The God Part of the Brain

Discussion in 'Religion, Beliefs and Spirituality' started by (313), Jan 18, 2010.

  1. Came across this on another forum. Crazy idea, if you have time read the whole thing.



    For every physical characteristic that is universal to a species, there must exist some gene or set of genes responsible for the emergence of that particular trait. For example, the fact that all cats possess whiskers means that somewhere within a cat's chromosomes there must exist "whisker" genes. Of our own species, that all humans possess a nose in the middle of our face means that somewhere within our chromosomes there must exist "nose" genes that instruct our emerging bodies to develop one in that very place. It's not, for instance, as if a nose can develop anywhere on one's body, only by mere coincidence, it always ends up on our face. Apparently, humans are genetically "hard-wired" to develop in a very specific and particular way.

    The same principle not only applies to universal physical traits, but to universal behaviors as well. Take, for instance, the fact that all honeybees construct their hives in the same hexagonal pattern. That all honeybee colonies, regardless of whether they've been exposed to any other, construct their hives in such an identical fashion means that they must be "hard-wired" to do so. It's not as if honeybees can build their hives any way they "desire," only by sheer coincidence all construct them in the same exact way. Apparently, honeybees are innately, that is, genetically "hard-wired" to construct their hives in this particular fashion. This would suggest that somewhere in the honeybees' brains there must exist a specific cluster of neurons that contain genetically inherited instructions which compel the bees to construct hexagonally shaped hives. The same principle holds true for anything from a peacock's instinct to display its feathers when exposed to an aroused peahen to a cat's instinct to groom itself. In essence, any behavior that is universal to any species is, more than likely, the consequence of a genetically inherited impulse or instinct. The above principle not only applies to honeybees, peacocks, or cats but to every life form, including our own. The fact, for instance, that every human culture - no matter how isolated - has communicated through language suggests that our species' linguistic capacities constitute a genetically inherited trait. Since our capacity for language represents a cognitive function, there must exist some very specific cluster of neurons within the brain from which our linguistic capacities are generated.

    As we know such "linguistic" sites do exist in the human brain and include the Wernicke's area, Broca's area, and angular gyrus. Damage incurred to any one of these "language" specific sites will impair some very specific part of one's language capacities. What this clearly demonstrates is that our linguistic capacities are directly related to our neurophysiological makeup. Furthermore, this supports the notion that for every cross-cultural behavior our species exhibits there must exist a specific part of the brain from which that behavior is generated.

    If it's true that this principle applies to all of our cross-cultural behaviors, should we not also apply it to spirituality? Every known culture from the dawn of our species has maintained a belief in some form of a "spiritual" reality. Wouldn't this suggest that human spirituality must represent an inherent characteristic of our species, that is, a genetically inherited trait? Furthermore, being that spirituality, just like language, represents a cognitive function, wouldn't this suggest that our "spiritual" instincts, just like our linguistic ones, must be generated from some very specific physical part within the brain? I informally refer to this site as the "God" part of the brain, a cluster of neurons from which spiritual cognitions, sensations, and behaviors are generated.

    How else are we to explain the fact that all human cultures - no matter how isolated - have maintained a belief in some form of a spiritual/transcendental reality, in a god or gods, a soul, as well as an afterlife? How else are we to explain the fact that every human culture has built houses of worship through which to pray to such unseen forces? Or that every known culture has buried (or at least disposed of) its dead with a rite that anticipates sending the deceased person's "spiritual" component, or what we call a soul, onward to some next plane, or what we call an afterlife? Wouldn't the universality with which such perceptions and behaviors are exhibited among our species suggest that we might be "hard-wired" this way? How about the fact that every known culture has related undergoing what we refer to as spiritual experiences? Perhaps we are "hard-wired" to experience such sentiments as well. Just as all honeybees are compelled to construct hexagonally shaped hives, perhaps humans are compelled to perceive a spiritual reality...as a reflex, an instinct.

