If you were to side with the most conservative take on the plethora of medical, psychological, neurological and sociological studies on religion then at least two things are evident; 1) Involvement with religious and spiritual practices and activities generally promotes health and well being on medical, pschlogical and emotional, neurological and societal levels. Even minimal religious involvement is proven to promote health and well-being and longevity. Smokers who are involved in their religious communities are healthier than their non-religious counter parts.2) Practices and rituals like prayer and meditation both have the same effect on the brain; they permanently strengthen neural functioning in specific sectors of the brain. They lower anxiety and depression, enhances social awareness and empathy as well as improving cognitive and intellectual functioning.
To smile, laugh, relax, yawing (yes, it helps reduce aniety too), meditate, aerobic excessive(cardio), a dialog with others(not simply waiting for your turn to talk but a dialogue, a conversation that twists and turns and ebbs and flows), faith.
In the Book "How God Changes Your Brain" by Dr. Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman those are the tips to strengthen your brain. And That book is not the only one, it is not the only study done to demonstrate the validity of that advice.
Here are the parts of the brain forming neural circuts that are involved when one meditates and contemplates God or prays:
Occipital Parietal Circuit: Identifies God as an object or personality outside of oneself.Children see God as a person and that is likely due to not being able to process abstract spiritual ideas.
Parietal Frontal Circuit: Establishes a relationship between you and others, God included.It puts God outside of yourself and allows you to experience His presence.So if you decrease activity in this area you diminish the boundaries between you and God as well as you and others.You begin to feel a sense of unity as a result.
Frontal Lobe: This are creates, intergrates and brings to fruition all your ideas about God.This includes the logic you use to evaluate your religious or spiritual beliefs and belief systems.It also intellectually attempts to answer the big questions, the who, what, when, where and why’s of spiritual and religious beliefs and questions.The frontal lobe also controls everything we are conscious of, our sense of logic, reason, our attention, language skills and voluntary motivation.
Thalamus:Gives emotional meaning to God and the ideas you have surrounding Him. The Thalamus produces a holistic sense of the world and seems to be the key organ in making God real in an objective sense. The thalamus sends sensory information to all parts of the brain and gives a sense of meaning.It gives you a sense of what ultimate reality may be.
Amygdala:When stimulated to excess God seems overly authoritative and punitive and fear results and this suppresses the frontal lobe’s ability to logically think about God.
Striatum:This area inhibits the amygdale and allows the feeling of safety to become prominent during prayer or meditation or in being in the presence of God.
Anterior Cingulate: This area seems to allow you to experience God as a loving and compassionate entity.It decreases fear, guilt, anxiety, apprehension and anger by suppressing the activity of the amygdala.Prayer and meditation specifically strengthen the anterior cingulated.
Parietal Lobe:This are controls your sense of self, thus when its activity decreases you are then able to feel oneness with others, the universe and God.This area is more active during everyday life in those who pray and meditate frequently and when one prays or meditates activity diminishes resulting in a sense of oneness.
The circuit activated by meditation according to the studies found in the book What God does to your Brain, is as follows:
Pre-Frontal Cortex > Anterior Cingulate > Bsal Ganglia > Thalamus.
This may be because during meditation and prolonged prayer we become more focused and alert (PFC), more empathetic and socially aware (Anterior Cingulate), and have more control over our emotions (Basal Ganglia). This then affects our sensory perceptions of the world (Thalamus), and all this information is then relayed to all other parts of the brain. The Thalamus becomes thicker with consistent and prolonged prayer or meditation. I pray we may have the strength so to live that we may merit divine guidance and inspiration; that through worship, meditation, communion, and reverence we may sense the reality of being able to have a close relationship with our Father in heaven. I bear you my testimony that it is real; that we can commune with our Heavenly Father.1 David O. Mckay said that and our scriptures say this:
"But, behold, I say unto you, that you must astudy it out in your bmind; then you must cask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your dbosom shall eburn within you; therefore, you shall ffeel that it is right." (D&C 9:8)
"And there are many among us who have many arevelations, for they are not all bstiffnecked. And as many as are not stiffnecked and have faith, have ccommunion with the Holy Spirit, which maketh manifest unto the children of men, according to their faith." (Jarom 1:4)
Stiffneckedness mean haughty, stubborn and hearthearted, formal and stilted. And communion with the Holy spirit sounds like a blending of prayer and meditation. How Jesus changes your life.... "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." (Luke 9:24)The wisdom of Jesus turns the logic of the world and worldly on its head. A richman has an easier time passing through the eye of a needle than entering the kingdom of God. Or saying "Where the treasure is your heart will be also."In Ancient Rome Early Christianity was called "The Slaves Religion" because Jesus was poor, homeless and an oppressed Jew in a Roman province.In other words, no one of any real consequence. He was a perfectly sculpted rich and famous Roman Cesar, he was a pesant. Jesus was saving adulteresses from being stoned to death, he was hanging out with criminals and tax collectors and zealots. He was an outcast giving unconditional love and support to every other type of outcast.Jesus found Himself on the Cross not for charges of blasphemy but because His brand of kindness rendered money obsolete. The first Christian communities grew fast and there were often too many mouths to feed and not enough food. Their solution? To fast until all could eat!When the love of Christ transforms you the things of the world wont matter but the things of God; your family, friends all you meet will be benefited by that love that spreads out from you and like ripples in a pond flows out of your circle of friends and family and impacts others with joy and beauty.Think of the 12. They were fishermen, tax collectors, zealots and yet they were transformed through Jesus into men who then preached His message until they were all martyred. They lived off the kindness of others just as Buddhist monks with their beggin bowls teaching those they meet in exchange for food and nothing more, their only possession being the clothes on their back and their food bowl. An outsider would say people like that are failures at life, they are poor, the beg for food. But this is the life that Jesus lived throughout His ministry and the life the 12 lived after His ascension.Saul of Tarsus was a zealot; a man who took part in the killing of the first Christian Martyr Stephen. He preached against Christ and Christians as heretics and he had no issues killing when push came to shove.
He was in hot pursuit of James the Just and his band of followers when he had a vision:
"And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." (Acts 26:14)Jesus is asking why Saul is persecuting Him. But Saul never met Christ in life so when Jesus is speaking to Saul He is showing him that He feels that "As ye have done it unto the least of my brethren so ye have done it unto me." Saul of Tarsus, arch nemesis of the early Christians, loses his sight and is struck blind. But he recovers his sight, changes his name from Saul to Paul and becomes the most empassioned and greatest missionary Christianity has ever known.Rather than taking lives for Christ he gave his life for Christ. He lost his life for Christ but gained eternal life in so doing, in so living as he did.We can follow that example.We can follow the example of Jesus, we are every bit the children of God he was. We have the Kingdom of God dwelling within waiting to be unlocked. We have in embryo form all the divine attributes of not just Jesus but of God Himself.
