Pondering the Big Questions of Life Provides Significant Mental Benefits

No matter your religion or spiritual beliefs, even if you're atheist, contemplating the questions of the universe — whether they be religious, scientific, or psychological — can enhance brain function. Practices such as meditation, chanting mantras, and intense prayer can provide significantly positive effects on cognition, relaxation, and psychological health.

According to a new book by Andrew Newberg, MD and Mark Robert Waldman called "How God Changes Your Brain,"  such practices both increase activity in the frontal lobe, which "creates and integrates all of your ideas about God," and diminishes activity in the amygdala, the region responsible for emotions that can generate fearful images of a frightening and punitive God and suppress the frontal lobe's ability to logically think about God.

When the parietal-frontal circuit is activated, we readily perceive and delineate our physical surroundings and our orientation within it. Meditation overrides these perceptions, which then allows feelings of oneness with spirit and the universe to arise.

Dr. Newberg is a medical doctor, professor of radiology, psychology, and religious studies, and is head of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. He's considered one of the top neuroscientists that is shedding light on the growing field of neurotheology and the new discoveries being made about the relationship between the brain and spiritual or contemplative practices.

One of Dr. Newberg's objectives is to align the fields of science and religion, both often viewed as holding opposing concepts. "The two most powerful forces in all of human history have been religion and science," he said. "These are the two things that help us organize our world and understand it. Why not try to bring them together to address each other and ultimately our world in a more effective way?"

This text by Linda Sue Anderson of HolisticFuture.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.