Seeking ‘God’ in a Rational World
I was moved by the eloquent writing of Vince Rause (“The Biology of Belief,” July 15). I believe that “the great human hunger for God” is the starting point for religious thought. Our frail human brains cannot handle the grandeur and the sorrows of human experience, and thereby have to create explanations for our life experiences. Kudos to Rause for his exploration into the meaning of religious experience in a “rational world.” His directive “to forget about being right” and “just shut up and listen for a while” would serve us all well.
Bonnie Kilmer
Laguna Beach
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Let’s be clear as to what Andrew Newberg’s research has and has not demonstrated. It is not that man’s brain is wired in a way that is consistent with the existence of a god--at least as we use that term in the West. Newberg found the same type of brain activity in both Franciscan nuns in prayer and Tibetan Buddhist monks in meditation. Tibetan Buddhists believe not in a god but in the sanctity of the universe. Thus what Newberg has seen in his experiments is not a brain reacting to or communing with (i.e. praying to) any god, but rather a reaction to a mental state characterized by a deep and sustained focus on something larger than oneself.
Richard A. Blacker
Santa Monica
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Beginning with a deliciously comic scene in which the breathless writer lunches with his revered neuroscientist--who issues faux profundities accompanied by a wagging French fry and a portentously lowered turkey sandwich--he diverts his attention from his fajitas to lead us on a road to Damascus, culminating in a spiritual revelation and leaving the meager evidence far behind: the discovery of God in a brain scan. The article is nicely embellished with photo-illustrations of an angelic boy emitting rays of holy light and over-the-top headlines (“First-Ever Snapshot of the Creator,” “High-Tech Snapshot of God”). But I read this with a troubled squint, suspecting that some readers may not recognize it as a parody of tabloid science journalism.
Al Clarke
Thousand Oaks