    Essentially, what I'm suggesting is that humans are innately "hard-wired" to perceive a spiritual reality. We are "hard-wired" to believe in forces that transcend the limitations of this, our physical reality. Most controversial of all, if what I'm suggesting is true, it would imply that God is not necessarily something that exists "out there," beyond and independent of us, but rather as the product of an inherited perception, the manifestation of an evolutionary adaptation that exists within the human brain. And why would our species have evolved such a seemingly abstract trait? -In order to enable us to deal with our species' unique and otherwise debilitating awareness of death.

    With the dawn of human intelligence, for the first time in the history of terrestrial life, an organism could point its powers of perception back upon its own being; it could recognize its own self as an object. For the first time, when an animal kneeled down to drink from the watering hole, it recognized its own reflection. Only humans possess the advanced capacity for self-awareness. Though, in many ways, this capacity has helped to make our species the most versatile and powerful creature on earth, it also represents the source of our greatest affliction. This is because once we became aware of the fact that we exist, we became equally aware of not just the possibility that one day we might not, but the certainty that one day we will not. With the advent of our species, with the emergence of self-conscious awareness, a life form became cognizant of the fact that it is going to die. All we had to do was to look around us to see that death was inevitable and inescapable. More terrifying yet, death could befall us at anytime. Any moment can be our last.

    All life is "hard-wired" to avoid those things that represent a threat to its existence. When an animal gets too close to fire, for example, it reflexively pulls away. It is this negative stimulus, this experience we call pain, that prompts all forms of life to avoid such potential life threats. Pain, therefore, acts as nature's electric prod that incites us to avoid those things which may jeopardize our existence.

    In the "higher" animals, most particularly among the mammals, threatening circumstances elicit a particular type of pain we refer to as anxiety. Anxiety constitutes a type of pain meant to prompt these "higher" order animals to avoid potentially hazardous circumstances. For example, a rabbit is cornered by a mountain lion. In such a situation, the rabbit is pumped with adrenaline, charged with the painful symptoms of anxiety, all meant to incite the rabbit to most effectively escape from the source of its discomfort, in this case the mountain lion. In its healthiest form, anxiety is meant to prompt an animal to avoid or escape a potentially hazardous experience. In humans, however, once we became aware of the fact that death was not only inescapable but that it could come at any moment, we were left in a state of constant mortal peril, a state of unceasing anxiety - much like rabbits perpetually cornered by a mountain lion from which there is no escape. With the emergence of self-awareness, humans became the dysfunctional animal, rendered helpless by an inherent and unceasing anxiety disorder. Unless nature could somehow relieve us of this debilitating awareness of death, it's possible our species might have soon become extinct. It was suddenly critical that our animal be modified in some way that would allow us to maintain self-conscious awareness, while enabling us to deal with our unique awareness of our own mortalities, of death.

    Here lies the origin of humankind's spiritual function, an evolutionary adaptation that compels our species to believe that though our physical bodies will one day perish, our "spirits" or "souls" will persist for all eternity. Only once our species was instilled with this inherent (mis)perception that there is something more "out there," that we are immortal beings, were we able to survive our debilitating awareness of death.
     
  2. #2 Pastafarian, Jan 18, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 19, 2010
    Religions i believe are(is?) disseminated 'culturally', through language and symbolism,not through genes. To quote professor Daniel Dennett, 'You may get your father's nose and your mother's musical ability through your genes, but if you get your religion from your parents, you get it the way you get your language, through upbringing.'

    The first forms of religion i assume were very wild and untamed, in which later became domesticated (good examples would include music, languages, money). The god concept was unconsciously forming with mutations of new ideas being cycled in and out of the 'meme pool', those ideas which caught on flourished while bad ideas died out...later on humans began to deliberately change an alter these ideas. Over the eons the ideas that have withstood, have done so because they have been modified, fabricated,and evolved into ineradicable forms we see in the present. It's no surprise we see religions that have such a strong hold on people they have been deliberately designed over the eons to attack its host and spread to other host like a parasite. Economically; it's a rational transaction, no human at first had to understand any of this in order for the system to flourish.

