Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fr. Longenecker writes here on the brain research relating to religious experiences. \u00a0When I first came across this line of scientific inquiry some years\" \/>\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\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fr. Longenecker writes here on the brain research relating to religious experiences. \u00a0When I first came across this line of scientific inquiry some years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sticking the Corners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-23T10:24:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-20T00:02:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/0\/00\/Albarrac%C3%ADn%2C_Teruel%2C_Espa%C3%B1a%2C_2014-01-10%2C_DD_002.JPG\/358px-Albarrac%C3%ADn%2C_Teruel%2C_Espa%C3%B1a%2C_2014-01-10%2C_DD_002.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Fitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Jennifer_Fitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Fitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/\",\"name\":\"Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-23T10:24:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-20T00:02:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3\"},\"description\":\"Fr. Longenecker writes here on the brain research relating to religious experiences. \u00a0When I first came across this line of scientific inquiry some years\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\",\"name\":\"Sticking the Corners\",\"description\":\"Live it like you mean it.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Fitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Fitz\"},\"description\":\"Jennifer Fitz is the mother of four fantabulous children, and author of Classroom Management for Catechists. She writes online for Patheos and for the Catholic Conspiracy. When she isn't blogging, teaching, or complaining about something, she likes to play outside.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jennifer_Fitz\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/author\/jenniferfitz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain","description":"Fr. Longenecker writes here on the brain research relating to religious experiences. \u00a0When I first came across this line of scientific inquiry some years","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain","og_description":"Fr. Longenecker writes here on the brain research relating to religious experiences. \u00a0When I first came across this line of scientific inquiry some years","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/","og_site_name":"Sticking the Corners","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/","article_published_time":"2014-06-23T10:24:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-20T00:02:16+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/0\/00\/Albarrac%C3%ADn%2C_Teruel%2C_Espa%C3%B1a%2C_2014-01-10%2C_DD_002.JPG\/358px-Albarrac%C3%ADn%2C_Teruel%2C_Espa%C3%B1a%2C_2014-01-10%2C_DD_002.JPG"}],"author":"Jennifer Fitz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Jennifer_Fitz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Fitz","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/","name":"Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-23T10:24:06+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-20T00:02:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3"},"description":"Fr. Longenecker writes here on the brain research relating to religious experiences. \u00a0When I first came across this line of scientific inquiry some years","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/","name":"Sticking the Corners","description":"Live it like you mean it.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3","name":"Jennifer Fitz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Fitz"},"description":"Jennifer Fitz is the mother of four fantabulous children, and author of Classroom Management for Catechists. She writes online for Patheos and for the Catholic Conspiracy. When she isn't blogging, teaching, or complaining about something, she likes to play outside.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jennifer_Fitz"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/author\/jenniferfitz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1214,"date":"2014-06-23T05:24:06","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T10:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=1214"},"modified":"2015-06-19T19:02:16","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T00:02:16","slug":"religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/06\/religion-reality-and-what-happens-in-your-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion, Reality, and What Happens in Your Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Fr. Longenecker writes here on the brain research relating to religious experiences<\/a>. \u00a0When I first came across this line of scientific inquiry some years ago, it was a great help to me. \u00a0I\u2019m prone to doubt about all kinds of things, and this sort of research affirms the reality of the existence of God.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Because all our other senses correspond to real things.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never propose that because brain damage can alter what we see that therefore \u201cvision\u201d is just a coping-mechanism built into your brain to help you adjust to the reality that there is nothing to see. \u00a0Or that just because some people hear ringing in their ears, and others hear nothing in their ears, that \u201csound\u201d is therefore just your brain\u2019s way of keeping you sane in a silent world.<\/p>\n

The brain is a strange and marvelous thing, and we\u2019re all aware of situations in which its workings go awry. \u00a0We can feel happy or sad about things that are real \u2014 good things or bad things \u2014 but we can also have those feelings of happiness or sadness artificially induced, by a medication or fatigue, for example. \u00a0That doesn\u2019t mean that the happiness we feel at the birth of a baby and the sadness we feel at the loss of one are \u201cmanufactured\u201d in our brains, and that in fact neither event is happy or sad. \u00a0It means that the part of our brain that perceives \u2018happy\u2019 and \u2018sad\u2019 \u00a0usually works, but it can malfunction, on its own or by instigation, just like any other body part.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a part of your brain that processes taste, it\u2019s because there are things that have taste. \u00a0If there is a part of your brain that processes scent, it is because there are things that have scent. \u00a0If there is a part of your brain the processes the supernatural, it is because there are things that are supernatural.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Yes, yes, I know, on brain evidence taken alone, there\u2019s some remote chance that 95% of the human population just has a very vivid imagination. \u00a0As with the proofs for the existence of any person, if you are convinced out of hand that a particular person does not exist, there will always be some way to dismiss the evidence of that person\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re pretty sure your friend \/ kinsman \/ Deity is around and loves you and wants to hear from you, it\u2019s nice every now and again to get a little affirmation that this is the case.<\/p>\n

$\"File:Albarrac\u00edn,$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: Diego Delso [CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>], via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"