How God Changes Your Brain<\/em>. His studies show that<\/p>\nspiritual practices, such as meditation and prayer \u2026 reveal significant improvements in memory, cognition and compassion while simultaneously reducing anxiety, depression, irritability and stress (even when done in a non-theological context). One might come to the conclusion, then, that being religious or spiritual is a good thing.<\/span><\/p>\nBut his studies also show<\/p>\n
when people view God as loving, forgiving, compassionate and supportive, this more likely results in a very positive view of themselves, and of the world around them. But when God is viewed as dispassionate, vengeful and unforgiving, this can have deleterious effects on one\u2019s physical and mental health. Again, the research is clear: If you ruminate on negative emotions, they activate the areas of the brain that are involved in anger, fear and stress. This can ultimately damage important parts of the brain and the body. What\u2019s worse, negative emotions can spill over into outward behaviors that generate fear, distrust, hatred, animosity and violence toward people who hold different or opposing beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\nIn other words, it matters what we believe.<\/p>\n
This should come as no surprise to Pagans. The modern Pagan view of the Great Mother Goddess \u2013 with all the nurturing, caring, and unconditional loving we generally associate with the best of mothers \u2013 arose precisely because of the dominant religions\u2019 view of a God with all the stern, angry, punishing attributes generally associated with the worst of fathers.<\/p>\n
We cannot know Ultimate Reality, therefore we cannot say one version of \u201cGod\u201d is any more correct than another. But we can say that some versions are more helpful than others. Pagans have long argued that the concept of a Father God is meaningless without a Mother Goddess. Now we see there are clear, physical advantages to our beliefs.<\/p>\n
Blessed be!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here\u2019s a piece from yesterday\u2019s USA Today that explores more of the biology of religion. It\u2019s by Andrew Newberg, associate professor of radiology and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of the new book How God Changes Your Brain. His studies show that spiritual practices, such as meditation and prayer \u2026 reveal significant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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