    A culturally transmitted design can, have a 'free floating rationale' in exactly the same way as a genetically transmitted design does. What gets copied doesn't have to be genes, it can be anything at all that meets the basics requirements of the Darwinian algorithm. Cultural transmission, permitting competing variants to be copied at different rates, resulting in gradual revisions in features of those cultural items, and these revisions have no deliberate, foresighted authors. (like language, music, money; they all arise spontaneously in cultures and are unavoidable like parasites) I like the idea of looking at religion as a cultural symbiont (meme) rather than a 'god center' in the brain transmitted via genes.

    In short i believe religion is transmitted as 'cultural symbiont' or 'meme', rather than through our genes.
     
  3. I agree with both parties. I think it makes sense that we would evolve the ability to percieve a higher power. But genetic traits can be modified within a lifetime. As a human, my genes dictate that I shall have an arm. However, during my life I can do whatever I want with this arm; tattoo it, cut it off, pierce it, etc. While I cannot change the genes that madate my arm's existence, I can physically alter the actual arm. In the same way I believe humans were able to alter their ability to believe in higher powers. The genes that give this ability remain untouched, while the ability itself takes shape due to culture and surroundings.
     
  4. #4 sikander, Jan 18, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 18, 2010
    If a behavior occurs universally, then it can be a specific trait with a dedicated region of the brain, or it can be a side-effect of how we process and interpret information (contrary to what we like to believe, at every level of information collection and interpretation we're adding layer upon layer of filtration, interpretation, discarding, and emphasizing based on what our brain - trained to do by genes honed over billions of years of evolution and a lifetime of cultural training - thinks is important to see and what is not important to see. We never see things "as they are").

    For instance, humans are vulnerable to all sorts of perceptual tricks that cross cultural boundaries. They're a human universal. There are a number of famous optical illusions based on this, and they work because our brains deduce almost as much information about what's going on around us as we directly perceive, and sometimes the assumptions of those deductions simply are not valid and produce impressions that are wrong when you step back and really look at what's going on.

    I think what it is is that we naturally look for agents in things. Humans are social creatures and one of the important things we do is guess others' intentions based on their actions - and intention implies an agent. Usually there really is an agent - somebody to do the intending. But our tendency to see intention in things that affect other people can be overextended and we ascribe intention to things that really have no intention - lightning strikes Granny, well, it can't have been an accident, can it? So we look for intention, which implies an intender, and boom: Zeus threw a lightning bolt at her. Then you go, well, why the hell would he strike Granny down? Maybe she pissed Zeus off way back when and Zeus only just now got around to punishing her for it.

    Well, now there's a social niche implied by the existence of a Zeus - somebody to talk to Zeus on behalf of the people. Then you have a priesthood, and it's a pretty important job to talk to Zeus, because if Zeus is pissed people die. So the priesthood gains prestige and power in society - sometimes putting them at loggerheads with the ruling elite of the time. The priesthood and the elite recognize the power each one has and over time the only option is to make their interests align (society shouldn't be divided into factions, because that leads to civil war), which can happen in one of two ways - the priesthood and the elite grow together organically for the furtherment of the interests of each, or they stay in conflict and eventually one takes over the other. There are instances of all three throughout history. Eventually, what happens is that their interests become one and religion furthers the purposes of the elite by giving them God's stamp of approval - render unto Caesar's what is Caesar's, that sort of thing, and the government hands out favors to the priesthood - tax exemptions for churches, blasphemy laws, laws against being members of another religion (which was the norm until very recently, historically speaking). Religion becomes organized and perpetuate dogmas that further the interests of the elites and you get things like the Catholic Church.
     
  5. #5 Pastafarian, Jan 19, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 19, 2010
    It starts with a instinct we share with mammals, it's a instinct we can spot in our canines. Dennett uses the example of a snoozing dog that is suddenly awoken to snow outside impacting the ground and making a loud thud, we can imagine the dog jumping up, barking, and looking around, 'who's there?! What do you want?!' It's looking for an agent as you also suggested.

