Deconstructing the Religious Mind
Thank you for the thought-provoking article on spirituality and the mind (“The Biology of Belief,” by Vince Rause, July 15). Usually journalists are cynical about spirituality, so I was surprised and pleased to see Rause conclude that faith remains a mystery worth pursuing and that the task is “to just shut up and listen for a while.” I have found similar scientific results in my own research over the past 20 years. My research supports Rause’s conclusions that the role of science is not to prove or disprove spiritual ideas, but rather to help us understand how to use this untapped part of our minds more effectively.
Leonard Felder
Los Angeles
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Rause confuses religious faith with ecstatic experience. Ecstatic experience can be produced in a variety of ways: hypnotic suggestion, aesthetic stimulation, intense sensual pleasure and, as pointed out, a heightened state of religious inspiration. But the detectability of such phenomena by physical instrumentation is quite irrelevant to real religious faith, which has to do with moral conviction. Moral conviction has, in turn, to do with concern for the well-being of fellow humans. Without such moral content, “religion” is just a formalistic exercise in group conformity and nostalgia. It is this empty version of religious belief with which Rause concerns himself--a version devoid of contemplation of the mystery of humans caring about fellow humans. What an exercise in irrelevance!
Larry Selk
Los Angeles
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Rause beautifully describes the ecumenical spiritual experience that transcends the boundaries placed in the name of religion. This scientific validation of the mystical experience posits a holy essence that is universally known. It is the element from which we weave the sectarian garments to which we give the names of our various religions. I hope that this mystical understanding will allow us to listen to each other and find our common heart.
Anne Brener
Los Angeles
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Research financed by the John Templeton Foundation that comes to the conclusion that a change in brain waves reveals the existence of God has as much credibility as Philip Morris-funded research that reveals that cigarettes are beneficial to one’s digestive tract. Deep, reflective thoughts will change one’s brain-scan patterns. This is not a significant scientific breakthrough. This does not reflect the existence of God any more than a televangelist minister does when calling for donations after performing a miraculous cure before an audience of brain wave-altered followers.
James Grafton Randall
Anaheim Hills