Large hypotheses supported by small science | Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of...

book: Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief | Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, ...

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	• Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, ... Ballantine Books, 2002 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 77 reviews view larger image
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A More Philosophical Discussion on How the Brain Perceives

Don't be fooled by the title! Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief is a more philosophical discussion on the inner workings of the brain rather than neurological findings, but it still makes for a good read.

Why God Won't Go Away introduces the concept of belief as neurologically originating from alterations in brain activity that coincide with feelings of religious and spiritual connection. This topic is introduced with experimental designs and the notion that all things scientific must be measurable, but Newberg fails to deliver along those principles throughout the rest of the book.

The beginning starts with an experiment where brain readings are measured from a Tibetan monk during the peak of his meditation. With this, Newberg introduces brain anatomy involved with such experiences. Of these, the superior parietal lobe is discussed very thoroughly and Newberg dubs it "the orientation association area" or OAA. The OAA is described to be responsible for physical orientation in relation to the individual. In Newberg's words "it draws a sharp distinction between the individual and everything else, to sort out the you from the infinite not-you that makes up the rest of the universe." (p. 5).

When analyzing SPECT scans of brain activity of the Tibetan monk during meditation, activity levels in the OAA were seen to decrease dramatically. Newberg concludes that this shutdown of the OAA is what leads spiritualists to feel "one with the world". "The brain would have no choice but to perceive that the self is endless and intimately interwoven with everyone and everything the mind senses." (p. 6).

After the analysis of this interesting claim based on experimentation of the superior parietal lobe, the book takes a turn from scientific to philosophical. Rather than citing more specific experimental methods and analysis, Newberg discusses the brain more openly. Specifically, he talks of evolutionary benefits of a brain capable of perceiving God, states of mind, and how mystics describe their religious episodes.

For example, Newberg speaks of the benefits and capabilities of the human brain compared to brains of primitive organisms and the circuitry of robots. He, along with D'aquili, compiled "cognitive operators" which help humans perceive. These include the holistic operator, the reductionist operator, the abstractive operator, the quantitative operator, the causal operator, the binary operator, the existential operator, and the emotional value operator. All of these are described in detail in the book; however, they seem more psychology than neurology.

Near the end of the book, Newberg introduces two inconclusive analyses. The first is that based on all neurological findings, the perception of God can be whittled down to electrical signals along neural pathways. However, this does not disprove the existence of God much like how the perception of eating a cake does not disprove the reality of the cake itself. Newberg states that scientists can try to discover the brain pathways that result in religious emotion but this does not mean that this emotion is not real. Anything that we sense must be processed in the brain and all things, literally, are perceptions.

The second indeterminate conclusion is that science and religion are based on two different fundamental assumptions. The fundamental scientific assumption is that "all that is real can be verified by scientific measurement, therefore, what can't be verified by science isn't really real." (p. 171). In essence, only what is measurable is termed to be a part of reality. However, this scientific assumption is not adopted by mystics as they have a totally different view of reality. They believe that they have experienced a primary reality that runs deeper than material existence. Science rejects this claim but nevertheless, the belief that the religious hold are very much real. Newberg states: "This kind of assumption, that one system is exclusive arbiter of what is true, makes science and religion incompatible...science and religion find themselves at a paradoxical situation." (p. 171).

The inconclusive end to the book was somewhat surprising as the subtitle "Brain Science and the Biology of Belief" seemed very scientifically biased to me. I was expecting conclusions that denounce the validity of religion and how the mysticism of emotion is nothing more that electricity in our brains. I was relieved to find that Newberg did not use such a bias in making his conclusions and opened up the possibility that the reality of God may exist even with neurological findings.

Overall, Why God Won't Go Away is a decent read but the subtitle "Brain Science and the Biology of Belief" provokes images of more scientific data in terms of experimental and measurable findings. This proves to be somewhat misleading as the book seems to be a fine mesh of biology and philosophy rather than pure neuroscience. On the other hand, many readers may find that this approach is more appropriate given the philosophical nature of the topic.

I recommend this book to all those interested in neurology and how the brain interacts with human thoughts and emotions. Don't expect too much scientific jargon or crazy experiments, but it is definitely a good read to provoke discussion with a friend.

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Large hypotheses supported by small science

This book was an easily summarized quick read.

1. Research on Tibetan meditators and Nuns using HMPAO-SPECT nuclear imaging shows that blood flow to the "Orientation Association Area" (OAA) of the brain decreases during peak meditation states. This brain area, just in front of and on top of the "Primary Vision Area" computes our orientation with the space surrounding us. The hypothesis is that, during meditation, the normal data pathway to this area is partially blocked, leading to "Deafferentation of the Orientation Area". (My thought - DOA?). This hypothesis leads to the speculation that feelings of "infinite space, infinite connectivity, communion directly with God, etc. common in intense religious experience and the states achieved by meditation arise directly from starving the OAA of data.

2. The rare experience of "Absolute Unitary Being" (AUB) - essentially complete suppression of data to the OAA, is really, really powerful - but cannot be described in words -- it has to be experienced. This state leads, in a healthy way, to an understanding that all religions share a common, higher reality, and other nice things.

3. On the other hand, partial suppression of data to the OAA can lead to an understanding that one's particular understanding of God is the only valid one, leading to tribalism, war, and other bad things.

4. The feelings extant during intense enjoyment of music, or the rituals of Catholic Communion, or repeating Rosary bead Hail Marys, offer hints at the AUB without requiring the intense effort of deep meditation.

5. While the effects of mind altering drugs or brain injury or mental illness sometimes resemble that of deep meditation, meditation itself and the minds that practice meditation are essentially healthy. Furthermore, people who experience these spiritual connections, weak or strong, report happier lives than those who do not.

4. The authors say in their 2002 epilogue, "We hope our work will provide a new way to explore the connection between science and the religious urge - the driving spiritual force behind all religions - in ways that not only shed new light on the origins of human spirituality, but also give us greater scientific insights into the mysterious workings of the human brain."

I enjoyed the book but feel the experimental evidence does not fully support the hypothesis.

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Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves? Even today in our technologically advanced age, more than seventy percent of Americans claim to believe in God. Why, in short, won?t God go away? In this groundbreaking new book, researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d?Aquili offer an explanation that is at once profoundly simple and scientifically precise: The religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the brain.

In Why God Won?t Go Away, Newberg and d?Aquili document their pioneering explorations in the field of neurotheology, an emerging discipline dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain. Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights into the nature of consciousness and spirituality, they bridge faith and reason, mysticism and empirical data. The neurological basis of how the brain identifies the ?real? is nothing short of miraculous. This fascinating, eye-opening book dares to explore both the miracle and the biology of our enduring relationship with God.

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