|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Science & Spirituality
Searching for God in the Brain: Canadian Neuroscientist Dr. Mario Beauregard, P1/2
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome, esteemed viewers
to today’s
Science and Spirituality
featuring
Dr. Mario Beauregard
an associate
research professor
in the departments
of psychology
and neuroscience
at the University
of Montreal in Canada.
Dr. Beauregard is known
for the 2008 book
“The Spiritual Brain:
A Neuroscientist’s Case
for the Existence
of the Soul,” which
he co-authored with
journalist Denyse O’Leary.
Before joining the
University of Montreal
faculty,
Dr. Mario Beauregard
did postdoctoral research
at the University
of Texas, USA
and the Montreal
Neurological Institute of
McGill University, Canada.
Dr. Beauregard
has received
international recognition
for his pioneering work
on the neurobiology
of mystical experience,
and was selected
to be among the
“One Hundred Pioneers
of the 21st Century”
by World Media Net.
Supreme Master
Television recently
had the honor to speak
with Dr. Beauregard
about his research
on the brain’s role
in spiritual experiences
and his views on
mind-body-spirit relations.
I became fascinated
by the questions about
the mind, the brain,
(and) the soul when I was
about eight years old.
I was living on a farm.
My parents were farmers
and we had a lot of space,
fields, forest, and we
were isolated physically.
I didn’t have
too many neighbors,
so I had a lot of time
to reflect.
At that time
I had a big insight.
I realized that the brain
and the mind and the soul
were totally
different concepts.
I decided later on
to become a scientist
to be able to demonstrate
that you cannot reduce
spirituality and the mind
to the brain.
To study brain regions
and neural networks,
Dr. Beauregard uses
functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging
(fMRI), an advanced
imaging technology
that shows brain activity
in three dimensions.
Another of
Dr. Beauregard’s tools is
Electroencephalography
or EEG, which measures
electrical activity
in the brain.
These techniques help us
to understand or to identify
the most important
brain regions
and circuits involved
in various processes,
in emotion, but also
in spiritual states.
An emotion is also a part
of spiritual experiences.
Brain structures
like the amygdala,
the orbital frontal cortex
and the front of the brain
are also involved
in various aspects
of spiritual experiences
and states.
With regard to spirituality,
it seems that
one of the most important
chemical messengers
in the brain is serotonin.
Serotonin is involved
in mood regulation,
(and) sleep,
but it seems to be the
crucial neurotransmitter
implicated in spirituality
and spiritual experiences.
It seems that the greater
the amount of serotonin
in the brain, the higher
the spiritual states and
the degree of spirituality
that one can reach.
Both natural philosophy
and metaphysics are
branches of philosophy,
and hundreds of years ago
scientific questions were
addressed in the realm
of natural philosophy,
while the nature of being,
religion and the world,
the existence of the Divine,
and questions
about creation were
dealt with in metaphysics.
However, when
the “scientific method”
made natural philosophy
an empirical,
experimental pursuit,
science distinguished itself
totally from philosophy
and became dominated
by a materialistic,
reductionist paradigm.
The fathers
of modern science were
all very spiritual people,
like Newton, Galilei,
Descartes.
But after a few centuries,
scientists thought
that we only needed
mechanical explanations
to understand humans
and the Universe.
So, materialism became
a metaphysical assumption
most scientists now
are afraid to challenge.
Fortunately, there’s
an increasing number
of scientists who
dare to challenge openly
this old notion
of materialism.
Recently, neuroscientists
have begun to learn more
about the complex relations
between cognition,
emotion and brain activity.
During the last decade,
there have been
an increasing number of
brain imaging studies
showing that indeed
mental processes can
significantly influence
what’s going on
at the brain level.
We used brain imaging
technologies like fMRI
to demonstrate that
you can teach this person
to self-regulate
brain activity.
The brain responds
to a very high
emotional charge,
for instance,
emotionally laden
film clips or pictures.
