The Human Brain and the Continuum of Peak Experience - Report Example

Research outcomes in Neuroscience and Neurobiology indicate distinct brain activities that could be associated with “peak” or “transcendent”experiences. Recent brain imaging technology makes it possible to rule out hallucinatory cases. While some scientists discard any scientific models of “unitary encounter”, there are those who insist the experiments with Buddhists monks and Catholic nuns leave room for subjective experience of transcendent reality. I argue that “peak” experience whether religious or secular could be a continuum experience of transcendent nature. I also dismiss the claim held by some scientists of the reductionist school that asserts heightened religious experience as pathological. Instead, I further argue that humans, based on interdisciplinary research and analysis are unconsciously compelled by the very evolutionary structure and biochemistry of the brain to consciously create myths and religious narratives, and finally to act on them in rituals of meditative prayers, chants and songs for transcendence and only secondary for their social functions. “The Human Brain And The Continuum of Peak Experience” A significant proportion of this world’s populations is deeply involved in one kind of faith or another, a belief or system of beliefs in a higher being or deity, who is overlooking all that is going around in the world. For most of these people, this belief gives a feeling of hopefulness and optimism, of comfort in understanding and making sense out of the unfortunate events as they turn out in this world. At the culmination of this belief system comes a feeling of extreme ecstasy and connectedness with that higher being, a feeling of ‘Transcendence’. People from all religions and faiths feel it in some way, accompanied by idiosyncratic rituals and practices. For this paper, the term used to describe this epitome of experience will be “Peak Experience.” This paper endeavors to understand the manifestation of this feeling so as to support the hypothesis set that we have been programmed through our biology to experience this transcendence. In other words, all human beings are open to this transcendent or peak experience because of the way we are made and have evolved over time. The term ‘peak experience’ literally means the epitome or the climax of any experience or series of experiences. The term peak experience denotes a deeply profound, even esoteric feeling, which rises from “intense personal experiences that involved ‘moments of great joy,” and is chiefly attributed to Abraham Maslow. (Wilson and Spencer 565) Maslow spent a great deal of his life studying peak experiences and Petri (2009)explains that “peak experiences often involve a momentary loss of self and feelings of transcendence,” meaning the individual experiencing this feeling escapes from his usual self and enters a mental state that transcends normality, so to speak, towards a higher degree of feeling and consciousness. Abraham Maslow, during his work on peak experiences, spoke of peak experiences as being "core religious experiences". The use of the word ‘core’ indicates that even if the experiences are psychologically in tandem with orthodox religious experiences, in essence they are more about ‘experiencing’ intrinsically, rather than with some specific religious interpretations. (Wilson and Spencer 566) The authors further the concept of peak experiences worked upon by Maslow to include “subjective effects of strong emotion and change in consciousness as well as the positive after-effects” to the experience. In this paper, the term peak experience is used to denote a feeling of transcendence, which literally means travelling or going beyond what is expected. When contemplating peak experiences in the context of human beliefs and divine connections, it is important to learn of spirituality. Piedmont (2001) uses the term to define the endeavors of a human to comprehend and make real a broader, more holistic sense of being, of existence; this is with a deep awareness of human (self) mortality. The author links this feeling with a human need to understand the purpose of life. In seeking the answer to this query, we are led to Spiritual Transcendence, which means "the capacity of individuals to stand outside of their immediate sense of time and place and to view life from a larger, more objective perspective.” (Piedmont) The author connects the many different beliefs and spiritual undertakings of people into common ground with the aid of transcendence. This means that even when people belong to different schools of thought and religion or even if they are agnostic, transcendence is an experience that provides the common ground for people to unite. This paper asserts that peak experience can be taken to be on a continuum. On such a scale, the value of experience will be given levels or degrees which denote the extent to which it is achieved or felt. Author Elkins has given account of a scale in his book (83) which shows a continuum of experiences which he calls “Sacred Experience”. He places everyday occurrences of soul-touching moments in the first phase of the continuum, calling it “Poignant Moments”. These touch our hearts in a sweet way but do not alter the way of our lives nor affect us very profoundly; the second phase he calls “Peak Experiences” which he keeps slightly below the highest level of experience, called “Mystical Encounters”. The author differentiates between the latter two types of experience on the continuum based on their lasting impact and life-altering capabilities: the mystical encounters are almost miraculous in nature and in turn, highly likely to change the course of one’s life. I will, however, take the route taken by Maslow and put these soul-moving experiences on the one