"This is Your Brain on God"

Posted by $ MikeMarotta 7 years, 3 months ago to Science
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fMRI scans of the brains of Mormon missionaries reading religious tracts show a lot of pleasure... (Who knew?)

The primary researcher is Dr. Dr. Jeffrey S. Anderson
http://healthcare.utah.edu/fad/mddeta...

University of Utah press release about the results
http://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffa...

University of Utah press release about the start of the project in 2014:
http://healthcare.utah.edu/publicaffa...

The news from Al-Jazeera ... (here
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/t... )
... is as objective and dispassionate as the report from Alex Jones's InfoWars here:
http://www.infowars.com/study-religio...

When a scientist reads science, does the brain register pleasure? What happens when a religious person reads a tract from a different (opposing) religion? What happens when a scientist reads a peer-reviewed paper and discovers an error? (Myself, I found that pleasurable: Schadenfreude, perhaps, but criticizing papers was the class assignment.) How about solving a difficult problem? Math puzzles would be one kind, easily, but I also learned to pick locks and they can be challenging until they pop open.

Come to think of it, I have a hard time imagining what it would be like to repeatedly do something that you do not enjoy. I understand that most people would not work if they did not get paid. I am always disappointed (at the very least) when I hear someone cheer Friday or disparage Monday. Myself, I get to do "this" -- and they pay me, too! (Hot damn.) Of course, maybe most people do not enjoy being in church, only those who self-identify strongly enough to become missionaries. I suggest that because my perception is that churches fill up from the back with the seats up front not being sought out. (I have a story there for later.)



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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 7 years, 3 months ago
    More like: This is your brain when it's in contact with your mind and the quantum world of entanglements...it's really not mystical, it's "Probably" Quantum Physical.

    The difference between our ancestors and some of us now, is Now, we are aware of it and Could, if we chose, take control of it.

    I think it would be immensely beneficial to express this Consciously...instead of pagan mystically.
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    • Posted by $ 7 years, 3 months ago
      If you read the stories, you see that the researcher likened the religious experience to being on drugs. In particular, it was the pleasure associated with "bad" drugs that was offered as a correlation, not central nervous stimulants such as caffeine.

      See, however, the current discussion with Dr. Ed Hudgins of the Atlas Society on the benefits of meditation. I think that supports your point, that rather than having a mystical explanation, the empirical evidence opens the door to advancement for our benefit.

      BTW nice entendre on "probably"...
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      • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 7 years, 3 months ago
        This "meditation" stuff, kinda turns me off...it's an eastern monk thing. Although some bloodtypes/genotypes do benefit but mine is not one of them...I need to be mentally and physically engaged at the same time, all the time. You know, what most would call: Burning the candle at both ends.
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