    Hyperactive agency detection device (HADD) is found in all mammals. It's a very useful evolutionary habit to have. The habit of looking for agents whenever there is something puzzling or surprising going on. It doesn't necessarily have to be startling like the above example. Dennett uses another example involving intensive drought; if it won't rain, and it won't rain....we start looking for an agent to blame, or maybe one to appeal too, to ask for rain to come. This is one of the many examples in which an invisible agent can arise and play a role in peoples lives.

    Unlike the dog who ignores the noise after a short while, our brains act as sort of a echo chamber, and combined with our language we rehearse the mysterious situation over and over and through small generations we begin to convince ourselves there's an agent responsible. So maybe 1 in a 1,000 ideas actually gets recycled but it only has to happen once. A simple hunch (i think there's a golbin in the woods) can turn into a strong conviction that finds its way to the meme pool where it is reconstructed and evolved unconsciously by Darwinian algorithm. Pretty soon everyone's avoiding the woods, desert because demons, and goblins are waiting.

    As we know evolution is smarter than we are. If we take an idea or an animal away from evolution and attempt to domesticate it, we run the risk of driving it into extinction if we don't know what where doing. Which is the case i assume with a lot of our previous attempts at postulating a deity. Of course there can be successful domestication of the god concept, but this can in turn lead to toxic memes that transmit themselves to new host or new minds, and over the eons brains are infected with new poisonous ideas. Like languages there are no authors everyone contributes to it's evolution. And they will arise and are found in all cultures. It is only later when these memes become domesticated that we begin to see dangerous forms of monotheism and polytheism arise.

    I'm gonna stop here i don't want to drift away into the mainstream religions but am interested in the origins of these concepts and ideas, because i find it to be the most interesting.
     
  6. To me it seems the point you are trying to make is drawing from studies of religious patterns and scientific/psycholodical texts. Spirituality transcends what humans believe to be true based upon science in the modern world and in this case spirituality is making large leaps in the understanding of man and its environment as compared to traditional scientific "laws".
     
  7. The thought is interesting but has a sort of eerie feeling to it. What if this was true and you were totally religious, then somehow understood this information as the truth? I would feel so empty and question my life if my beliefs were just crushed and found out to be complete lies that I once had full faith in. I am not a person that believes in God but I could see the possible aftermath of such an experience. Some things are better not knowing but those things are often too enticing to be left alone. My faith right now is that I need to live life to the fullest and experience all the goods and bads and accept them for what they are, I don't need a religion to follow if I am at peace with myself. A life without purpose or meaning doesn't give you the drive to experience life at its best. I hope that makes some sense to someone. :smoking:
     

  8. Amazing stuff man, definitely +rep, but I have a few thoughts about all this.

    While you are right that there is such a thing as the god gene, there is one thing that you missed about the god gene: our ability to learn from the environment. While you are right in that we are programmed from birth to be a certain way, it is the environment that also shapes us a certain way. We are also genetically programmed to learn and adapt and as a result, change our genes from offspring to offspring. Perhaps the god gene itself was given such an ability for that same reason: to constantly strive to learn about our environment not just for survival, but as an overall way of improving our species. In that way, we are who we are not just because of what our genes dictate, but because what we go through has just as much of an ability to change brain structure as our genes.
     
  9. Reminds me of a story:

    "A story which revivalist preachers often tell is that of a man who found himself at night slipping down the side of a precipice. At last he caught a branch which stopped his fall, and remained clinging to it in misery for hours. But finally his fingers had to loose their hold, and with a despairing farewell to life, he let himself drop. He fell just six inches. If he had given up the struggle earlier, his agony would have been spared.

    Like the revivalist preacher, I say unto you, O religious folks who fear to break the taboo: Let go! Let go! You'll hardly notice the drop!"
     
  10. Here's another thing I want to add. Isn't it funny how this god gene programs us to search for a higher level of understanding, while at the same time, certain naturally occurring plants or fungi can greatly amplify this ability we all have encoded in our genes? Did this plants or fungi have something to do with our evolution or perhaps they are here for a reason beyond our understanding?
     
