or disconfirm the existence of God."

In the study, 15 cloistered Carmelite nuns, ranging in age from 23 to 64, had their brains scanned while asked to relive the most intense mystical experience they had ever had as members of the religious order.

The nuns were not asked to try and actually achieve a state of spiritual union with God during the experiment because, as the nuns put it, "God cannot be summoned at will."

Joy and love

Nevertheless, the researchers believe their method was justified because previous studies have shown that actors asked to enter a particular state activated the same brain regions as people actually experiencing those emotions.

As a control, the nuns were instructed to relive the most intense state of union with another human ever felt in their lives while in the Carmelite order.

The study found that mystical experiences activate more than a dozen different areas of the brain at once. One of the regions, called the caudate nucleus, has been implicated in positive emotions such as happiness, romantic love and maternal love.

The researchers speculate that activation of this brain region during mystical experiences is related to the feelings of joy and unconditional love the nuns described.
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Hey Flow-seems to be a burgeoning interest in what some have termed "neurotheology." Of course, while the fact that the brain is capable of registering/"creating" (depending on your point of view) spiritual/mystical experiences may not prove the existence of that as an absolute reality, my viewpoint is our neurosystem developed to perceive what actually exists however filtered through individual persons. Heck, I just posted that near-death account and, as you know so many materialistic debunkers love to try to boil that down to the simplistic mechanics of the "dying brain." Gee I wonder if those debunkers believe themselves to simply be an organic machine:) have a good one, earl
 
From the mystics viewpoint that makes perfect sense. Based on the idea that G-d is the absolute reality what else would the brain be made of and how else could the organism respond to what it is made of and is. Not to say that the formless and the form are the same yet one must needs be encompassed by the other. At least that is my understanding at the moment:)
Kinda reminds me of the research group up in Boulder working with HH Dalai Lama
 
I think you might want to read this book:

Where God lives : the science of the paranormal and how are brains are linked to the universe

But you have to ask yourself this: does God only exist in the brain, then? Is God just a focal point in your consciousness? Your personal point of perfection? It's very possible that God does only exist in your brain.
 
well, there has been a lot of research into this topic in the last few years, and it seems that where ppl have described "the third eye" for centuries, there is a part of the brain, called the pineal gland, which regulates the use of a substance chemically similiar to DMT... DMT is a class A drug like LSD and is currently being manufactured by unscrupulous types and turned into a street drug sometimes known as "the business man's lunch", becuase of its short duration and also becuase... taking such makes the user feel they have met with god.. DMT is also sometimes known as "the spirit chemical", incidentally...
 
Is that the same chemical that's in Peyote, Francis? I worry for this planet when there are drugs out there that make you think you've touched God. The Heroin in Afghanistan is some of what they are using to brainwash these suicide bombers.

Peace,

Kelly
 
I would not say there is a particular spot in the human brain that we could label as the "god spot" I would say more along the lines of the “vulnerable spot.” Knowing we are fragile and that there are many things/situations/forces that are just out of our control and out of our own personal understanding.. Say, a plane plummeting to the ground, as it soars through the air and makes this fatal descending dive, we are inclined…. Atheist, christian, humanist, satanist, hindu, muslim, jew or whatever… To ask something, anything for mercy and help… god. Because we are now in a situation, we know we cannot control and we are now at the mercy of “whatever”. Indeed, I am making a reference here to a god… So why not call it the god spot? Because this “spot” seems to only come into play when we are at are most vulnerable….

However, then again we do -truly- expect there to be an answer, even if you do not believe in god... You are there pleading.. Does your mind know something, you don't know? In a way, it is like an invisible comfort... If you can understand, where I am coming from? If something is happening, your threatened scared and in danger.. You are now vulnerable... But, this plea comes from within, like a beacon… Flashing out it’s distress signal does bring comfort, because you are reaching out and you then believe that another hand will also reach out, and grasp your hand tight, and shall not let go of you, will bring you up to safety. It brings a sense of security.
 
I think Earl and Francis has touched on the point.

'Knowledge of God' is not chemical, nor electrical, nor even organic'; as Earl says, it operates at the level of the being, not at the level of the sensible faculty ... the organic effects are subsequent effects ... this pursuit, if it becomes purely empirical, ends up trying to rationalise God according to the human organism ...

(Like love - it's not 'caused' by the system, but Lordy! Can it play havoc with the works!)

+++

Francis' point about the 'third eye' can be read in the same way. A 'spiritual receptor', the inorganic soul, will replicate its faculties in the organic, but the organic faculties, although functioning 'like' the soul, are not themselves functioning 'as' the soul, and function in a limited way, in their own domain.

