Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion General Science Discussion Forum No ?God spot? in the human brain

The human brain does not contain a single "God spot" responsible for mystical and religious experiences, a new study finds.

Instead, the sense of union with God or something greater than the self often described by those who have undergone such experiences involves the recruitment and activation of a variety brain regions normally implicated in different functions such as self-consciousness, emotion and body representation.

The finding, detailed in the current issue of Neuroscience Letters, contradicts previous suggestions by other researchers that the there might be a specific region in the brain designed for communication with God.

Source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14587036/

Designed for communication with God?

Not my words.

I just never realized that the "God spot" was taken so literally by some. I thought it was a suspected location in the brain that gave us our capacity for belief.

I think you can safely assume that the desperate will cling to any ledge, no matter how precarious, to sustain their precious belief system.

Reminds me of the guy in the hospital after being hit by a large truck. His mother says "Thank god you alive" to which he replies "Mom ... god threw an 18 wheeler at me."

Look where religion gets involved in science and you will always find one thing in common ... it is a place where science is shining a bright light on a mistaken belief.

Well, at the risk of being labelled 'desperate', I would have thought that the fact that the brain has evolved any capacity for belief at all is entirely consistent with Theistic thinking. Certainly doesn't present a problem.

As for the joke, God did not in any sense 'throw' an 18 wheeler at him.

Of course God should have made him out of metal with an adamantine skull, and made the 18 wheeler out of jelly, or simply not given him legs so that he couldn't walk out in front of it, or prevented us from inventing vehicles in the first place or made us move at the speed of light so we could avoid all moving objects, or maybe made us all ethereal, or not made us at all. The son could have responded to his Mother with any of the above.

What an idiot God is, we could have done a much better job of things.

Dan, I'm not trolling here. I am simply joining in a conversation you are having about religion on the Science Board.

Blacknad.

Dan, arent you the one that keeps jumping on people for bringing religion to a science forum?

Blacknad wrote:
"Well, at the risk of being labelled 'desperate', I would have thought that the fact that the brain has evolved any capacity for belief at all is entirely consistent with Theistic thinking. Certainly doesn't present a problem."

I thought that too at one time but I have since seen evidence that this is not the case. Here is where science is pointing.

Tribal animals (animals that form packs) survive because they have a method of choosing an alpha and a built-in capacity to blindly follow that alpha's instructions. New alpha ... and loyalty is immediately transferred. You will see that the day Tony Blair is finally ridden out of town. The new PM will be immediately accepted as the new leader and everyone from the Queen on down will immediately react accordingly. It is that built-in software that we strive to overcome when we fight against dictators and kings.

As you know I have no use for any "ism." I see no difference between nationalism and catholicism. They are just different isms used to deprive people of the right to think for themselves.

And with respect to the 18 wheeler story. The point is that you can't claim everything good is the work of god and absolve that entity of responsibility for everything you define as bad.
Did god create penicillin? If you believe so then you must equally acknowledge that the very same god created infectious gram-positive bacteria. It is a question of recognizing a hypocrisy and refusing to succumb.

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dehammer ... what I wrote is pure biology and physiology with respect to the human brain. It does not contain even a single trace of theology or theological thinking. If it did I'd have posted it into a different forum.

It appears to me to be anti theology, which is basically the same thing.

Hardly anti-theological. It merely states that there is not a single physical part of the brain responsible for our having a specific type of experience.

Whether you are religious or not you must acknowledge that humans have brains. And that for those that use them they have some degree of consciousness. Remove the brain and consciousness is removed too. It is simple. It is not a matter of religion. It is a matter of surgery.

It's not the 'lack of a 'God Spot'' article - it's interesting.

It's the fact that you inevitably take it a stage further and use it as an opportunity to bash the 'desperate' religious.

Quote - "I think you can safely assume that the desperate will cling to any ledge, no matter how precarious, to sustain their precious belief system.

Reminds me of the guy in the hospital after being hit by a large truck. His mother says "Thank god you alive" to which he replies "Mom ... god threw an 18 wheeler at me."


Dan, it is precisely these 'non-scientific' comments that any religious lurkers will see and take umbrage with and then start trolling here. You invite the trolls with your religion bashing.

As for your comment on the 'isms', we are in complete agreement - there is much in common between capitalism, fascism and catholicism.

We should probably return to science now.

Blacknad.

Who has been your surgeon?

Well, ain't that a pity... no God spot in the brain...

Has anyone bothered to check whether or not the same spots that "light up" when thinking about God are the same as those that light up when you've got a very imaginative dream / thought ?

I'm just curious...

It may not be important but there have been a few people that did daily routines that were found not to have a brain. Just a little liquid.
I think this was displayed on Ripley's BorN.
Weird stuff. On topic?
jjw

Jim,

See:

http://www.heartmath.org/research/our-heart-brain.html

Blacknad.

There is a 'God Spot' it's called the Soul.

Where is the soul located?

Blacknad thank for the unusual info link.

soilguy:

If people want to think of the soul as a thing they would naturally ask of its location. This has been going on for many centuries. Why must IT be a thing to be located somewhere? It is not my belief system especially but I do not seek a thing to represent the soul.

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0845836.html

Some have sought the Solar Plexis as mysterious and connected to spirituality. This link does not provide a full history of the background.
jjw

I was being facetious, as "y" might have been.

Somewhere where science can't find it.