Book Description
From the dawn of our species, every culture has
maintained a belief in some form of a spiritual reality.
Wouldn't this imply that human spirituality must
represent an inherent characteristic of our species,
that is, a genetically inherited trait? Are Humans
"wired" to believe in the universal concepts of a god, a
soul, and an afterlife? Are what we call
spiritual/religious experiences strictly physiological
in nature, the effects of our brain's chemistry? Does
God really exist "out there," beyond and ondependent of
us? Or is God merely the product of an inherited human
perception, the manifestation of an evolutionary
adaptation - a coping mechanism - one that emerged in
our species to enable us to survive our unique and
otherwise debilitating awareness of death?
About the Author
Matthew Alper was raised in NYC and has a B.A. in
philosophy, after which he spent six years in the field,
traveling across Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America
in order to complement his independent academic
research.
=================
THE PREMISE
For every physical characteristic that is universal to a species,
there
must exist some gene or set of genes responsible for the emergence of that
particular trait. For example, the fact that all cats possess whiskers
means
that somewhere within a cat's chromosomes there must exist "whisker" genes.
Of our own species, that all humans possess a nose in the middle of our
face
means that somewhere within our chromosomes there must exist "nose" genes
that instruct our emerging bodies to develop one in that very place. It's
not, for instance, as if a nose can develop anywhere on one's body, only by
mere coincidence, it always ends up on our face. Apparently, humans are
genetically "hard-wired" to develop in a very specific and particular way.
The same principle not only applies to universal physical traits, but
to
universal behaviors as well. Take, for instance, the fact that all
honeybees
construct their hives in the same hexagonal pattern. That all honeybee
colonies, regardless of whether they've been exposed to any other,
construct
their hives in such an identical fashion means that they must be
"hard-wired"
to do so. It's not as if honeybees can build their hives any way they
"desire"
and, by sheer coincidence, all construct them in the same exact way.
Apparently, honeybees are innately, that is, genetically "hard-wired" to
construct their hives in this particular fashion. This would suggest that
somewhere in the honeybees' brains there must exist a specific cluster of
neurons that contain genetically inherited instructions which compel the
bees
to construct hexagonally shaped hives. The same principle holds true for
anything from a peacock's instinct to display its feathers when exposed to
an
aroused peahen to a cat's instinct to groom itself. In essence, any
behavior
that is universal to any species is, more than likely, the consequence of a
genetically inherited impulse or instinct.
The above principle not only applies to honeybees, peacocks, or cats
but
to every life form, including our own. The fact, for instance, that every
human culture - no matter how isolated - has communicated through language
suggests that our species' linguistic capacities constitute a genetically
inherited trait. Since our capacity for language represents a cognitive
function, there must exist some very specific cluster of neurons within the
brain from which our linguistic capacities are generated.
As we know such "linguistic" sites do exist in the human brain and
include the Wernicke's area, Broca's area, and angular gyrus. Damage
incurred
to any one of these "language" specific sites will impair some very
specific
part of one's language capacities. What this clearly demonstrates is that
our
linguistic capacities are directly related to our neurophysiological
makeups.
Furthermore, this supports the notion that for every cross-cultural
behavior
our species exhibits there must exist a specific part of the brain from
which
that behavior is generated.
If it's true that this principle applies to all of our cross-cultural
behaviors, should we not also apply it to spirituality? Every known culture
from the dawn of our species has maintained a belief in some form of a
"spiritual" reality. Wouldn't this suggest that human spirituality must
represent an inherent characteristic of our species, that is, a genetically
inherited trait? Furthermore, being that spirituality, just like language,
represents a cognitive function, wouldn't this suggest that our "spiritual"
instincts, just like our linguistic ones, must be generated from some very
specific physical part within the brain? I informally refer to this site as
the "God" part of the brain, a cluster of neurons from which spiritual
cognitions, sensations, and behaviors are generated.
How else are we to explain the fact that all human cultures - no
matter
how isolated - have maintained a belief in some form of a
spiritual/transcendental reality, in a god or gods, a soul, as well as an
afterlife? How else are we to explain the fact that every human culture has
built houses of worship through which to pray to such unseen forces? Or
that
every known culture has buried (or at least disposed of) its dead with a
rite
that anticipates sending the deceased person's "spiritual" component, or
what
we call a soul, onward to some next plane, or what we call an afterlife?
Wouldn't the universality with which such perceptions and behaviors are
exhibited among our species suggest that we might be "hard-wired" this way?
How about the fact that every known culture has related undergoing what we
refer to as spiritual experiences? Perhaps we are "hard-wired" to
experience
such sentiments as well. Just as all honeybees are compelled to construct
hexagonally shaped hives, perhaps humans are compelled to perceive a
spiritual reality...as a reflex, an instinct.
Essentially, what I'm suggesting is that humans are innately
"hard-wired"
to perceive a spiritual reality. We are "hard-wired" to believe in forces
that transcend the limitations of this, our physical reality. Most
controversial of all, if what I'm suggesting is true, it would imply that
God
is not necessarily something that exists "out there," beyond and
independent
of us, but rather as the product of an inherited perception, the
manifestation of an evolutionary adaptation that exists within the human
brain. And why would our species have evolved such a seemingly abstract
trait? -In order to enable us to deal with our species' unique and
otherwise
debilitating awareness of death.
With the dawn of human intelligence, for the first time in the history
of
terrestrial life, an organism could point its powers of perception back
upon
its own being; it could recognize its own self as an object. For the first
time, when an animal kneeled down to drink from the watering hole, it
recognized its own reflection. Only humans possess the advanced capacity
for
self-awareness. Though, in many ways, this capacity has helped to make our
species the most versatile and powerful creature on earth, it also
represents
the source of our greatest affliction. This is because once we became aware
of the fact that we exist, we became equally aware of not just the
possibility that one day we might not, but the certainty that one day we
will
not. With the advent of our species, with the emergence of self-conscious
awareness, a life form became cognizant of the fact that it is going to
die.
All we had to do was to look around us to see that death was inevitable and
inescapable. More terrifying yet, death could befall us at anytime. Any
moment can be our last.
All life is "hard-wired" to avoid those things that represent a threat
to
its existence. When an animal gets too close to fire, for example, it
reflexively pulls away. It is this negative stimulus, this experience we
call
pain, that prompts all forms of life to avoid such potential life threats.
Pain, therefore, acts as nature's electric prod that incites us to avoid
those things which may jeopardize our existence.
In the "higher" animals, most particularly among the mammals,
threatening circumstances elicit a particular type of pain we refer to as
anxiety. Anxiety constitutes a type of pain meant to prompt these "higher"
order animals to avoid potentially hazardous circumstances. For example, a
rabbit is cornered by a mountain lion. In such a situation, the rabbit is
pumped with adrenaline, charged with the painful symptoms of anxiety, all
meant to incite the rabbit to most effectively escape from the source of
its
discomfort, in this case the mountain lion. In its healthiest form, anxiety
is meant to prompt an animal to avoid or escape a potentially hazardous
experience. In humans, however, once we became aware of the fact that death
was not only inescapable but that it could come at any moment, we were left
in a state of constant mortal peril, a state of unceasing anxiety - much
like
rabbits perpetually cornered by a mountain lion from which there is no
escape. With the emergence of self-awareness, humans became the
dysfunctional
animal, rendered helpless by an inherent and unceasing anxiety disorder.
Unless nature could somehow relieve us of this debilitating awareness of
death, it's possible our species might have soon become extinct. It was
suddenly critical that our animal be modified in some way that would allow
us
to maintain self-conscious awareness, while enabling us to deal with our
unique awareness of our own mortalities, of death.
Here lies the origin of humankind's spiritual function, an
evolutionary
adaptation that compels our species to believe that though our physical
bodies will one day perish, our "spirits" or "souls" will persist for all
eternity. Only once our species was instilled with this inherent
(mis)perception that there is something more "out there," that we are
immortal beings, were we able to survive our debilitating awareness of
death.
Now that you understand the underlying premise of
THE "GOD" PART OF THE BRAIN:
I hope you will be inspired to read on...
CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY OF
THE "GOD" PART OF THE BRAIN:
A SCIENTIFIC INTERPRETATION OF HUMAN SPIRITUALITY AND GOD
BOOK ONE - THEORY'S EVOLUTION
CHAPTER ONE: THROWING ROCKS AT GOD
In order to resolve the ultimate question of whether or not
there exists a spiritual reality, the author began his quest by
exploring a variety of world religions, meditation, paranormal
phenomenon, and even the effects of psychedelic drugs, none of
which yielded anything conclusive. During his experiments with
LSD, the author noted of how much consciousness was altered by
this chemical. But how could consciousness, which was allegedly
the product of one's ethereal and eternal soul, be so
susceptible to the affects of physical substances? To believe
that raw matter could affect one's soul, it seemed, would be
the equivalence of believing that one could throw rocks at God.
Since the use of physical substances had provided what appeared
to represent a possible clue in his search, the author decided
that from that point on, he would look only to the physical
sciences for his answers.
CHAPTER TWO: WHAT IS SCIENCE?
Before he could place his unconditional trust in the sciences, the author
had to
examine the means by which scientific method operates.
CHAPTER THREE: A VERY BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME
A scientific overview of all that has occurred within physical universe
in the last
fifteen billion years since the "Big Bang." This includes a physical
explanation of
everything from the origin of the universe, the elements, the galaxies,
planets, Earth,
life, and man.
CHAPTER FOUR: KANT
This chapter outlines the thoughts of the eighteenth century German
philosopher,
Emmanuel Kant, whose ideas revolutionized the manner in which we
interpret reality.
In order to comprehend the world, Kant contended, we shouldn't seek to
study "things
in themselves" but rather "things as we perceive them." Perhaps, within
this
philosophy, lay the solution to the problem of God.
CHAPTER FIVE: GOD AS WORD
Applying Kant's philosophy, the author makes a pivotal leap of intuition
through
which, for the first time in twelve years of research, he feels might
just help him to
finally resolve the problem of God.
CHAPTER SIX: UNIVERSAL BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS
For every physical characteristic and/or behavior that is universal to
any given
species, there must exist some gene through which that trait emerges. For
instance,
the fact that all cat's have whiskers suggests that all cats must possess
whisker
genes. Furthermore, the fact that all cats groom themselves, for example,
suggests
that there must exist genes responsible for the emergence of some part of
their brain
that compels them to behave this way. What if we were to apply this same
logic to
humankind's universal propensity to believe in a spiritual reality, in a
God?
BOOK TWO - INTRO TO BIO-THEOLOGY
CHAPTER ONE: THE SPIRITUAL FUNCTION
From the dawn of our species, every culture - no matter how isolated -
has believed in
some form of a spiritual reality. Wouldn't this imply that spirituality
must represent an
inherent characteristic of our species, that is, a genetically inherited
trait? Are we
"wired" to believe in the universal concepts of a God, a soul, and an
afterlife? Is God
really something that exists "out there," beyond and independent of us?
Or is God
merely the product of an inherited human perception, the manifestation of
an
evolutionary adaptation that exists exclusively within the human brain?
CHAPTER TWO: THE RATIONALE
Nothing in the physical universe is superfluous. This same law applies to
all life,
including our own species. Consequently, every physical trait we possess
must serve
some very specific function, otherwise it simply wouldn't exist. The
author therefore
speculates as to the possible reasons that such a seemingly abstract
trait as a spiritual
function might have emerged in our species.
CHAPTER THREE: THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
Every culture, from the dawn of recorded history has made note of what
are
cross-culturally referred to as either spiritual, mystical,
transcendental, or religious
experiences. Are such experiences the consequence of some divine union,
or are they
merely the effects of our brain's chemistry, a simple sensory
hallucination that we
interpret as being spiritual in nature? Recent studies show that such
experiences can
be traced to neural activity and can even be synthetically induced by
electrically
stimulating these specific portions of the brain.
CHAPTER FOUR: DRUG-INDUCED GOD
From the dawn of recorded history, a wide variety of cultures have used
chemical
stimulants such as Peyote, Marijuana, and Psilocybin to evoke a spiritual
experience.
Wouldn't the fact that chemicals can affect us this way suggest that
spiritual/mystical
experiences must be physiological in nature?
CHAPTER FIVE: THE PRAYER FUNCTION
This chapter offers a physiological interpretation of the healing
properties of prayer.
CHAPTER SIX: RELIGIOUS CONVERSION
Are those who suddenly undergo this type of sudden personality
transformation
actually touched by the divine, or is this the consequence of some
neurophysiological
syndrome prompted by extreme crisis and anxiety?
CHAPTER SEVEN: WHY ARE THERE ATHEISTS?
Just as an underdeveloped musical function may result in a person being
born tone
deaf, insensitive to musical stimuli, lacking musical intelligence,
someone born with an
underdeveloped spiritual function will be insensitive to spiritual
stimuli, lacking
spiritual intelligence...atheists.
CHAPTER EIGHT: NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
Recent studies show that drugs which raise glutamate (a neurotransmitter)
levels in
the brain (something that naturally occurs when we experiences a
diminished oxygen
supply) can induce the same exact symptoms of what are universally
described as
near-death experiences.
CHAPTER NINE: THE GUILT AND MORALITY FUNCTIONS
Are such concepts as "good" and "evil" based on divine absolutes, or is
this just the
manner in which humans are inherently "wired" to interpret certain
behaviors, as a
means to help us to survive as a social animal?
CHAPTER TEN: THE LOGIC OF GOD: A NEW PARADIGM
Explores the implications of a cognitive interpretation of spirituality
and God.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS TO BE GAINED
FROM A SCIENTIFIC INTERPRETATION OF HUMAN
SPIRITUALITY AND GOD?
From the dawn of our species, the excesses of religious belief have been
the cause of
cultural intolerance, hatred, discrimination, and ultimately genocide and
war. If we can
come to view spirituality as the consequence of an inherited impulse in
us, is it
possible that we might be able to use this information to maximize on
this impulses
more productive aspects and to minimize its more destructive ones? In an
age in which
we possess such weapons of mass destruction, can we really afford to
leave ourselves,
unchecked by reason, in the hands of one of our most potentially
hazardous instincts?
=================
Amazon.com
One hundred years ago social scientists predicted that
belief in God would decrease by the year 2000. "In fact
... the opposite is has occurred," Shermer writes in his
introduction. "Never in history have so many, and such a
high percentage of the population, believed in God. Not
only is God not dead as Nietzche proclaimed, but he has
never been more alive."
Why do so many believe in the existence of something so
inexplicable? That's exactly what Shermer answers in
this comprehensive, intelligent, and highly readable
discussion about the nature of faith. "People believe in
God because the evidence of their senses tell them so,"
claims Shermer, who is the publisher of Skeptics
magazine. Having been a believer and a student of the
history of science, Shermer (now an agnostic) is more
interested in knowing why and how people believe in God
rather than trying to prove who's right or wrong. As a
result, this book is not only even-handed and thorough,
it is also destined to become a timeless contribution to
spirituality as well as science. --Gail Hudson
From Scientific American
Shermer marches bravely into the arena where theists,
atheists and agnostics argue their views, usually
without convincing anyone not on their side. As editor
of Skeptic and director of the Skeptics Society and a
man (trained in psychology) who has been successively a
theist, an atheist and an agnostic, he might seem to the
religious to have a bias against their convictions. But
he says his "primary focus in addressing readers is not
whether they believe or disbelieve, but how and why they
have... read more
==============
Amazon.com
One hundred years ago social
scientists predicted that belief
in God would decrease by the year
2000. "In fact ... the opposite is has occurred,"
Shermer writes in his introduction. "Never in history
have so many, and such a high percentage of the
population, believed in God. Not only is God not dead as
Nietzche proclaimed, but he has never been more alive."
Why do so many believe in the existence of something so
inexplicable? That's exactly what Shermer answers in
this comprehensive, intelligent, and highly readable
discussion about the nature of faith. "People believe in
God because the evidence of their senses tell them so,"
claims Shermer, who is the publisher of Skeptics
magazine. Having been a believer and a student of the
history of science, Shermer (now an agnostic) is more
interested in knowing why and how people believe in God
rather than trying to prove who's right or wrong. As a
result, this book is not only even-handed and thorough,
it is also destined to become a timeless contribution to
spirituality as well as science. --Gail Hudson
From Scientific American
Shermer marches bravely into the arena where theists,
atheists and agnostics argue their views, usually
without convincing anyone not on their side. As editor
of Skeptic and director of the Skeptics Society and a
man (trained in psychology) who has been successively a
theist, an atheist and an agnostic, he might seem to the
religious to have a bias against their convictions. But
he says his "primary focus in addressing readers is not
whether they believe or disbelieve, but how and why they
have made their particular belief choice." He has asked
the question of many people, and he summarizes their
reasoning. His discussion ranges eloquently and
learnedly over broad areas of philosophy, theology and
science. In the end, whatever the reader's own thinking,
she will probably discover that she has learned a lot
about the opinions other people have on "the God
Question" and why they hold those opinions.
==================
Book Description
Recent polls report that 96% of Americans believe in
God. Why is this? Why, despite the rise of science,
technology, and secular education, are people turning to
religion in greater numbers than ever before? Why do
people believe in God at all?
These provocative questions lie at the heart of How We
Believe, an illuminating new study of God, faith, and
religion by best-selling author Michael Shermer.
Offering fresh and often startling insights into age-old
questions, Shermer's new book explores how and why
humans put their faith in a higher power, even in the
face of scientific skepticism. With characteristic logic
and intellectual intensity, Shermer investigates such
compelling topics as:
* What it means to believe or not believe in God today
* The evolution of religion as a powerful human
institution
* "Is God Dead?" Why Nietzche and Time magazine were
wrong
* What 10,000 Americans said in reply to the questions,
"Why do you believe in God?" and "Why do you think other
people believe in God?"
* "Proofs" of God's existence and what they tell us
about faith
* How we can find meaning in an apparently meaningless
universe
Whether believers or non-believers, we are all driven by
the need to understand the universe and our place in it.
Journeying to the heart of this ancient and mysterious
desire, How We Believe is a brilliant tour de force that
should be read by anyone trying to find their path to
enlightenment. 30 illustrations.
"Recent polls report that 96% of Americans believe in
God. Why is this? Why, despite the rise of science,
technology, and secular education, are people turning to
religion in greater numbers than ever before? Why do
people believe in God at all?"--BOOK JACKET. "These
provocative questions lie at the heart of How We
Believe, an illuminating new study of God, faith, and
religion by author Michael Shermer. Offering fresh and
often startling insights into age-old questions,
Shermer's new book explores how and why humans put their
faith in a higher power, even in the face of scientific
skepticism."--BOOK JACKET.
About the Author
Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine,
the director of the Skeptics Society, and the host of
the Skeptics Lecture Series at the California Institute
of Technology. He is the author of the bestselling Why
People Believe Weird Things (W. H. Freeman and Company,
1997) and teaches the history of science, technology,
and evolutionary thought in the Cultural Studies Program
at Occidental College in Los Angeles. He is the host of
the "Science Talk" edition of Airtalk, which airs weekly
on KPCC in Pasadena, the PBS affiliate station for
southern California.
========================
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