Thus if one has a mystical experience, and certain areas of the brain register activity, it is an error to assume that if we 'excite' certain areas of the brain, one will have a mystical experience ... even though superficially (ie 'sensibly'), the experience will be the same! It will prove itself superficial, or hollow, a 'glamour' as the Gaels say.

Thus whilst the Great Traditions talk of 'looking within' - neither propose that chemical or electrical stimulation will 'open the doors', nor is there any benefit in finding the 'bit' that is the key to it all.

Thomas
 
While for me insight doesn't come thru 'talking to G-d' it isn't like I don't feel it doesn't happen. I don't consciously hear, or see, or discuss everything, but it doesn't mean that it isn't occurring unconsciously, subconsciously or superconsciously....just not consciously.

What I do know is that I suddenly have this knowing...a knowing that just a nanosecond ago I didn't have...but now feel as if it was something I knew all along. The thought, idea, concept, understanding is planted so thoroughly that it feels like I always knew it, yet absolutely know an increment ago I did not.

I wouldn't be surprised if they find a G-d spot...that we are all pre-wired with a receiver/transmitter at some location where neurons fire dramatically during inspiration...

Or could it be...that we....humans....are the G-d spots of this planet?...
 
From wiki:
The origin of the word "torii" is not known. One theory is that it was designed for birds to rest, as hinted by the kanji (鳥 tori: bird; 居 i: place). This is because in Shintoism, birds are considered messengers of the gods. A second theory is that it is derived from the term tori-iru (取り入る: 'pass through and enter'). Torii mark the place where the sacred and the mundane meet.

Conventionally marking the approach to a shrine, torii may be erected anywhere where one might sense the presence of the numinous, such as a viewpoint over a lake, a valley, a cave, wherever ... or even to mark a one-time event, I have read an account in which a lone traveller, walking a lonesome road at night, heard a fox barking in the distance, and a shiver ran down his spine ... he paid for a torii to be erected on that spot, facing the direction of the fox.

(The wayside calvary is its Christian equivalant in that regard.)

Such experience is fundamentally organic and sentimental (that is, through the physical senses, I don't mean maudlin) – so in this case the G-spot is in the ear? But if it was broad daylight, the effect would not have been the same ...

... nor would it be, parked up in a 4x4, heater on, music low, waiting for a fox to bark ...

Thomas
 
Sudden thought:

"There is nothing in the intellect that is not first in the senses." This is a Thomist axiom, derived from Aristotelian philosophy.

What it says is:
There may that that, in the soul, which registers neither with the intellect nor the senses;
There may be that, in the senses, which does not register in the intellect, and
There may be that, in the intellect, which does not register in the senses, but only by virtue of the senses not being trained to register ...

"by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes... "
Shakespeare, Macbeth (IV, i, 44-45)

The more esoterically inclined will know that in Western Hermeticism, the five digits correspond to the five colours of the pentagram (green, yellow, blue, red, white) and that the thumbs are the white, and the colour white, being the transmitter and carrier of the spectrum, is thus likened to the Astral Light ... thus Macbeth's witches, sensitive to the auric and etheric presences, register the approach intellectually, by virtue of their enhanced attention to their organic psychic senses...

from the Legend of Fionn MacCumhail:
"Fionn's father, Cumhail, is killed in battle and his wife, Muirne, fearing for her son's life, she sends him to the forest to be raised by Bodhmal the Druidess and her sister, the warrior Liath Luachra. Reared by these strong, wise women and tutored by the Druid Finegas, the boy grew to become skilled in weaponry as well as in the healing and magical arts. Unable to reveal his name lest his enemies discover him, he is known "Fionn", meaning "fair or fair-haired".

The druid Finegas catches the Salmon of Knowledge and gives it to him to cook. Fionn burns himself while doing so and sucks his thumb, thus acquiring the gift of prophecy, which he uses to ensure his survival, bring peace to his homeland, and inspire the Fianna to greatness."

Thumb sucking is the symbol of 'tuning in' to the Astral Light ... I believe elsewhere, in bitter battle against a giant, Fionn sucks his thumb and 'knows' the giant's name which, by naming him, he is able to defeat him (the power of names)...

And that rather unpleasant thumb-spit gesture is very, very dangerous ... "beware the waters of the mouth", as the saying goes ...

... oh dear, I seem to have wandered ...

If one is going to delve into neurotheology, isolated from the rest of the organotheology, then one might be likened to the old saying: "A physic without astrology is like a lamp without oil" (Nicolas Culpeper)

Thomas
 
Thomas said:
The more esoterically inclined will know that in Western Hermeticism, the five digits correspond to the five colours of the pentagram (green, yellow, blue, red, white) and that the thumbs are the white, and the colour white, being the transmitter and carrier of the spectrum, is thus likened to the Astral Light ... thus Macbeth's witches, sensitive to the auric and etheric presences, register the approach intellectually, by virtue of their enhanced attention to their organic psychic senses...
Click to expand...
I recommend for the sort of tangential study of anyone further interested in this ... the following article from Wikipedia on the `Druze' - as I recalled immediately, upon seeing your post, Thomas, the prominent Star to be found on that page, and of so great an importance to this community.


