Neurotheology With God In Mind - Neurotheology Article - Clinically Psyched Neurotheology - Hyper-religiosity | Clinically Psyched Addressing the general meeting for the “Society of Neuroscience” in 1997, Dr. Ramachandran made comment that “there is a neural basis for religious experience.” Ramachandran’s radical statement catapulted neurotheology well into the public eye. The aim of neurotheology is to question and “explore theology from a neurological perspective…helping us to understand the human urge for religion and religious myth” (Newberg, D’Aquili & Rause 2001, p177). Newberg and D’aquili(2001, pp3-10) explored the relationship between brain function and spiritual experience in Tibetan Monks and Franciscan Nuns as they engaged in deep meditation and prayer. Newberg et al, 2001, (p40) describes the state achieved during meditation as ‘Hyperquiescence’, a state of “extraordinary relaxation”. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, believe they have found the ‘God Spot’; an area of the brain which becomes hyper sensitive and stimulated during moments of deep religious reflection. Dr. Chapman.
120 Ways to Boost Your Brain Power Here are 120 things you can do starting today to help you think faster, improve memory, comprehend information better and unleash your brain’s full potential. Solve puzzles and brainteasers.Cultivate ambidexterity. Use your non-dominant hand to brush your teeth, comb your hair or use the mouse. Write with both hands simultaneously. Switch hands for knife and fork.Embrace ambiguity. Learn to enjoy things like paradoxes and optical illusions.Learn mind mapping.Block one or more senses. Readers’ Contributions Dance! Contribute your own tip! There are many, many ways to keep our brains sharp.
Out of Our Brains The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless. Where is my mind? The question — memorably posed by rock band the Pixies in their 1988 song — is one that, perhaps surprisingly, divides many of us working in the areas of philosophy of mind and cognitive science. There is no limit, it seems, to the different tasks that elicit subtly, and sometimes not so subtly, different patterns of neural activation. As our technologies become better adapted to fit the niche provided by the biological brain, they become more like cognitive prosthetics. But then again, maybe not. Is it possible that, sometimes at least, some of the activity that enables us to be the thinking, knowing, agents that we are occurs outside the brain? The idea sounds outlandish at first. Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times“Brain Cloud (2010)” on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as part of a show by John Baldessari. Such an idea is not new.
Can't relax? It's all in your mind: Research shows stopping a thought puts more strain on the brain (PhysOrg.com) -- Turns out, relaxing is exhausting—which could by why so many people struggle to unplug from work during vacation. According to mathematicians at Case Western Reserve University, stopping a thought burns more energy than thinking-like stopping a truck on a downhill slope. "Maybe this explains why it is so tiring to relax and think about nothing," says Daniela Calvetti, professor of mathematics and one of the authors of a new brain study published in an advanced online publication of the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism. Since opening up the brain for detailed monitoring isn't exactly practical, Calvetti teamed up with fellow mathematics professor Erkki Somersalo and Rossana Occhipinti, a postdoctoral researcher in physiology and biophysics, to create a computer model of brain metabolism. Calvetti and Somersalo created a software package specifically designed to study the complex metabolic systems.
ScienceDaily Magazine: Your Source for the Latest Research News in Science, Health & Medicine, the Environment, Space, Technology, and Computers Tests of faith | Science First for some figures. Last year, an ICM poll found 85% of Americans believe that God created the universe. In Nigeria, 98% claimed always to have believed in God, while nine out of 10 Indonesians said they would die for their God or religious beliefs. Faith has long been a puzzle for science, and it's no surprise why. So why do so many people believe? One factor in the development of religious belief was the rapid expansion of our brains as we emerged as a species, says Todd Murphy, a behavioural neuroscientist at Laurentian University in Canada. As well as providing succour for those troubled by the existential dilemma, religion, or at least a primitive spirituality, would have played another important role as human societies developed. "What I find more plausible is that rather than religion itself offering any advantage in evolutionary terms, it's a byproduct of other cognitive capacities we evolved, which did have advantages," says Boyer. Further reading What Is Good?
7 Skills To Become Super Smart People aren’t born smart. They become smart. And to become smart you need a well-defined set of skills. Here are some tips and resources for acquiring those skills. Memory If you can’t remember what you’re trying to learn, you’re not really learning. If you want to amaze your friends with remembering faces, names, and numbers, look to the grand-daddy of memory training, Harry Lorayne. Reading Good scholars need to be good readers. Evelyn Woodski Slow Reading Course Announcer … Dan Aykroyd Man … Garrett Morris Woman … Jane Curtin Surgeon … Bill Murray … Ray Charles Announcer V/O: [The following words rapidly appear on a blue screen as they are read by the fast-talking announcer:] This is the way you were taught to read, averaging hundreds or thousands of words per minute. Psychologists have found that many people who take speed reading courses increase their reading speed for a short time but then fall right back to the plodding pace where they started. Writing Speaking Numeracy Empathy
10 Websites With Fun Tests To Gauge Your IQ Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is a term that’s related to the wattage of your brain; in short intelligence and reasoning skills measured across a few standardized tests. Before an inferiority complex starts laying its foundation, remember that I.Q is not a measure of knowledge or its practical application. To rub our egos the right way, you might take a few serious approved tests and arrive at your IQ. Me? FunEducation Try out the array of tests on this site which include a range of serious self discovery tools and fun quizzes. 3SmartCubes If you are looking for a range of tests that measure everything from IQ to your EQ (Emotional Quotient), then this site deserves to be bookmarked. Free IQ Test Just like the name says, this site is a place for a fast, free, and accurate online IQ test. IQ League The 60 Seconds IQ Test on this site is a fun and fast test which pits you against a clock as it countdowns to the minutes on the 10 questions. own system Test Yourself Magic Mnemonic Color IQ Test
Brain is not fully mature until 30s and 40s (PhysOrg.com) -- New research from the UK shows the brain continues to develop after childhood and puberty, and is not fully developed until people are well into their 30s and 40s. The findings contradict current theories that the brain matures much earlier. Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a neuroscientist with the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said until around a decade ago many scientists had "pretty much assumed that the human brain stopped developing in early childhood," but recent research has found that many regions of the brain continue to develop for a long time afterwards. The prefrontal cortex is the region at the front of the brain just behind the forehead, and is an area of the brain that undergoes the longest period of development. Prof. In earlier research Professor Blakemore studied the brains of teenagers in detail, as reported in PhysOrg. Explore further: Study: Our brains compensate for aging
If mind is related to consciousness and neurotheology relates to both, insights into human behavior could be revealed. by lennysupak Nov 16
Yes, it is absolutely necessary that progress be made by integrating our knowledge of the brain with that of theology...... spirituality (Man's search for God). Until we are more fully able to understand the relationship between these two basic realms, we will never truly (scientifically, that is) understand what it means to be a human being. by dougsoderstrom Nov 16