Continuum of Peak Experience. This is because each experience felt by an individual is highly personal and the interpretations drawn are personal as well. Furthermore, as explained by Maslow, these are experiences that are attainable by a normal human being, without mystic intervention. As this paper will demonstrate, the human brain is largely responsible for allowing a person to achieve peak experience; through the process of evolution certain functional areas of the brain have altered, altering the way and extent to which peak experiences are felt. Despite that, the human brain remains the same, as was hundreds of thousands of years ago, and therefore, same remains the capability of any normal human being to undergo peak experiences. When talking of the Continuum, I would like to think of degrees to which the experience is felt and the resultant reaction is sustained. Though possible with the help of digital imaging, measuring mental responses is not an easy feat. Therefore, I contend that placing the understanding of one’s own peak experience remains a self-help endeavor. The Human Brain and Peak Experiences From research it has been proven and is apt to say that the “brain is always trying to order and explain the world” (Newberg 2001, 503) The author names this compulsion of the brain the ‘cognitive imperative’. From this point, it is safe to note that the brain and in turn the human understands the universe and feels all experiences based on the information available to it, meaning “we are always forced to understand our universe in the ways available to us through the brain”. (Newberg 2001) Like any other experience or feeling, the brain and its incumbent neurotransmitters are heavily involved in the process of transcendence; these heightened experiences are possible and are felt due to the constant activity of the electrochemical movements of nerve cells in coordination with the brain. (Hamer 2004) A famous American genealogist Dean Hamer was responsible for the revolutionary research which identified a specific gene which he calls the “God gene” and according to him is the fundamental which allows human beings to connect with the ultimate, unitary being. This gene, he says, surfaces when an individual seeks to connect with that Unitary being. This gene is further credited, by Hamer, to “code for production of neurotransmitters that regulate our mood.” These are, thus, responsible for our capacity to reach transcendence. Hamer is quoted as having said: "Im a believer that every thought we think and every feeling we feel is the result of activity in the brain…I think we follow the basic law of nature, which is that were a bunch of chemical reactions running around in a bag". (Kluger, et al. 2004) By the term “chemical reactions”, Hamer refers to the multiple neural activities happening around in our brain, which manifest themselves in every other thing our body does e.g. feelings, thoughts, emotions, actions, etc. Therefore, based on Hamer’s extensive works, our deepest feelings of spirituality, transcendence and connection with the unitary being “may be due to little more than an occasional shot of intoxicating brain chemicals” (Kluger, et al. 2004) Hamer claims that there are nine specific genes which are involved in the production of important chemicals in the brain, which he associated with the god gene and consequently, higher spiritual and transcendent experiences, namely serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. (Kluger, et al. 2004) These chemicals, write the authors, are responsible for simple brain functions such as determination and regulation of motor and moods. Furthermore, it is these chemicals which are manipulated by highly active drugs such as ecstasy and LSD, which have been known to alter mood and mind states towards euphoria. Authors Newberg and dAquili in their book Why Won’t God Go Away reiterate the concept that the sense of religion is deep-rooted in the human brain. To reach this concept, they studied the brains of Buddhist monks and Franciscan nuns while deep in prayer and meditation using modern imaging techniques to see brain behavior; they also did an extensive study of brain properties and functions over a period of years. The conclusion they reached was that this spiritual meditation had a singular effect on the brain which allows it to experience profound and ecstatic feelings of transcendence. Simply put, this feeling of transcendence, this peak experience is actually caused by the working and activity of the plethora of neurotransmitters in the complex nervous system. Described as a “symbolic narrative, usually of unknown origin and at least partly traditional, that ostensibly relates actual events and that is especially associated with religious belief” in Encyclopedia Britannica, a myth is the product of our own mental affiliations and inklings. An archetype on the other hand is, simply put, a prototype of something. However, Carl Jung used the term Archetype for “a thought pattern that finds worldwide parallels, either in cultures… or in individuals). Jung was of the opinion that these ‘archetypal images and ideas’ are present in the unconscious mind of each and every individual and are given to us by our ancestors in inheritance. (The Columbia Encyclopedia) Author Eugene d’Aquili in his paper describes the formation and structuring of myths and also the ‘ceremonial ritual’ as being derived from the working of certain neural functions or ‘operators’, which “evolved and became progressively elaborated because of the adaptive advantage they conferred on their bearers”. (45) This implies that these operators, with time and through distinct process of evolution and with their impact on the brain, have progressed. The author considers each of these operators as a distinct function of the neo-cortex of