Sahyadri Books Online Trivandrum.: 187. Getting rid of religion will clean forty percent of brain. P S Remesh Chandran

Saturday, January 11, 2020

187. Getting rid of religion will clean forty percent of brain. P S Remesh Chandran

187

Getting rid of religion will clean forty percent of brain

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Article Title Image 1 By Fancy Crave. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Over-physicality of religion is leading to disorientation and delusional deportment.

The chemistry and biology of religion is it is housed in the right part of the brain, religion is becoming more physical than spiritual through decades, and it is now affecting the left part of the brain also, resulting in disorientation as regard to time and place. In romantic terms we call this state fanaticism and zealotry; in medical terms it is disorientation and delusional deportment. Unless this over-physicality of religion is checked, forty percent of the brain is going to be lost and then the person. Its social implications are many.

1. RELIGION GROWING SIDE BY SIDE WITH POLITICS.

The centuries have been discussing whether the source of religious perceptions is in the brain or is external.

Belief systems are based on neurobiological network systems in brain. The brain either might be creating religious perceptions on its own or it might be reflecting those it receives as feelings, experiences and emotions from external sources. Whether this source of religious perceptions is in the brain itself or is external is still a topic of debate for long. Thousands of scrolls and papers must have been written on this subject from time immemorial. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Saxons, and Indians and the Christians, Islamists, Hindus, Buddhists and Hebrews must have discussed it wherever scholars gathered- whether it be in royal courts or under greenwood trees. Philosophy, science and religion have been discussing this very thing for centuries and have not yet arrived at consensus. Only recently have the world begun to gather scientific data and arrived at a few vague ideas. Nothing concrete has yet evolved as a theory but only assumptions, but it will.

Religion still means getting hold of political power or fighting not to lose political power.

The history of religion is in other words the history of politics. Like in France, England, Italy and Spain religious beliefs have always meant ideas originated of political power centres, and there never has been a religion independent of politics. The church always meant the king or the pope and supporting one always meant opposing the other or going along with the other. One can say this was so in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and it is so even now. Religion still means getting hold of political power or fighting not to lose political power. The prospect of being away from politics and administration has never been nice-looking to religion except in times of political persecution by hostile foreign powers and during periods of brief respites of enlightenment.

Religion grew as a secondary and substitute power source with politics.

So we arrive at the conclusion that religion grew along with, side by side, and supplementing and subjective to, politics. In fact had there been no politics, there would not have been any religion. But politics was a social establishment which grew out of the need for governing a country and its people and so religion also grew alongside not as a need but as a substitute power centre, an unnecessary accoutrement. But since it came it stayed, competing with and challenging politics, at times compromising with politics and at times converting into politics, always hoping they will eventually become one and the same, and one single political power source.

Religion once tried to suffocate science but today it is a helpless subject lying on the study table of science for science to dissect and learn, not vice versa.

This discovery of the primitive mind i.e. religion was thought to vanish as science advanced and began to shed light on human minds but it did not. Instead, it tried to suffocate science hoping science would die so it shall remain. Once knowing of this heinous intension of religion, science developed neuro science and began to study the neurotransmitter systems in the brain, in order to learn about the neuro-physiological and neuro-evolutionary correlates of religion. Religion could not do anything but only stand and watch and could not attempt to smother science again as it regularly had been doing through constiquadators and inquisitors in the dark ages. Today religion is a helpless subject lying on the study table of science for science to dissect and learn, not vice versa. Every religious feeling, experience and emotion is now photographed and mapped by science using brain imaging technologies and there is now no escape for religion.

2. THE INQUISITIVE BRAIN TRIES TO FIND A CAUSE FOR ALL RESULTS.

Thousands of chemical reactions make thoughts, emotions and feelings making use of stored chemicals and stored data of previous experiences.

The human brain which is the most important organ in the central nervous system works its one hundred billion neurons taking up only about twenty percent of the body’s energy. It is that energy-efficient. Though it is a light weight organ- weighing only about 1.36 kilograms and constituting only two percent of the body weight- it works continuously throughout life without rest. Each thought, feeling, emotion and experience produces its own thousands of chemical reactions- actually enzymatic reactions- in the brain. In fact it is these enzymatic reactions making use of stored chemicals and stored data of previous experiences that make these thoughts, emotions and feelings possible. The pumping organ heart constantly provides it with blood rich in these chemicals and it is a perpetual process lasting from the first breath to the last of the person.

Human brain learns to include stars, planets, asteroids and comets in the newly discovered areas of space also as properties of god.

We know that primitive versions of human brain had just a notion of something like a god in relation to earth and human race. Then astronomy developed, explorations of space began, and vast regions of space began to be discovered. Human brain learned to include these newly discovered areas of the space also, along with the stars, planets, asteroids and comets they contain, as properties of god. It learned to expand its view of the domain of god as astronomy and space exploration expanded. Its conception of the reaches of god is always broadening in literally astronomical rates as astronomy reaches to more and more unknown areas of the universe. These calculations and storing of data of expansions of the domain of god is all going on in the right side of the brain through its holistic approach of viewing things in its wholeness, to be specific, in the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex responsible for registering or generating spiritual experiences. It is indeed a wonder we do not hear the groanings of this side of the brain!

