Physiological Spirituality

Since long ago Neuro scientists are trying to study the physiological effects that happens to the brain when praying and what evolves from it as humble traits upgrading spirituality, as a results a new science was created called: Neurobiology of Religion and Spirituality.

Science has taken a huge positive step thanks to medical equipment called SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography).

The SPECT works on following the blood flow in the brain, after injecting radioactive material in the blood that will enable researchers to study the neural action in the brain since blood flow is compatible with neural activity.

Scientists and researchers goal became in indicating the areas that light (active and motivated) and the areas where the there is no light (Inactive) when humans live though spiritual highness and since the creator existence.

This was the main subject in Newsweek magazine in its published issue on 7^th May 2001, unfortunately, the limited space of the article prevents me from surfing in the results of those studies but I will mention the most important of them.

Researchers found during their studies of the phenomenon in spirituality and reverence that the front area of the brain has led up (as expected) since this is the concentration area, but the unexpected thing was what happened to the other areas of the brain from calmness and complete inactive neural process, but there is an area in the brain (superior Parietal Lobe) stopped activity completely, this area is responsible of human ability to recognize and tell the time, period and direction of the body in space, it is also responsible for the sense of dimensions of the body (From where it starts and ends) and its relation to the objects and materials around it.

In specific, the left side of this area of the brain is responsible in indicating the human body dimensions, and the right side is responsible for creating the sense of things that surrounds humans, and any dysfunction or injury to that part of the brain will result of losing the ability to move and set distances between it and what surrounds it.

And this is what happens to humans during moments of reverences and high spirituality from loosing track of time and space, those moments described by some as the moments where humans sense the existence of their creator.

Researchers believe that those moments are created when what is similar to an electric beat in the brain area called (Temporal Lobe) this beat may be created as a result of neural or psychological pressures or a personal disaster or physical burnout, and this explains what is felt by some as coming closer to God when feeling physical, psychological or neural stress or during a disaster, and researchers also believe that the mental and emotional concentration during worship whether in prayer or meditation or reflection pushes the brain to an increased neurological activity, exactly as what happens in fear and disasters, and when that happens the part of the brain responsible for rebalancing the brain functions is called (Hippocampus) reining in neural activity (Exactly like breaks in a car) Hippocampus is responsible for the traffic of all the different neural activities in the brain, and it was clear that in those cases it prevents the reach of neural signals to brain areas such as the earlier mentioned area responsible for the ability to allocate time and space, and that is why humans feel that all financial boundaries and limitations have fallen when feeling emotions of reverence and high spirituality, and letting go of their souls to surf and reflect with space in freedom while sensing the greatness of creations and their creator.

But it was also found by researchers that the area with the light during reverence (Temporal Lobe) is the area responsible for (Speech Perception) and that explains the role of reading and hearing words of god during prayer and the influence of the high spiritual perception and reverence, but if we concentrate in what happens during Muslim prayers, and see how the brain functions as we know it does with our modest knowledge, we find compliance that is not found in other prayers where reading and listening to words of god during prayer in excitation and activation of the area that is supposed to be active to the reverence and high spiritual acts, and where other areas are denied from any neural activity as we explained earlier, such as the areas responsible for allocating time and space, thus breaking materialistic boundaries, and time factor disappears while the soul travels high to its creator, swimming in the sea of the creators divine kingdom. Recent studies conducted by the west show to us another face to the wisdom of God’s lasting miracle to be written words to be heart and read (Quran).