  11. #11 Pastafarian, Jan 20, 2010
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 20, 2010
    There's more likely a 'meme' (an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic mean) responsible for the diversity of god hypothesis in the present. The 'god concept' supposedly located in our genes is misleading but not disproven. We should research more on 'memes' as opposed to genes.
     
  12. I believe we are speaking of the spirit molecule, dmt which is essentially present in all forms of life. So I don't think that only humans have the capability to search for higher understanding.
     
  13. Haven't read the rest of the thread, only the initial post.

    I agree that we are genetically predisposed to being susceptible to accepting ideas. It's a sucessful trait for a species that deals with abstract ideas.

    "People" or our decendents buried their dead with flowers a couple hundred thousand years ago. Those of our descendents who were better able to grasp and transmit this idea of importance of life were more likely to pass on their traits to their offspring.
     
  14. I agree that people want to feel protected as well. But, even though I am pretty damn sure there is no god, I still feel the need to want my "soul" to exist, even if it is in hell. It is a scary thing to not know for sure what there is after you die. So, I can understand why our minds could have developed this type of defense mechanism, early in our evolution, and that is why so many are so sure that there is a god.
     
  15. That doesn't require a god gene. Curiosity is an emotion that was used to forage for food. It was only a matter of time until man's line of question went from, "Where's my food at?" To, "Why am I here? Where am I from?". Of course an answer to a question of that magnitude was far too complicated 2000 years ago for it to be anything other than god.
     
  16. just wondering what being here is not existing right now? anyone? Is there any hard proof that you stop existing? I mean you can certainly say you exist yes? Is observation going on right now? so then when exactly are you supposed to "not" exist? I realize that when the physical appearance of a "body" is damaged to the point of not being able to support a brain, it would appear that the being once in that body has gone but there is NOTHING that proves they stop existing... there is only one truth that nobody can deny and thats the truth of now... the only thing that matters is right now, the past the future, all idea's and theorys, but right now is ALWAYS happening no matter what... I dont care if you died or were born the point is there is YOU... and your existing... go ahead, try to not exist... i dare you
     
  17. Very interesting thread, perhaps the most entertaining one I've seen on this site. I'll read some of the replies later on when I have more time (or better yet when I'm not as tired :D)

    Religion is a very complex thing with so many things that have happened in history in order to bring it to its present form. I don't necessarily think we're as much "hard-wired" into being spiritual, but more into simply bringing answers about our existence. In fact, I think its something totally different from being genetically predisposed into having a nose on our faces, but rather just curiosity, something part of human nature.

    Well, this last statement may sound contradictory, but what I mean to say is that believing in religion or an after life or in spiritual life is not something the human race is hard-wired to believe in, but rather a result of other human tendencies that humans have. These human tendencies include human desire to bring answers to the world around us. Another tendency is to bring meaning into human life, as if not to think that when we die, we die, but rather bring more importance to our existence. This thought process can explain why many different ancient cultures with no communication between them took part in many similar acts, such as religious rituals, shrines, etc.

    With that said (or better yet typed) I think the theory described makes perfect sense and is completely valid, just not something I believe is completely accurate. I am curious into learning more about the subject and discussing with others that have an opinion on this.
     
  18. A couple things.... How do we know that animals aren't aware of themselves? I wouldn't think it otherwise, animals SURELY have to be self-aware, all breathing living beings are surely self aware

    and i don't think it's a gene, so to speak. it's within, surely, but not a gene..
     
  19. Here is something similar I saw on "through the wormhole", definitely an interesting subject.

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN3ggRgY7Ac]YouTube - ‪The God Helmet‬‎[/ame]
     

  20. Good vid... One criticism.. Nothing more than the human mind? Are we belittling our gifted minds that much now? What of the possibility that our brains were constructed in some way to percieve god?

    the video had a pretty biased tone at the end.
     

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