A_Wanderer
ONE love, blood, life
Very interesting article from a few years ago
The criteria and evaluations could be a weakness but I find the predisposition of a mind to transcendental experiences possibly linking to the activity of serotonin receptors stimulating to say the least, that the feelings of profound truth and significance in thought shown by the devout, the insane and the drugged can be traced back to a material cause.
Valuable for unraveling the workings of the mind and bringing the subjective personal transcendental experience into an empirical domain.
If there is a significant element of biological determinism in the capacity for faith would that have any significant effect on you? If you could one day find out if your neurology was a bad fit for faith would it justify agnosticism or atheism? (I feel yes, I was lucky enough never to have any compulsion to religion and whatever exposure there was didn't fit and by now I am quite confident never will - I would be interested to know the role of my brain in it versus environment; I think that it has the potential to undercut charges that atheism is simply another belief on par with any other faith - I am not saying it is special, merely that it is an absence of faith, which is a different beast altogether; most people take it to be true that other people think and feel like they do, that they would believe the same thing if given the same chance - showing if that is true or not and why could help understanding).
Lastly if the capacity for faith is a biological character is it heritable and if so why would it exist in human populations.
I suspect that this need some pondering with some targeted 5-HT2A action.
sourceWhether you prefer whirling with the dervishes, participating in liturgical services or meditating with Buddhists may depend on the level of serotonin in your brain, recent research indicates.
Participation in and receptivity to certain religious and spiritual practices may be linked to the density of one of 15 serotonin receptors in the brain, said Dr. Lars Farde, professor of psychiatry at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, and co-author of, "The Serotonin System and Spiritual Experiences," published in the November issue of the American Journal of Psychology.
According to Farde, the receptor neurologists call 5-HT1A "is one of the most important because it serves as a marker for the entire serotonin system." He said the connection furthers the belief that brain function may impact openness to spiritual experiences.
Using a brain imaging technique called positron emission tomography, or PET, Farde and his team have been studying neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin for a number of years. Their past research was the first to demonstrate the correlation between higher brain function and personality.
Recently, the researchers became interested in the serotonin system because of its relationship to depression and anxiety, said Farde. In attempting to confirm the correlation between serotonin levels and anxiety, he said they were surprised to discover a connection between the density of the receptors and spiritual acceptance.
Using the "Temperament and Character Inventory," 15 mentally and physically healthy men ages 20 - 45 self-assessed a number of personality traits, including self-transcendence, which denotes religious behavior and attitudes. The scale includes yes-or-no questions like, "I have had supernatural experiences" and, "I believe in a common, unifying force."
"We looked at how they view the existence of a spiritual realm," said Farde. "You can take the extremes. The person who scores very low might be a technician who says they believe the things they see, the things they can measure, whereas they don't believe anything beyond that. The other extreme might be the new-age type, or the person who believes that nature has a soul and views the spiritual reality as more important than the reality seen by our eyes."
The participants also underwent PET scans to determine their serotonin levels. Analyzing the date from the two tests, the researchers discovered a strong linear correlation: the higher the scores for spiritual acceptance, the lower the density of the serotonin receptors.
"There is more to say that low serotonin is linked with people who are open to spiritual or supernatural experiences," explained Farde. "Whereas the higher levels go more with people who believe what they see with their eyes and are not so open to God or other aspects of religion."
Dr. Andrew B. Newberg, an assistant professor in the departments of radiology and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, said this is an integral study in understanding the biology behind spirituality and religion.
"This is a big question that has been raised," said Newberg, who researches the connection between spirituality and the brain, or neurotheology. "We always talk about people that are predisposed to certain experiences, and the question is why."
According to Newberg, this research may be useful in a number of ways, including guiding people to practices that might better suit their disposition by understanding how people are spiritually different.
The criteria and evaluations could be a weakness but I find the predisposition of a mind to transcendental experiences possibly linking to the activity of serotonin receptors stimulating to say the least, that the feelings of profound truth and significance in thought shown by the devout, the insane and the drugged can be traced back to a material cause.
Valuable for unraveling the workings of the mind and bringing the subjective personal transcendental experience into an empirical domain.
If there is a significant element of biological determinism in the capacity for faith would that have any significant effect on you? If you could one day find out if your neurology was a bad fit for faith would it justify agnosticism or atheism? (I feel yes, I was lucky enough never to have any compulsion to religion and whatever exposure there was didn't fit and by now I am quite confident never will - I would be interested to know the role of my brain in it versus environment; I think that it has the potential to undercut charges that atheism is simply another belief on par with any other faith - I am not saying it is special, merely that it is an absence of faith, which is a different beast altogether; most people take it to be true that other people think and feel like they do, that they would believe the same thing if given the same chance - showing if that is true or not and why could help understanding).
Lastly if the capacity for faith is a biological character is it heritable and if so why would it exist in human populations.
I suspect that this need some pondering with some targeted 5-HT2A action.
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