I hear a lot of talk these days about spirituality. Friends of mine have commented that spirituality is about being creative, using the intuitive right side of the brain to engage with God and experience his presence. Its about turning off logic, switching on our intuition and somehow drifting off into a wonderful mystical experience of connectedness to God and oneness with the universe.NEWSFLASH people - we all know that spiritual experiences are usually associated with activity in the left temporal lobe ">"Exhibit 1.1. Left Temporal Lobe: Is that you God?"And, btw the brain hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum (exhibit 1.2) and generally work together, so switching one side off is nigh on impossible, and unless one wants to have some serious cognitive deficits, not recommended.. "Exhibit 1.2. The Corpus Callosum, connector of the left and right hemispheres."Typical, unspiritual earthen-clod of a scientist (figure 1) that I am, I simply cannot resist the urge to analyse, logicise and deconstuctivise the mystery. Sorry, I can't help it, tis all in my brain!And I realise that I may be painting a somewhat crude caricature of how some people think about spirituality and spiritual experiences. But when I hear my friends say that they want to switch off their logical mind in order to enter worship, when I hear people say that artists are spiritual people and in tune with the divine (with the resounding implication that scientists are probably not), when I hear the virtures of oms ">"Figure 1. Hmmmm, interesting, very interesting. Could this be an act of worship? Surely not..."I have been observing a rather curious thing of late. Those friends of mine who are considered "spiritual" or those seeking to be "postmodern" in the way they practice their faith, often prefer the arts to the sciences, prefer intuition to logical thought. They're happy to sit on a cushion and meditate the day away.Now me, on the other hand - I am an avowed scientist. I find meditation unbearably dull (meh, can you believe I actually said that?!) In Quaker meetings I'm usually mulling over some new hypothesis about my PhD research, or thinking through some issue that I'm currently pondering rather than awaiting some burst of cosmic energy from the spirit within. And I'd rather go to the gym and break some sweat than meditate! Sadly, I'm also unrepentant about it. There's just no hope!I have had "mystical experiences" - at least I've experienced 'something', although I am not quite sure what it is. I have felt 'at one', experienced 'the divine presence', and it has been a very pleasant and even uplifting experience. But, beyond concluding that my left temporal lobe seems to be quite active every so often, I am not sure that I have benefitted from the experience, or that I am particularly interested in experiencing it again.Yes, I'm a scientist. I prefer studying neuroanatomy to visiting the modern art museum (the brain is beautiful), I find science fascinating. I love to analyse, tease apart and to me numbers, logic and neuroanatomy are beautiful and even mysterious. Maybe, good lord, I get the same kick out of a good data analysis session as my arty friends get out of creating a great work of art. Don't get me wrong, I like many of the arts, particularly reading, poetry - but its the words that get me. (Curiously, language is also typically located in the left hemisphere, so yet again, it appears that logic, order and rationality have won through!) And my dearest friend, Laurence, you may well enjoy meditating on the subversive urinal, or childish doodles on 1960's bedsheet, but forgive me for just not getting it! ;DI'm not saying that science is better than the arts. I don't even think that the two are really so divergent as I might have made out here. But what I do fear, is that we "spiritual types" might be throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.Can science be a spiritual pursuit? I say it can. In fact, I say it is! I'd even like to herald Richard Dawkins as a contemporary spiritual leader! And why? Because there are few men who have instilled in us a sense of awe and wonderment at what it means to exist and be alive! Scientists at their best are everything those of us seeking 'God' should aspire to be. They are thorough, committed, rigorous and desperately honest. Good science is not too attached to an idea or theory and does not shut its ears or eyes to fresh evidence, but rather adapts to it, seeking to explore new frontiers and pioneer new techniques that might improve our lives or make our world a better place to live. Good science is a collaborative effort, a communal activity. We learn from our peers, we learn from those who have more experience and we provide support for the up and comings. Good science teaches us not to fear the new idea or the enlivened debate but rather to embrace it and allow seemingly contradictory findings to spark new ideas and new knowledge. Good science teaches us that difference is to be valued.Good science gives us insight into the world, enhances our understanding and holds the potential to benefit our world and humanity. Good science reminds us of how little we know and teaches us humility and a sense of awe and appreciation of our existence. Science teaches us that 'To live at all is miracle enough' (As Dawkins entitled a chapter in 'Unweaving the Rainbow). Good science saves human lives and restores the planet. (Admittedly, scientific endeavours at their worst have done the exact opposite - but nonethelss, science can be a wonderfully stimulating and exciting endeavour.)Now, that is not to say that science and, in my case, psychology are necessarily easy things for people of faith to study. Studying psychology, threw into question experiences that I previously believed to be "God". Now I put them down to group effects, neurological quirks and other psychological phenomenon. What the church told me was "God's design", I discovered to be evolutionary common sense. However I don't think this threatened my faith at all. In fact, if anything, discovering psychological principles behind religious experience pushed me beyond platonic dualism (the uncanny, and imo unhelpful idea that spirit and matter are separate) and into an appreciation of the whole of life as an expression of God and a realisation that everything is sacred. I wonder if my atheist-scientist friends aren't the most spiritual people at all. Maybe they are so immersed in the universe, recognising their oneness with it, that they no longer have any need for a separate concept of the divine. To them, as for me, perhaps everything is sacred? My friend Simon, Christian )Disclaimer: I am not a neuroscientist, I've merely picked up a little here and there and have grossly oversimplified everything for the sake of this post. Should any of my friends who actually are neuroscientists stumble across this little corner of cyberspace, I muchly apologise for taking a little artistic license and pretending to be knowledgeable. Feel free to correct glaring mistakes because your work is beautiful.
Source: masonsofheaven.blogspot.com
