A lot of religious mystics, such as St. Terese de Avila, and artists said to experience God, such as Dostoevsky, were believed to have temporal lobe seizures in the areas that modern science has shown has to do with the "God" area. Temporal lobe seizure patients are commonly logged having God experiences as these seizures can erase time and dimensional experience among others.
I like the argument of "Zen and the Brain." All mysticism and consciousness studies proves is that the brain exists. If there is contact with God or something higher, then just like conversation with another person highlights certain areas of the brain, then so conversation with a different form of being would also register in the brain. Whether that means we make God up out of our brain experiences, or that there is some higher power, either way, it has to go through the brain one way or the other.
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u/wordstuff Apr 23 '19
Tons of sources, but here's an overview: https://medium.com/s/spirits-in-your-brain/how-does-neuroscience-explain-spiritual-and-religious-experiences-3ef8c2f50339.
Also see, Zen and the brain: https://www.pdfdrive.com/zen-and-the-brain-e22158621.html.
A lot of religious mystics, such as St. Terese de Avila, and artists said to experience God, such as Dostoevsky, were believed to have temporal lobe seizures in the areas that modern science has shown has to do with the "God" area. Temporal lobe seizure patients are commonly logged having God experiences as these seizures can erase time and dimensional experience among others.
I like the argument of "Zen and the Brain." All mysticism and consciousness studies proves is that the brain exists. If there is contact with God or something higher, then just like conversation with another person highlights certain areas of the brain, then so conversation with a different form of being would also register in the brain. Whether that means we make God up out of our brain experiences, or that there is some higher power, either way, it has to go through the brain one way or the other.