The Neural Buddhists - New York Times

Wed, 14 May 2008 11:25:30 -0000

the genetic and neuroscience revolutions would affect public debate. They would kick off another fundamental argument over whether God exists.

Highlights and Sticky Notes:

the militant materialism of some modern scientists.

To these self-confident researchers, the idea that the spirit might exist apart from the body is just ridiculous. Instead, everything arises from atoms. Genes shape temperament. Brain chemicals shape behavior. Assemblies of neurons create consciousness. Free will is an illusion. Human beings are “hard-wired” to do this or that. Religion is an accident.

In this materialist view, people perceive God’s existence because their brains have evolved to confabulate belief systems.

the genetic and neuroscience revolutions would affect public debate. They would kick off another fundamental argument over whether God exists.

The cognitive revolution is not going to end up undermining faith in God, it’s going to end up challenging faith in the Bible.

This new wave of research will not seep into the public realm in the form of militant atheism. Instead it will lead to what you might call neural Buddhism.

First, the self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships. Second, underneath the patina of different religions, people around the world have common moral intuitions. Third, people are equipped to experience the sacred, to have moments of elevated experience when they transcend boundaries and overflow with love. Fourth, God can best be conceived as the nature one experiences at those moments, the unknowable total of all there is.

the faithful have been defending the existence of God. That was the easy debate.

The real challenge is going to come from people who feel the existence of the sacred, but who think that particular religions are just cultural artifacts built on top of universal human traits.

In unexpected ways, science and mysticism are joining hands and reinforcing each other. That’s bound to lead to new movements that emphasize self-transcendence but put little stock in divine law or revelation.

Tags: neuroscience religion science

Posted by: amortal

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The Neural Buddhists - New York Times