darin.wilson

In my last post, I wrote “One of the many interesting things about being alive in this particular day and age is watching the gap between science and spirituality grow smaller.” That seems to be turning into a theme - here are two more articles on the subject that I stumbled upon in the last couple of days:

• this article from the University of Wisconsin-Madison summarizes a study about the effect of meditation on the brain:

[T]he study was the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to indicate that positive emotions such as loving-kindness and compassion can be learned in the same way as playing a musical instrument or being proficient in a sport. The scans revealed that brain circuits used to detect emotions and feelings were dramatically changed in subjects who had extensive experience practicing compassion meditation.

• this article by David Brooks takes a more wide-angle look at trends in neurological research that are pointing to the physiological bases of mystical experience:

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. Orthodox believers are going to have to defend particular doctrines and particular biblical teachings. They’re going to have to defend the idea of a personal God, and explain why specific theologies are true guides for behavior day to day.