{"id":8774,"date":"2012-04-21T22:03:23","date_gmt":"2012-04-22T02:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/?p=8774"},"modified":"2012-04-21T22:03:23","modified_gmt":"2012-04-22T02:03:23","slug":"is-there-a-god-spot-in-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/is-there-a-god-spot-in-the-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there a “God Spot” in the brain?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"God<\/a>Scientists seem to be very fond of attempting to relegate esoteric experiences of consciousness to the physical brain. \u00a0In 2009 researchers claimed to have discovered the physical location of god in the brain. \u00a0This NPR story<\/a> shows a diagram of the brain showing the source of different components of spiritual experiences and identifying the temporal lobe, the location for emotion and memory, as the \u201cGod Spot\u201d: the source of transcendent experiences and comparing these to epileptic seizures. These ideas fascinate me as an astrologer because of the correlation to the different astrological aspects of religious and spiritual belief. \u00a0For example, a 2009 article in the UK\u2019s Independent <\/a>tells us:<\/p>\n

The latest study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involved analysing the brains of volunteers, who had been asked to think about religious and moral problems and questions. For the analysis, the researchers used a functional magnetic-resonance imaging machine, which can identify the most energetically-active regions of the brain. \u00a0 They found that people of different religious persuasions and beliefs, as well as atheists, all tended to use the same electrical circuits in the brain to solve a perceived moral conundrum \u2013 and the same circuits were used when religiously-inclined people dealt with issues related to God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The astrological Jupiter and its sign Sagittarius are said to rule both religion and morality as well as philosophy and ideology \u2013 mental constructs with which we define our reality. \u00a0So it makes sense that the same area of the brain would be used for all of these kinds of experiences. The author clearly misses the point, however, in this statement:<\/p>\n

Other studies of people taking part in Buddhist meditation<\/a> suggested the parietal lobes at the upper back region of the brain were involved in controlling religious belief, in particular the mystical elements that gave people a feeling of being on a higher plane during prayer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Religious belief, ruled by Jupiter and Sagittarius, are totally different experiences from the \u201cmystical elements\u201d such as a sense of elevated consciousness. \u00a0These experiences of transcendence and mysticism are ruled by Neptune and Pisces and are completely different in nature astrologically. New research<\/a>\u00a0by Professor Brick Johnstone of Missouri University has found scientific basis for the fact that \u201cspirituality is a complex phenomenon and that multiple areas of the brain are responsible for the many aspects of spiritual experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the most recent study, Johnstone studied 20 people with traumatic brain injuries affecting the right parietal lobe, the area of the brain situated a few inches above the right ear. He surveyed participants on characteristics of spirituality, such as how close they felt to a higher power and if they felt their lives were part of a divine plan. He found that the participants with more significant injury to their right parietal lobe showed an increased feeling of closeness to a higher power. \u2018Neuropsychology researchers consistently have shown that impairment on the right side of the brain decreases one\u2019s focus on the self,\u2019 said Johnstone. \u2018Since our research shows that people with this impairment are more spiritual, this suggests spiritual experiences are associated with a decreased focus on the self.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The planet Neptune and the sign Pisces correlate to experiences that take us beyond the Self. \u00a0These are the experiences in which we feel personally connected to an experience of the Divine rather than a belief. Johnston also found a correlation between frontal lobe activity and frequency of religious practice (i.e., how often one attends church) which would be a more Jupiter\/Sagittarius experience. \u00a0\u2018This finding indicates that spiritual experiences are likely associated with different parts of the brain,\u201d said Johnstone. My personal belief is that the theological experiences governed by Jupiter and Sagittarius are brain-based. \u00a0This is where we construct our theory of the reality of our world and create the resultant belief systems. \u00a0The more mystical experiences of being connected to a higher power, or experiences that go beyond the individual self, originate in consciousness which, scientists are finding, is not localized in the brain at all. \u00a0These Neptune\/Pisces experiences are then processed through the brain to help us to understand those experiences in a way that will help our personal evolution and inner knowledge. In any case, any research that helps people to understand that there is not one True Way is always helpful.<\/p>\n

[related_posts limit=\u201d5\u2033 image=\u201d50\u2033]<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists seem to be very fond of attempting to relegate esoteric experiences of consciousness to the physical brain. \u00a0In 2009 researchers claimed to have discovered the physical location of god in the brain. \u00a0This NPR story shows a diagram of the brain showing the source of different components of spiritual experiences and identifying the temporal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":537,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2430,2431,2432,1966],"class_list":["post-8774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consciousness","tag-astrology-of-religion","tag-god-spot","tag-spiritual-experiences","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nIs there a "God Spot" in the brain? - Astrological Musings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scientists seem to be very fond of attempting to relegate esoteric experiences of consciousness to the physical brain. \u00a0In 2009 researchers claimed to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/astrologicalmusings\/blog\/is-there-a-god-spot-in-the-brain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is there a "God Spot" in the brain? 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