You ask them to become
a detached observer
of their own feelings
and of the pictures
or the film excerpts,
and the brain response
totally changes, so that
you don’t see anymore
a big response
in the portion of the brain
that we called
the emotional brain
or the limbic system.
Dr. Beauregard received
much attention for his
2006 research measuring
the brain activity of nuns,
who are with
a Catholic religious order
called the Carmelites,
during their
spiritual experiences.
The study, entitled
“Neural Correlates
of a Mystical Experience
in Carmelite Nuns,”
was published
in the prestigious journal
“Neuroscience Letters.”
This experiment
was the first one
done in neuroscience
to understand the neural
basis of spiritual states.
The nuns reported
the impression
of being absorbed by
something much greater
than themselves.
They also had an alteration
in their representation
of the body within space.
The nuns reported
feelings of peace, bliss,
unconditional love.
All of what they reported
subjectively fit with
what we observed
neurologically.
This experiment proves
that there’s no single
“God spot” in the brain,
in the temporal lobe.
The temporal lobe is
involved in this experience
of spiritual states, but
many other brain regions
are involved as well.
Spiritual experience is
a multi-dimensional
experience that is associated
with a complex network
of brain regions
across the brain.
In the nuns,
when we used the EEG,
we saw very slow (brain)
waves, some delta waves,
some more theta waves also.
Theta waves are slow
waves ranging between
four to about seven hertz.
These waves are seen
during the state right
before people fall asleep.
And it’s associated also
with the retrieval
of memories from the
unconscious and creativity.
When Science and
Spirituality returns,
Dr. Mario Beauregard
will discuss
the placebo effect
and how research
on near death experiences
can inform us
about the nature of mind,
brain and consciousness.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Welcome back to
Science and Spirituality
featuring
Dr. Mario Beauregard
of the University
of Montreal in Canada,
who is known for
his research using a new,
non-materialist paradigm
in the field
of neuroscience.
Dr. Beauregard says
the mind is
extremely powerful
and that recent studies
demonstrate how
our thoughts can change
our circumstances.
An example is
the “placebo effect,”
where subjects are told
that a medicine
they are taking
will cure or lessen
their disease symptoms
when in reality
the treatment, such as
a pill made out of sugar,
has no medicinal value.
Neurologists
at the University
of British Colombia
in Vancouver (Canada)
told patients that they
had discovered a new drug
very effective against
Parkinson’s disease.
The patients
who most believed in
this new treatment
started to produce and
release in their brains
dopamine at levels
comparable to
that of healthy people.
It shows that
what you believe
will strongly influence
what’s going on
in your brain,
demonstrating that
mind cannot be reduced
systematically to
electrical and chemical
processes in the brain
because mind can control
these processes
in the brain.
Dr. Beauregard next
describes an experiment
that followed his research
with Carmelite nuns,
in which he measured
the brain activity
of subjects who had
near death experiences
of a specific kind.
In a classical
near death experience,
you have several aspects,
like the impression of
leaving your physical body.
You can also have
the impression of
floating along a tunnel
at a very rapid pace.
Sometimes also
the experiencers
will report encounters
with deceased relatives
or friends.
But this encounter
with the Light
or Being of Light
seems to be one of the
most crucial components
regarding a subsequent
psycho-spiritual
transformation.
So the near death
experiencers that
we recruited, all of them
had this encounter
with the Light
or Being of Light.
And interestingly,
half of the experiencers,
before their death
experience were atheists,
and after this experience
they became
very spiritual people.
They felt that this Light
or Being of Light
was God, not necessarily
in a Christian sense but
a very intelligent being,
very loving, radiating
unconditional love.
In other words,
they claim that
during a meditative state
they can reconnect
to this Light.
These people claim
that they retain a sense of
connection with this Light
or Being of Light.
