Fri, 12 Feb 2010
A Hole in the Head
An article in Scientific American talks about a study that shows brain cancer patients become more spiritual after brain surgery. The effect only happens when certain parts of the brain are operated on. Some skeptics commenting on the article at Slashdot commented to say that the study shows that religion is a form of brain damage. William James commented on this religion as pathology argument a hundred years ago in Varieties of Religious Experience and argued that we should judge religion by its results rather than its cause, just as we judge any other idea.
From the Buddhist perspective, spirituality is removing delusion, specifically the delusional belief in an ego. A delusion is nothing but a pattern of thoughts. We maintain ourdelusions through our constant mental chatter. Part of the reason for meditation is that by quieting our mental chatter, our delusions lessen and make it easier to see the truth. Our thoughts are obviously maintained by our brain states and will change if certain parts of the brain are disabled or strengthened, either temporarily, through drugs or alcohol, or permanently, through surgery or pathology. These changes can disrupt the mental talk which supports the delusion of ego, making it easier to see the truth. So brain surgery does not produce the spiritual state, it weakens the mental delusions which screen it. In Tibetan Buddhism it's said that all people experience the clear light mind at the moment of death, as the bodily processes which support our deluded stated of consciousness are no loner able to support it. The idea is the same enlightenement is our natural state of mind and it's our deluded thoughts that obscure it. One can remove them either in a healthy way or sometimes through disease. Obviously the healthy way is better, but it does not matter to the result.