The entire science, philosophy and religion were creations of the inquisitive brain.

The brain is very inquisitive and it always tries to find a cause for all results it comes across. Who created you? Who created me? Why were you created? Why was I created? And who created all these? And why were all these created? These are all questions the brain has been constantly searching answers for. The entire science was the creation of this inquisitive brain. And so were the entire philosophy, and the entire religion. The questions answered with proof it classified as science. The questions answered with only logical assumptions it categorized as philosophy. The questions answered with neither proof nor logic but with abstract faith, and those not at all answered, it set aside as religion.

The brain is not satisfied even with philosophy’s answer to this question that god is nothing but self but in perfection.

As brain constantly reacts with things around it and because there are so many things around it, it is natural for it to ask who created them and how and why was he created. What was the cause for the creation of god? It was a question the brain always contemplated. It was not as easy to form a hypothesis on the cause of god as hypothesizing that god was the cause of all universes. So, with the help of theology, and as instructed by theology, the right side of the brain gradually arrived at the temporary conclusion that god is uncaused, in fact ‘the uncaused first cause’- an absurd conclusion indeed it must have looked to the logical brain! Do not anyone think that the inquisitive brain is satisfied with this answer given by religion. The brain is not satisfied even with philosophy’s answer to this question that god is nothing but self but in perfection. It will sure someday find answer to this question through science.

Our senses have every possibility of being deceived in our perceptions and so is our brain in its interpretations and arriving at its conclusions.

So, in the end, unless it finds out the reality behind things the inquisitive brain will not be satisfied. Understanding the reality of the world is one prime function of the brain. We perceive and understand the reality of the world three ways- philosophically, religiously and scientifically. These three perceptions can be the same under circumstances. And they can all be different too under other circumstances. Moreover, what we perceive and understand as reality may not be the reality. Our senses have every possibility of being deceived in our perceptions and so is our brain in its interpretations and arriving at its conclusions. Since it is brain that makes these perceptions depending on data it receives through senses, there can be misunderstandings and misinterpretations of these data. The brain is not infallible because it functions through interpretations. Then how will we understand which is that is reality and correctness?

3. NEURO-THEOLOGY EMERGES AS A BRIDGE BETWEEN NEURO SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY.

Neuro-theology born to examine what is going on in human brain in the name of religion.

Stories of religious people witnessing lighting flashes and hearing voices from angels and gods, reporting them to people and asking them to follow these teachings abound in the world. The patriarchs and prophets of the world were all reported to have been enlightened thus by the ethereal. No one questioned the credibility of their words or the sanity of their physical and mental conditions. Today neuro scientists diagnose them as seizures following temporal lobe epilepsies which were common in the old world. Not even Moses was excluded from such diagnoses. Since when science began to walk on its two legs there were always attempts to study these taking over of people by the unknowns. Thus was born the science of neuro-theology which examines what is going on in human brain in the name of religion. Neuro-theology is the neuroscience of religious, theological and spiritual beliefs. The objectives of neuro-theology are betterment of our understanding of the human mind and brain as well as of religion and theology, and betterment of human conditions of health and spirituality. Neuro-theology is now becoming the bridge between science and theology even while incorporating many other fields also.

Marrying science and religion to understand better what changes are occurring in the biological and spiritual dimensions of man.

Human beings exist in biological dimensions as well as spiritual dimensions. Therefore the boundaries of science and religion must come together, they must become married, while standing on common grounds and sharing knowledge between them, to understand better what correlated on not changes are occurring in both biological and spiritual dimensions of man, to help analyze and find solutions to the deepest issues regarding the future of mankind. This means that these issues are to be approached with scientific methods of analysis, with general agreement on the acceptance of a higher form of intelligence present in this world, influencing, affecting and dominating life forms.

To answer the question what it chemically means to be religious.

Neuro-theology is supposed to answer the question what it chemically means when a person is said to be religious. Neuro-theology does not totally refute the idea of a higher intelligence present in this world but it tries to identify the biological neuronal activities and circuits in brain which either reflect or create religious and spiritual emotions, experiences and feelings. It tries to identify these neuronal activities by applying pure scientific methodology and instrumentation, and to explain religious experiences by using latest theological perceptions. This marrying of science and theology is what neuro-theology benefits most from.

The brain is not specially wired with special circuitries for being receptive to sensations of god.

As religion is supposedly connected with god and god is supposedly responsible for the creation of the brain, it was only natural to assume that the brain is specially wired with special circuitries for being receptive to sensations of manifestations of god. But gradually, as science evolved there began doubt as to whether special brain circuitries are processing religious emotions, experiences and feelings as coming from external sources and real, or religion making use of existing circuitries in the brain. Researches in this field show that there are no such special circuitries in brain and religion is making use of existing circuitries.

4. THE LEFT AND THE RIGHT HEMISPHERES OF BRAIN.

The left digital brain is analytical and logical.