So we simply asked them
to do this
in a meditative state
to measure brain activity
during such a state,
and in order to be able to
compare the results
with those of
the Carmelite experiment.
And interestingly the
results were very similar.
It’s possible that
for various types of
spiritual experience,
the brain regions and
networks may be the same.
There is also
scientific evidence
to support the idea
that spiritual experiences
occur outside the realm
of the brain.
Dr. Beauregard now
relates the story of
the artist Pam Reynolds
as an example.
There are other lines
of evidence indicating
that the mind and
consciousness can also
operate non-locally;
that is, outside the confines
of the brain and the body.
And this is shown
in certain studies about
near death experience.
Pam Reynolds,
an American singer and composer
was in standstill surgery,
it’s a very risky operation.
And so in her case
she was clinically dead
for 60 minutes.
What’s fascinating
is that while
there is no brain activity,
no heart activity,
she had the impression
of leaving her
physical body, and
floating over her body
in the surgery room.
And she’s been able to
describe very accurately
the surgical tools
that were used
by her surgeons and also
report very accurately
dialogues between
the neurosurgeons,
the nurses and
the cardiologist
who was there also.
And another fascinating
aspect in her experience
is the fact
that after a while
she left the surgical room
and she had the impression
of floating along a tunnel
quite rapidly,
and at the end of the tunnel
she met with
deceased relatives.
She met with a beautiful
Being of Light,
and her life was
totally transformed.
We know for sure that
there was no brain activity,
because she was
monitored with EEG.
Yet she was able to
perceive, to remember,
to have feelings,
to be self aware.
Cases like that
strongly suggest that
what we call mind and
consciousness cannot be
reduced to brain activity;
they can have
an independent existence
from the body
and the brain.
Other research
has also been done on
the non-locality of mind
and consciousness;
for example, experiments
showing that one person
praying for another
who is ill, even from
a great distance away,
can have a healing effect
on the recipient.
As Dr. Beauregard notes,
experiments have
demonstrated one can change
the heart rhythm or
the electrothermal response,
which indicates
emotional reactivity,
of another from
a distance as well.
There are now
hundreds of studies
showing that
this can indeed be done
by a normal person.
So you can imagine
the possibilities that
humans have at that level.
But in reality
we don’t know the limits
of what we can do,
non- locally.
We thank
Dr. Mario Beauregard
for sharing
his fascinating research
on how the brain, mind
and consciousness relate
to spiritual experience.
Please join us
next Monday for Part 2
of our program, where
Dr. Beauregard will discuss
how quantum physics
can inform
psychoneuroimmunology,
and the importance
of reinventing a new
paradigm for science.
For more details on
Dr. Mario Beauregard,
please visit
Books
by Dr. Beauregard
are available at
Amazon.com
Cherished viewers,
thank you for
your company today on
Science and Spirituality.
Coming up next is
Words of Wisdom
after Noteworthy News
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May your life be blessed
with Heaven’s love,
comfort and light.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Download by Subtitle
|
|
Arabic , Aulac , Bulgarian , Chinese , Croatian , Czech-Slovak , Dari , Dutch , English , French , German , Gujarati , Hebrew , Hindi , Hungarian , Indonesian , Italian , Japanese , Korean , Malay , Mongol , Mongolian , Persian , Polish , Portuguese , Punjabi , Romanian , Russian , Sinhalese , Slovenian , Spanish , Thai , Turkish , Urdu , Zulu ,
Bulgarian ,
Croatian ,
Dutch , Estonian , Greek , Gujarati ,
Indonesian ,
Mongolian , Nepalese ,
Norwegian , Polish , Punjabi ,
Sinhalese ,
Swedish , Slovenian , Tagalog , Tamil , Zulu
|
|
Scrolls Download |
|
MP3 Download |
|
|
|
|
MP4 download for iPhone(iPod ) |
|
|
Download Non Subtitle Videos
|
|
|
Download by Program
|
|
|
|
|
|
Download by Date
|
Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|