the brain, to be treated as “an independent functional unit”. Particular to the formation of myths, d’Aquili mentions the following operators: a. the abstractive operator for creating the basic concept from perception, b. binary operator which groups the concepts in bipolar fashion so as to derive understanding through contrasting, and c. the quantitative operative works on the quantity element from the perception in the form of mathematics. (48) There are specific areas of the brain, particularly in the ‘dominant’ side of the brain associated with performing mathematical operations, perceiving opposites and comparing one object over another. (d’Aquili, 48) Referring to N. Geshwind in his work, d’Aquili writes that the area of the inferior parietal lobe – which is bordering the angular gyrus and close to the “anterior margin of the occipital lobe” – has hundreds of thousands of lesions on it which are associated with antonyms and generation of comparative degree of adjectives. These, he says, work towards the generation of myths. Of the operators mentioned previously, the ‘Abstractive’, ‘Binary’ and ‘Quantitative’ operators are arranged in the dominant half in such a way that they overlap the somaesthetic, visual and audio areas; this allows them maximum exposure to these sensory areas and in turn, access to the pertinent flowing bits of information. This area, d’Aquili explains, is mainly responsible for creating logical and grammar interpretations, conceiving comparatives and “may be responsible for the human proclivity for abstract antinomous or binary thinking, which underlies the basic structure of myth”. Now, the neural structures of the non-dominant side of the parietal lobe are responsible for generating a spatial gestalt which helps in deriving meaning to mathematical problems of the dominant half. From this fact, it is derived that these are responsible for logical and grammatical operations of the dominant half, as well. This implies that these spatial relationships are the ‘primitively evolved or more basic function of the parietal lobe”; it can be concluded that these have been kept over time and perhaps ‘elaborated’ in the human brain on the non-dominant side. (d’Aquili 50) Contrarily, the dominant area witnessed dividing down into smaller functional units. Based on this, it is postulated that “the evolution of humanity is most characteristically marked by the evolution of cognitive processes”, allowing the strengthening of concepts of problem solving and profound thought, realized in the creation of myths. (d’Aquili 50). . The cognitive processes mentioned here are actually an amalgamation of “neural structures which operate on quanta of experience to organize them in specific ways” (d’Aquili) which are actually the basis for myths. This means that the brain, with experience, learns to stack information of palpable commonality and ‘causal relationships’ in the form of very basic analytic structures e.g. “(1) inside-outside, (2) above-below, (3) left-right” and so forth. The brain, thus, assigns of weight or ‘valence’ to each of these relationships, like above is associated with good and below is associated with bad. (d’Aquili 59) These simple relationships translate into formation of myths. A bit of information when presented to the brain is worked upon by the cognitive processes, similar to the idea of the ‘cognitive imperative’ by Newberg previously mentioned; this processing will allow the data to be grouped into an analytic structure, subjecting it to the valence associated with it: when this happens, a myth is created. This leads us to two conclusions: a. myths are based on our experiences, as programmed into our brains through the neural systems, and b. these have to be the product of evolution as, over time, human experiences and knowledge have deepened and thus strengthening these neural signals which help create myths and compel veracity to them. A ritual is an identifiable and ‘observable’ practice displayed by every species in their own way, singling out those who have it in common and gathering those together who do not; in a way, thus, it can be used to define and describe humans. (Britannica Encyclopedia, 2009) Rituals are manifested in many forms and behaviors and are repetitive in nature. Britannica Encyclopedia describes it as, “the performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by tradition or by sacerdotal decree.”(2009) There are specific rituals associated with different events, signifying the uniqueness of each, whether it be the celebration of birth of a baby, the death ceremony of an old man or the coming of spring. It comes as no revelation, therefore, that there are rituals associated with peak experience as well. “Religious rituals aim at existentially uniting opposites in an effort to gain control over an essentially unpredictable universe.”(D’Aquili 63) D’Aquili explains that rituals are fundamentally performed because of their propensity to unite all participants under a common goal, a common philosophy. This, he says, is possible because the various symbols and acts of the ritual triggers the ‘holistic’ operator in the brain (67), which is responsible for feeling varying ‘degrees of gestalt perception’ which is tantamount to oneness and unity. The author contends that this is possible only due to rhythmical repetition of rituals; due to this, both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are activated simultaneously during rituals, thereby “their cerebral representations, that is, both hemispheres of the brain, also function simultaneously”. (70) This implies that during intense meditation and ritualistic practices, the human being is able to achieve a greater degree of feeling and heightened ability for ‘resolution of unexplainable paradoxes”(d’Aquili 70) – concurrently, greater degree