The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul

by Mario Beauregard

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Author: Mario Beauregard

Publisher: HarperOne

Paperback:
ISBN 10: 0061625981
ISBN 13: 978-0061625985

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0060858834
ISBN 13: 978-0060858834

Do religious experiences come from God, or are they merely the random firing of neurons in the brain? Drawing on his own research with Carmelite nuns, neuroscientist Mario Beauregard shows that genuine, life-changing spiritual events can be documented. He offers compelling evidence that religious experiences have a nonmaterial origin, making a convincing case for what many in scientific fields are loath to consider—that it is God who creates our spiritual experiences, not the brain.

Beauregard and O'Leary explore recent attempts to locate a "God gene" in some of us and claims that our brains are "hardwired" for religion—even the strange case of one neuroscientist who allegedly invented an electromagnetic "God helmet" that could produce a mystical experience in anyone who wore it. The authors argue that these attempts are misguided and narrow-minded, because they reduce spiritual experiences to material phenomena.

Many scientists ignore hard evidence that challenges their materialistic prejudice, clinging to the limited view that our experiences are explainable only by material causes, in the obstinate conviction that the physical world is the only reality. But scientific materialism is at a loss to explain irrefutable accounts of mind over matter, of intuition, willpower, and leaps of faith, of the "placebo effect" in medicine, of near-death experiences on the operating table, and of psychic premonitions of a loved one in crisis, to say nothing of the occasional sense of oneness with nature and mystical experiences in meditation or prayer. Traditional science explains away these and other occurrences as delusions or misunderstandings, but by exploring the latest neurological research on phenomena such as these, The Spiritual Brain gets to their real source.

Review

“A very important book, clearly explaining non-materialist neuroscience in simple terms appropriate for the lay reader.” (Jeffrey M. Schwartz, MD, Research Psychiatrist, UCLA, author of The Brain Lock and The Mind and the Brain)

“The Spiritual Brain is a wonderful and important book...a necessary read for both the scientist and the religious person.” (Andrew Newberg, M.D. Associate Professor of Radiology and Director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania.and co-author of Why We Believe What We Believe.)

“A refreshing antidote to the arguments offered by some scientists who insist that their minds, and yours, are meaningless illusions.” (Dean Radin, PhD, Senior Scientist, Institute of Noetic Sciences and author of The Conscious Universe and Entangled Minds)

“A sweeping critique of the trend to explain away religious experience as a brain artifact, pathology, or evolutionary quirk.” (Publishers Weekly)

In clear, readable prose, avoiding highly technical language, neuroscientist Beauregard argues merely physical explanations for religious experience are insufficient. Recommended.” (Library Journal)

Lends scientific credence to the existence of a higher or universal consciousness. (Booklist (starred review))

Drawing on Beauregard’s own research into religious experiences, a researched case for the nonmaterial―and ultimately spiritual―nature of man. (World Magazine)

Beauregard uses evidence to show that the self or soul is not simply locked inside the skull. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

I heartily advocate the purchase of this book (Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith)

Mario Beauregard and Denyse O’Leary have produced a provocatively titled book covering an equally provocative topic. (Christian's Scholar Review)

About the Author

Mario Beauregard, Ph.D., is an associate research professor at the Departments of Psychology and Radiology and the Neuroscience Research Center at the University of Montreal. He is the coauthor of The Spiritual Brain and more than one hundred publications in neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry.

Denyse O'Leary is a Toronto-based freelance journalist and blogger who specializes in faith and science issues. She is the author of Faith@Science and By Design or by Chance? and has written for The Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail, and Canadian Living.

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The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul