--- In [email protected], "Rick Archer" <r...@...> wrote: > > http://www.npr.org/news/specials/2009/brain/ > > The <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104257486> Science > Of Spirituality > > > Is This Your Brain On God? > > More than half of adult Americans report they have had a spiritual experience > that changed their lives. Now, scientists from universities > likeHarvard,Pennsylvaniaand Johns Hopkins are using new technologies to > analyze the brains of people who claim they have touched the spiritual -- > from Christians who speak in tongues to Buddhist monks to people who claim to > have had near-death experiences. Hear what they have discovered in this > controversial field, as the science of spirituality continues to evolve. > <http://www.npr.org/news/specials/2009/brain/#email>
As I've pointed out before, the specific areas of hte brain that TM activates/deactivates generally don't coincide with ANY of the "spiritual centers" that are mentioned. IOW, leaving aside questions of validity of various spiritual states, not all self-reports of spiritual experiences are due to the same physiological states. Whether this is a good thing, a bad thing or just a thing, is irrelevant: the theme of the article is essentially incorrect: not all spiritual claims are due to the same physiological processes, even when the self-reports are similar. L.