and ability to achieve peak experiences. Rituals allow the brain to "adjust its cognitive and emotional perceptions", seeming to bond the connection between man and the unitary being. (Newberg and dAquili 2001) From their research, the authors state that there are some universal commonalties in religious rituals that allow them to transcend cultural and ethnic differences and idiosyncrasies to become universally applicable; these commonalities are observed in different myths and rituals practiced by religious and spiritual people both and accumulate feelings of “awe, peace or ecstasy, and a unitary experience that correlates with those discharges”. (Proudfoot, 2000) In the field of anthropology, the practice of rituals is very central to the understanding of different peoples and cultures of the world, as these throw light upon the belief systems, aspirations and values of human beings. Noted anthropologist Victor Turner defined ritual, as quoted by Deflem, to be a "prescribed formal behavior for occasions not given over to technological routine, having reference to beliefs in mystical beings and powers." In this respect, a ‘symbol’ is an anthropological "storage unit" of rituals, with paraphernalia ranging from objects to gestures, acts to relations, artifacts to spoken words and etc. To simply put it, in the field of anthropology, rituals are those activities and performances which depend upon different symbols to display some religious belief. (Deflem) These rituals can be on an individual level or group/society level. Turner called rituals the "social glue" that holds society together. Even if the underlying need for rituals might carry over from society to society, the actual acts, symbols, steps and paraphernalia of each ritual very distinctly belong to the society performing it. Renowned sociologist Emile Durkheim was said to have believed that rituals were the actual manifestations by the believers of religion of their sentiments and beliefs which they directed internally (science.jrank.org) For him, rituals were those instances when the people got together to perform certain actions that would instill ‘special energy’ to the whole group, which was the spirit behind their religious and spiritual beliefs. In the end, it is important to clarify that transcendent or peak experience and hallucinations, though seemingly similar, are not the same thing. A very simple explanation of a mental hallucination is that the mind informs the senses about it rather than the senses informing the mind. For understanding, hallucinations are “strange sensate perceptions that occur even though no appropriate external stimulus is present.” (Austin 381) This definition implies that hallucinations occur without conscious effort and without the presence of any external stimulus. Furthermore, there is an end result of a hallucination in the form of a mental image which can be blurry or very vivid, or auditory or other sensory. Austin writes that it is quite often that mediators, deep in the throes of thinking and meditation, hallucinate. (383) This does not at all imply that they have achieved the state of peak experience or transcendence because, contrary to a hallucination, the peak experience is accompanied by profound feelings of ecstasy or of some mental connection with the one being; there is immense voluntary effort and cognitive awareness required to reach the level of peak experiences. Hallucinations on the other hand can even occur when an unsuspecting person is about to fall asleep or as Austin writes, “Stimulating the temporal lobe electrically can evoke visual hallucinations”. Works Cited “archetype.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Sep. 2009 . Ashbrook, James B. ed. Brain, Culture & the Human Spirit: Essays From an Emergent Evolutionary Perspective. Maryland; University Press of America, 1993 Austin, James H. Zen and the Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness MIT Press, 1999 Deflem, Mathieu. “Ritual, Anti-Structure, and Religion: A Discussion of Victor Turners Processual Symbolic Analysis”. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Mar 1991, 30. Academic Search Elite Database, 15 Sept. 2009 Elkins, David N. Beyond Religion: A Personal Program for Building a Spiritual Life Outside the Walls of Traditional Religion. Quest Books, 1998 Hamer, Dean. “God is in your genes.” Toronto Star, Canada. Oct, 2004: L10. Newspaper Source Database, 15 Sept. 2009 Kluger, Jeffrey, Chu, Jeff, Liston, Broward, Sieger, Maggie, Williams, Daniel. “Is God in Our Genes?” Time, Oct 2004, 164. Academic Search Elite Database, 15 Sept. 2009 “Mental Hallucinations”. Webster’s Online Dictionary. 2009. http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/Me/Mental+Hallucinations.html “myth." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 15 Sept. 2009 . Newberg, Andrew B. “Putting the Mystical Mind Together”. Zygon. Sep 2001, 36. Academic Search Elite Database, 16 Sept. 2009 Newberg, Andrew B., DAquili, Eugene G., Rause, Vince. Why God Wont Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. Michigan: Ballantine Books, 2001 Piedmont, Ralph L. “Spiritual Transcendence and the Scientific Study of Spirituality”. Journal of Rehabilitation; Mar 2001 67: p4. Academic Search Elite Database, 16 Sept. 2009 Proudfoot, Wayne. “The Mystical Mind (Book Review)”. Christian Century, Nov 2000, 117. Academic Search Elite Database, 15 Sept. 2009 “Ritual”. Absoluteastronomy.com – Exploring the Universe of Knowledge. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Ritual#encyclopedia "ritual." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 12 Sept. 2009   Wilson, Stephen R. and Spencer, Robert C. “Intense Personal Experiences: Subjective Effects, Interpretations, and After-Effects”. Journal of Clinical Psychology. Sep 1990: 565-573. Read More