What makes us feel spiritual? It could
be the quieting of a small area in our brains, a new study suggests.
The area in question - the right
parietal lobe - is responsible for defining "Me,"
said researcher Brick Johnstone of Missouri University. It generates
self-criticism, he said, and guides us through physical and social
terrains by constantly updating our self-knowledge: my hand, my
cocktail, my witty conversation skills, my new love
interest ...
People with less active Me-Definers are more likely to lead spiritual
lives, reports the study in the current issue of the
journal Zygon.
Most previous research on neuro-spirituality has been based on brain
scans of actively practicing adherents (i.e. meditating
monks, praying nuns) and has resulted in broad and
inconclusive findings. (Is the brain area lighting up in response to
verse or spiritual experience?)
So Johnstone and colleague Bret Glass turned to the tried-and-true
techniques of neuroscience's early days - studying brain-injured
patients. The researchers tested brain regions implicated in the
previous imaging studies with exams tailored to each area's expertise
- similar to studying the prowess of an ear with a hearing test. They
then looked for correlations between brain region performance and the
subjects' self-reported spirituality.
Among the more spiritual of the 26 subjects, the researchers
pinpointed a less functional right parietal
lobe, a physical state which may translate psychologically as
decreased self-awareness and self-focus.
The finding suggests that one core tenant of spiritual experience is
selflessness, said Johnstone, adding that he hopes the study
"will help people think about spirituality in more specific
ways."
Spiritual outlooks have long been associated with better mental and
physical health. These benefits, Johnstone speculated, may stem from
being focused less on one's self and more on others - a natural
consequence of turning down the volume on the Me-Definer.
In addition to religious practices, other behaviors and experiences
are known to hush the Definer of Me. Appreciation of art or nature can
quiet it, Johnstone said, pointing out that people talk of
"losing themselves" in a particularly beautiful song. Love,
and even charity work, can also soften the boundaries of
"Me," he said.
The greatest silencing of the Me-Definer likely happens in the deepest
states
of meditation or prayer, said Johnstone, when practitioners
describe feeling seamless with the entire universe.
That is, the highest point of spiritual experience occurs when
"Me" completely loses its definition.
"If you look in the Torah,
the Old Testament,
the New Testament,
in the Koran, a
lot of Sufi writings, Buddhist writings, and Hindu writings, they all
talk about selflessness," said Johnstone.
We may be finding the neurological underpinnings of these writings, he
said.