Episode 46: Your Brain and God: The Principles of Neurotheology w/Andrew Newberg
Episode 46 of M3CS’s Contemplative Science Podcast saw Andrew Newberg come on to the show to share his findings from a illustrious career researching neurotheology - or how the inner workings of the brain intersects with spirituality. Our ideal guest!
For the full podcast, check out the episode here.
In this episode, we cover...
His practical, philosophical and theological findings on the brain and spirituality.
How neurotheology allows him to keep an open mind, embracing the possibilities.
The power of ‘compassionate communication’ - developed alongside Mark Waldman.
Andrew Newberg is a Professor at the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences and Director of Research at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. He has been prominent in researching nuclear medical brain imaging and has published a number of books, including The Principles of Neurotheology, Why Won't God Go Away and How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
Spiritual practice comes in so many forms - making it a rich topic to research!
”And this to me is part of what I think is an exciting area for neurotheology to move into, is to look at all these different kinds of practices. Some prayer practices are fairly contemplative and meditative... others are very communicative.... and there's conversational prayer, just talking to God... there's asking God for certain things. There's petitionary prayer. There's more mantra-based prayer where you're just saying the Lord's Prayer or whatever... you're just repeating the prayer over and over again. So there can be a whole array of different experiences and practices that arise out of these traditions.”
No single form of practice is the right one for everybody.
”There isn't a one-size-fits-all. People certainly can explore programmes that are more common, but while mindfulness, for example, works for a lot of people, there's plenty of people that it doesn't work for. And I think, especially when people come from different religious traditions, making sure that they engage that part of themselves and whether it's going to a church or a synagogue or a mosque, or whether it's doing prayer, or whether it's doing certain rituals or practices, all of that really has been shown to be potentially beneficial to the brain in the right circumstances with the right kind of person.”
Our brains resonate with one another if we engage in compassionate communication.
”A lot of it derives from the neuroscience... we can see that if you do these kinds of things, some very interesting brain imaging data shows that our brains actually start to resonate with another person - you activate the same areas of the brain together. That signifies that you’re having good communication with each other.”
The best place to find Andrew is here.
See you next week!
