brain, mind, and religion

From the 1980s on, scientists have been thinking seriously about what their studies of the brain and the mind might have to say about religion. We often think of the brain and the mind as identical, but they are not. The brain is a physical object inside the head. It consists of cells and undergoes chemical reactions and electrical pulses. The mind is the collection of our thoughts and experiences. Many scientists think that these two are just one thing, a mindbrain, seen from two different angles. Nevertheless, it is still impossible to connect most ideas people have with specifi c chemical and physical events in their brains. As a result, scientists usually focus on either the brain or the mind. Those who focus on the brain are called neuropsychologists. Those who focus on the mind are called cognitive scientists. THE BRAIN AND RELIGION Neuropsychologists who study religion often explore peculiar experiences that some religious people call "mystical." Some are experiences that God is present. Others are experiences of being one with the universe. Neuropsychologists believe that these experiences result from events in the brain, but they do not agree on what those events are. One researcher might believe that people experience God as a result of electrical discharges in parts of the brain known as the temporal lobes. (These lobes are found near the temples on either side of the head.) Another might believe that a person will have an experience of "absolute unitary being" if two different systems in the brain are stimulated at the same time. These two systems are the system responsible for being aroused, as when running a tight race, and the system responsible for being calm, as in deep relaxation. A third researcher has examined Zen meditation in detail. He has tried to link the many different experiences people have during ZAZEN with a large number of events in the brain—too many to summarize here. Clearly, these ideas are complicated. Much more work needs to be done before neuropsychologists will be able to agree on which explanations work best. STUDIES OF THE MIND Cognitive scientists are not interested in "mystical" experiences. Most religious people, they say, do not have such experiences. What they want to explain are the ideas that religious people have. They especially want to explain why human beings, unlike other animals, believe in beings that cannot be perceived by the senses, beings like gods, spirits, and demons. They, too, have many different, complicated explanations. One researcher claims that the mind is programmed to see humanoid and animal-like beings even where no such beings exist. He points out that it is better for a person hiking in the woods to mistake a rock for a bear than a bear for a rock. A hiker who mistook a bear for a rock is in serious danger of being injured or killed. From such mistakes, he says, the belief in gods arose. Another thinker believes that religious ideas are precisely the kinds of ideas that the human mind most likes to think. They attract attention because they violate expectations. For example, spirits can move through solid objects, and human minds fi nd that idea interesting. At the same time, religious ideas do not violate too many expectations. If they did, people would not be able to remember them. Some call these ideas "minimally counterintuitive." IMPLICATIONS At the beginning of the 21st century both neuropsychologists and cognitive scientists are trying to refi ne their ideas and test them through experiments. They, along with theologians, have also considered what their ideas mean for religious people. Some brain and mind researchers are adamantly atheistic. They think scientists have suffi ciently explained that supernatural beings are based only on processes within the brain. Others see their research as making possible a new way for religious people to think about their religions. They call that way "neurotheology." Despite such great differences, many researchers seem to agree that religion is somehow programmed—"hardwired"— into the brain. As a result, human beings will always be religious.