Changes

Meanwhile a surge of interest in neurotheology has come from the work of Andrew Newberg and the late Eugene D'Aquili. Studying Buddhist meditators and Franciscan nuns, D'Aquili and Newberg employed SPECT scans (single photon emission computed tomography, as opposed to positron emission tomography [PET] scans or functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]) to get a picture of the brain's activity during peak meditative states of oneness or union. From a neurophysiological perspective, they have proposed a heightening of the attentional areas in the frontal cortex, which they associate with activities of the will, and a diffuse, quiescent blurring of the boundaries between self and not-self mediated by the posterior superior parietal lobe. Moreover they have proposed that the parietal lobe is a major controlling factor in the experience of a continuum ranging from pleasure of an aesthetic moment, including everyday insights, to the heightened, transforming experience of religious ecstasy. They have also proposed an evolutionary role for such experiences relating the peak experience to ritual and mythmaking that have become wired-in to the nervous system.

Meanwhile a surge of interest in neurotheology has come from the work of Andrew Newberg and the late Eugene D'Aquili. Studying Buddhist meditators and Franciscan nuns, D'Aquili and Newberg employed SPECT scans (single photon emission computed tomography, as opposed to positron emission tomography [PET] scans or functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]) to get a picture of the brain's activity during peak meditative states of oneness or union. From a neurophysiological perspective, they have proposed a heightening of the attentional areas in the frontal cortex, which they associate with activities of the will, and a diffuse, quiescent blurring of the boundaries between self and not-self mediated by the posterior superior parietal lobe. Moreover they have proposed that the parietal lobe is a major controlling factor in the experience of a continuum ranging from pleasure of an aesthetic moment, including everyday insights, to the heightened, transforming experience of religious ecstasy. They have also proposed an evolutionary role for such experiences relating the peak experience to ritual and mythmaking that have become wired-in to the nervous system.

===THE CORRELATION BETWEEN BRAIN STATES AND MENTAL STATES===

===Correlation Between Brain States & Mental States===

As noted, the idea that human beings have access to higher realms of consciousness is prevalent in all esoteric contemplative traditions. To speak in purely Western terms, in Plato's remarkable allegory the ordinary human condition is portrayed as existence in a cave, where shackled prisoners with limited vision—able to look only at the wall in front of them—mistake shadows and echoes for reality. Liberation, the ascent into the real world, is arduous and requires loosening the chains, turning around, overcoming the initial confusion, and persisting in a quest that brings knowledge and freedom. The prisoner must become realigned so that he or she can control his or her dark fears and shadowy thoughts and so escape from the cave. Once he or she is out of the cave, complete vision is possible through the liberation of the higher mind (nous). Higher consciousness evolves in its encounter with reality, thereby apprehending the laws of the universal order—the True, the Beautiful, and the Good.

As noted, the idea that human beings have access to higher realms of consciousness is prevalent in all esoteric contemplative traditions. To speak in purely Western terms, in Plato's remarkable allegory the ordinary human condition is portrayed as existence in a cave, where shackled prisoners with limited vision—able to look only at the wall in front of them—mistake shadows and echoes for reality. Liberation, the ascent into the real world, is arduous and requires loosening the chains, turning around, overcoming the initial confusion, and persisting in a quest that brings knowledge and freedom. The prisoner must become realigned so that he or she can control his or her dark fears and shadowy thoughts and so escape from the cave. Once he or she is out of the cave, complete vision is possible through the liberation of the higher mind (nous). Higher consciousness evolves in its encounter with reality, thereby apprehending the laws of the universal order—the True, the Beautiful, and the Good.

The implications for the neurosciences seem clear. Scientists have always presumed in biochemistry that there cannot be a thought without some chemical reaction somewhere. This example offers similar confirmation that thoughts not only are driven by body chemistry, but that they can alter it as well, in ways not normally deemed possible by normative science. The monks obviously did not enter into a lifetime of training just to be able to dry wet sheets on their backs. Their goal was the teachings and their effects on transforming consciousness. One's epistemology therefore, the core of one's belief system, must be tied into the outcome where the problem of consciousness is concerned, a thought altogether new for the way science is normally conducted.

The implications for the neurosciences seem clear. Scientists have always presumed in biochemistry that there cannot be a thought without some chemical reaction somewhere. This example offers similar confirmation that thoughts not only are driven by body chemistry, but that they can alter it as well, in ways not normally deemed possible by normative science. The monks obviously did not enter into a lifetime of training just to be able to dry wet sheets on their backs. Their goal was the teachings and their effects on transforming consciousness. One's epistemology therefore, the core of one's belief system, must be tied into the outcome where the problem of consciousness is concerned, a thought altogether new for the way science is normally conducted.

==CONCLUSION==

==CONCLUSION==

Virtually unheard of in the middle of the twentieth century, the expression "states of consciousness" has entered the common vocabulary. How this idea will present itself in the years to come, how a subject so intimately wedded to metaphysical and religious concerns will fare in modern culture, and how religion, philosophy, and psychology may meet in their concern over this subject may prove decisively important to all who seek answers to the larger questions of human life, who one is and why one is here. At the least the struggle to understand what happens to consciousness when it becomes more conscious of itself will contribute to the ongoing dialogue between science and religion.

Virtually unheard of in the middle of the twentieth century, the expression "states of consciousness" has entered the common vocabulary. How this idea will present itself in the years to come, how a subject so intimately wedded to metaphysical and religious concerns will fare in modern culture, and how religion, philosophy, and psychology may meet in their concern over this subject may prove decisively important to all who seek answers to the larger questions of human life, who one is and why one is here. At the least the struggle to understand what happens to consciousness when it becomes more conscious of itself will contribute to the ongoing dialogue between science and religion.