Neurotheology–ever heard of it?
I hadn’t, not until my friend Jen mentioned it to me last week. She heard about it on NPR.
Andrew Newberg has made it possible through neurotheolgy to explore what happens when a person prays or meditates. Newberg is a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania and author of several books, including How God Changes Your Brain.
Newberg has been injecting a dye and taking photos of brains after people pray or meditate for over ten years. He’s discovering what Christians knew all along. When you pray you are in the presence of God. It turns out that when you pray, the parietal lobe lights up from the dye like the sun or is that the SON?
The parietal lobe is the part of the brain is responsible for giving us the orientation of space and time. The light that shows bright on the scans indicates the parietal lobe activity decreases. So the light from the dye, means that part of the brain is inactive or dark. Huh?
Does that mean when we pray we leave and go to God? I think it might, not physically of course but part of us leaves behind the things of this world for His world.
Newberg has yet to fine tune his findings. So far it seems it doesn’t matter what faith you believe in as long as you are believing in something to make your brain go inactive.
I want to believe this is more proof that God exists for those who need scientific proof.
So my suggestion? Hit your knees and light up your brain.
Niki, glad you can look it up now. It's hard to describe when you aren't a scientist. 🙂 So looking up the article will give you more information.
I heard a smidgeon of the NPR interview on my way home the other day, but missed most of the details, like the guy's name! SO glad you shared this!
Blessings!