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TLE: Temporal Lobe Seizures and spirituality

swstephe

Thinker
swstephe
Joined
Jan 13, 2003
Messages
176
On the flight back from Singapore, yesterday, I saw an inflight movie which was very interesting for this group. It discussed Temporal Lobe Seizures and the Religious Experience.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2865009.stm

Apparently, in 1997, there were some studies of temporal lobe seizures which seemed very close to reports of near death and religious experiences. They developed a football helmet which would stimulate the temporal lobe with an electric current and cause about 85% of individuals to have a subjective experience, the most persistance is that of a presence in the room. There was one example of a girl who was kept up at night with a feeling that a demon was stalking her at night. The scientists decided that the girl may have been sensitive in the temporal lobe area to a specific frequency being given off by a clock radio. When they took the clock radio away, her experiences stopped. They hooked up a noted athiest, (Richard Dawkings), to the machine. He only experienced a slight tingling in the legs. It was implied that he might have been less sensitive to stimulation of the temporal lobe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/godonbrainqa.shtml

I thought this brought up some interesting questions. There are several points which suggest that religiousness may be a genetic trait. This seems very close to the "genetics vs. choice" debate. If someone is genetically predisposed toward religious experiences, do they have the choice to not believe in God and on the converse, does a person who is not predisposed have a choice toward religious experiences? If they do not follow their genetic predisposition, are they surpressing or enforcing something unnatural or unhealthy, (not to imply that one way or the other is "normal" or "correct").

The whole article seems like it has been drawn from a debate about a genetic component vs. choice for homosexuality, (or any other complex tendency), with the word "religious experience" substituted. I find that amusing. If someone argues that it is more natural to follow genetic pre-programming, then being spiritual may be as natural as being predisposed toward heterosexuality. Even more so, because the rare mental disorder of temporal lobe seizures is directly evident. Which sensitivity is better from an evolutionary perspective?
 
Rhawn Joseph has been researching this area for many years.

As far as your question regarding genetic predisposition towards spirituality and the "genetics/choice" debate goes - some people have a genetic predisposition towards addiction to certain chemical compounds. As a society, we attempt to limit the extent to which people expose themselves to those compounds because such exposure has the potential to cause harm to the individual and others. IMHO, spirituality has that same capacity to harm both the individual and others.
 
This has been discussed before,possibly.
Anyways,this phenomena is well-established.

BTW,the founder of the seventh advent day (sp?) sect of christianity had temporal lobe epilepsy.
 
There are many links between altered human states and the religous experience, Huxley discusses them I believe in his work on mysticism, as do the Merry Pranksters, strange delusional beliefs also are frequentlt religous.
 
reprise said:
As far as your question regarding genetic predisposition towards spirituality and the "genetics/choice" debate goes - some people have a genetic predisposition towards addiction to certain chemical compounds. As a society, we attempt to limit the extent to which people expose themselves to those compounds because such exposure has the potential to cause harm to the individual and others. IMHO, spirituality has that same capacity to harm both the individual and others.
Click to expand...

Addiction to a chemical substance is caused by creating a shortcut in the dopamine receptors making the user either more or less sensitive. Dopamine production is probably essential to humans. Nearly everyone has it. Some chemical additives can help correct "abnormal" amounts, (like prozac). What is interesting is that, overuse is harmful, but moderate use is tollerated and even promoted, (in some cultures).

What is the deciding factor for whether a genetic trait should be encouraged or inhibited? Whether it harms someone? Some people may feel that spirituality can be a benefit, especially in very traumatic and stressful situations. There may be some evolutionary benefit to a spiritual reaction. Increased community connection, selflessness, anger management. Just like a chemical dependency, abuse and shortcuts to results can be harmful. Just like dopamine, it can be manipulated by some individuals to their own means. Should religions be considered unavoidable, but managed?

I still find a lot of questions and ethics loaded in the idea that spirituality might be genetic and could be manipulated. Perhaps in some distant future, people could use this concept to manipulate people the same way they use dopamine and testosterone today, unintentionally, (sorry, I work in a marketing division). What are the ethics of this kind of manipulation?
 
I suggest to anyone interested in this subject to read a short novel by Mark Salzman (author of Iron and Silk) called Lying Awake. This book is about a nun, in a contemplative order, who has gained noteriety as a poet, her literary visions having been brought on by episodes of religious ecstasy that came to her after decades in service. Turns out she has a form of Epilepsy that can be cured with routine brain surgery, and is most certainly the source of her religious inspiration. Excellent book.
 
swstephe said:
Apparently, in 1997, there were some studies of temporal lobe seizures which seemed very close to reports of near death and religious experiences. They developed a football helmet which would stimulate the temporal lobe with an electric current and cause about 85% of individuals to have a subjective experience, the most persistance is that of a presence in the room.
Click to expand...
This is most likely the research of Michael Persinger. A search on his name will turn up loads of popular and research articles on this stuff.
 
I did a bit of research on this for a paper that I did. This isn't the only part of the personality that TLE can affect. Apparently, there is a phenomenon called "temporal lobe personality" that manifests itself in volumous writing, usually some sort of fixation or obsession with something (such as religion), sometimes hallucinations, and I believe it's generally rigid. I don't have the information in front of me now, and I've slept (a lot) since then, but you can find the information in V.S. Ramachanadran's "Phantoms of the Brain". (great book to read anyways)

Although I had a hard time wading through "Why God Won't Go Away", it also had some information on an experiment that the writer had done where they took PET scans of the brains of individuals once they had reached a peak while meditating. They found that the rear portion of the brain, the occipital lobe is also involved, or more specifically a portion of that lobe that is concerned with spatial location.

Interesting subject, but there's not a whole lot of information about it.... or at least that I was able to find while I was doing my research, and well, I'm lazy and didn't do a lot of research.
 
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