The relevant section to your post, Thomas, focuses mostly on these five colors, thus:
It is also known that Druze believe in five cosmic principles, represented by the five colored Druze star: intelligence/reason (green), soul (red), word (yellow), precedent (blue), and immanence (white). These virtues take the shape of five different spirits which, until recently, have been continuously reincarnated on Earth as prophets and philosophers including Adam, the ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer Pythagoras, and the ancient Pharao of Egypt Akhenaten, and many others. The Druze believe that, in every time period, these five principles were personified in five different people who came down together to Earth to teach humans the true path to God and nirvana, but that with them came five other individuals who would lead people away from the right path into "darkness".​
More directly relevant to the G- spot ... err, wait, the God-Spot ;) ...

- I think Francis' post on the Pineal body really gets to the "heart of the matter" ... and a similar look at the esoteric function of the pituitary gland will also be profitable. These correspond to the head chakras, or Ajna centre (third eye) and the Crown chakra (Sahasrara/Brahmarandra), respectively.

There are, of course, layer after layer of means and methods to access the higher states of consciousness (including everything ranging from `Spiritual,' to psychic, mildly euphoric to transcendentally blissful, and so on) according to the traditional Eastern and also Western esoteric teachings.

There are the physical system of glands, the central nervous system itself (with a complexity even of the physical, electro-chemical aspects of the brain that still confound the greatest neuroscientists!), the corresponding chakras (or energy centers, whirling "wheels" that function as organs in a person's subtle body), the lower psychic abilities (or `siddhis'), the more permanent, or greater ... Spiritual powers, sometimes just called "states of consciousness" in layperson's terms - yet definitely elaborated in detail in texts dating as far back as many thousands of years old, as well as more recent (some of course, thoroughly non-Western, and not based on the discoveries of modern science in the least).

Yogic states such as jagrat, svapna, sushupti and turiya, as taught in the Hindu Upanishads, and the methods of Raja Yoga presented by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras as early as 10,000 years B.C. (as dated by esoteric Hindu authorities) ... all figure in if we are to properly consider a God-Spot. In relationship to these various states of awareness, mental and physical disciplines, and both psychic and outward structures/organs (as chakras, nadis, and the vehicles of consciousness themselves - etheric, astral, mental, spiritual, etc.) ... we should also consider the energy of Kundalini, which is the active principle of the passive Buddhi, and can be said to facilitate, or awaken the individual, to such Yogic states as mentioned above, as per the disciplines, also mentioned above.

Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg ... and sometimes the hardest part, is getting the strictly western, logical-postivist, empirical/materialist & reductivist "expert" scientist - working in the laboratory, still a bit too eager to apply the scalpel - to realize, that thousands of years ago, in the remote jungles and caves of Ancient India .. the Yogis KNEW of the God-Spot (AND the G-spot for that matter ... Kama Sutra, anyone???), and knew EXACTLY how to "activate it."

Well they still do, and they are by no means the ONLY experts on the subject, providing a clue, here and there, for the open-minded scientist who is willing to open him or herself to alternate means and methods of research ... and also, of course, to the accusations and ridicule of one's vain, stuffy and pretentious one-time "colleagues," so quick to cry FOUL, and accuse one of PSEUDO-science.

What the Bleep Do We Know? (and the followup film, Down the Rabbit-Hole) is a great place to start ... if you want to see what the real experts have to say about all this, including some cutting-edge research and results, a tidbit or two of info that will BLOW YOUR MIND (e.g., "Biologically the brain processes 400 BILLION bits of information per second ... but is only aware of 2,000 bits at any one time," etc.), and a good performance by Marlee Matlin, to boot.

Rent It!

cheers,

~andrew
 
Trouble is, everybody's looking for a short cut, a magic pill to enlightenment, the G-d spot ... and as you and I know Andrew, all the esoterica in all the world, and all the worlds beyond, is just a bunch of stuff that don't count for zilch, without a little bit of effort in the right direction.

There's only one way to go, and it's like the lady who asked the taxi driver the way to the Carnegie Hall, "Practice, lady, you godda practice!"

"Before enlightenment, chop wood ... " etc.

Thomas
 
"Talk does not cook the rice."

"The longest journey beings with one step."

One of my personal favorites (since it hits home so well!) is a story told by Krishnamurti:
You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, "What did that man pick up?" "He picked up a piece of Truth," said the devil. "That is a very bad business for you, then," said his friend. "Oh, not at all," the devil replied, "I am going to let him organize it." ;)
​
 
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