The left hemisphere of the brain controls muscle movements like walking, balance of body, senses like smell, taste and sound, immunity, involuntary functions including digestion, breathing and heart beat, making sense of language sounds, and non-verbal communications. In addition, new experiences go to this side of the brain stimulating it, and it understands and assesses new situations and new things. It also controls man’s ability to pay attention to details. In general it controls the right side of the human body. Because the left is logical and analytical it is often called the digital brain.

The right emotional brain handles random thoughts and solves problems the intuitive way.

The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for such faculties as attention, imagination, intuition, creativity, arts, feelings and emotions. The right is emotional and in general it also controls the left side of the body. The right handles random thoughts while the left handles sequential thoughts. The right solves problems the intuitive way as the left solves problems the logical way. The right has an overall approach towards things and situations in thinking as the left has a details-oriented approach in thinking. The only complication in the left-right arrangement in brain is in vision- that of nerves from the left sides of both eyes connecting to the left side of the brain, and nerves from the right sides of both eyes connecting to the right side of the brain. It is a complication indeed for laymen to understand the left side and right side functions of the brain.

Left brained, right brained, left handed and right handed.

Corpus callosum is that part of the brain where information entering brain travels through to the other hemisphere. Many in the past believed that one or the other hemisphere is dominant in processing certain information and initiating certain actions and such people came up with the brain lateralization theory which holds that one hemisphere of the brain can be dominant in a person and a person can be left-brained or right-brained accordingly. They also hold that children below three years of age are right-brained by default. It is further held that the left-handedness or the right-handedness of a person also is a determinant in brain lateralization. According to them a left lobe-dominating person may become an artist, painter or musician too.

Brain lateralization: Left-brained and right-brained are myths.

Even though there is this supposed brain lateralization and job differentiation between the left and the right sides of the brain, and the two sides are not exactly the same, modern science believes that there is not such thing as left or right side domination in brain. There are no chemical or electro-magnetic signatures found of such domination. A surgery known as hemispherectomy is done on babies diagnosed with severe epilepsy in which one hemisphere of the brain is removed. These babies grow up without any diminishing in their memory and personality with only one hemishere. How could it be so unless both hemispheres function interdependently but one hemisphere can take over the functions of the other if it is absent and keep the memory and personality of the person intact? The 19th century neuroscientist Dr. Pierre Paul Broca- the inspiration for Carl Sagan’s famous book Broca’s Brain- paved way for the theory that language lives in the left brain. Consequent researches resulted in the dismissal of the idea of right-brained and left-brained people.

Most actions begun in one lobe are completed in the other.

Even though there is this hemispherical division of labour, you cannot complete an action without involving both hemispheres in most cases. Suppose you think intensely about something, become emotional, and begin to walk or run. Then the action begun in one lobe will have to be completed in the other because the execution of the processes of thinking and muscular movements is portfolios of different lobes. And weakening, overcrowding, overworking or impairing one lobe weakens or impairs the other too gradually, eventually.

Does brain identify religion as a reality or as an illusion?

The brain can identify and differentiate between reality and illusion. Does it actually identify religion- especially god- as a reality or as an illusion? While this identifying process is going on in the right side of the brain, the placing of one’s self in relation to time and place is going on in the left side. If the feelings of religion are intense and continuous for a long time in the right side, the ability of the left side to orient itself in relation to time and place deteriorates steadily. This happens especially when such religious emotions, feelings and experiences are such intense and continuous that the right side of the brain consumes more essential vital brain chemicals to equate them in enzymatic reactions, leaving not much chemicals for the left side to orient the person. So the brain in totality will no more be able to identify whether religion is real or an illusion in such cases and behaves accordingly which is dangerous.

5. HOW AND WHY DID RELIGION EVOLVE?

Revelations, commandments and prophecies accompanied the herbs and nuts those people ate.

Of the long history of human beings stretching millenniums and millenniums, only the last 30 to 35 centuries saw any form of organized religion. The thousands of other centuries were devoid of religion. Then there appeared among mankind vague convictions of other-worldly beings present here, capable of making life in the planet hell for man. So they had to be respected and worshipped and if possible pleased, the rituals associated with which fear-and-worship gradually evolved into primitive pagan religions. Even then in those ancient times there were no revelations, commandments, prophecies or prophets which were all to come in later years, accompanying (and according to) the herbs and nuts those people ate. Only during the last century has man suspected religion to be a purely brain-bred phenomenon. Man has yet to prove- and he will do eventually- if brain transmits perceptions of religion it receives from external sources or creates perceptions of religion on its own.

Religion says a big brother is watching from there while science says there is no big brother there.

The evolution of human brain demanded certain questions to be answered regarding the origin, configuration, mechanism and meaning of the universe and religion was the only one there to give somewhat satisfactory answers to these questions until science appeared. So religion ruled for millenniums in human mind and science which appeared only very recently cannot uproot it that suddenly and easily in human minds. Remember that scientists are not keen on religion and religion is anathema to most of them and that religious people are not scientific as a rule. It is even that even if scientific people can be religious, religious people can seldom be scientific. Because science cannot provide any kind of otherworldly protection for man which he craves for, but religion does provide though only a virtual protection through ambiguous stories and hypotheses, religion still exists as a hope in human minds. Religion says a big brother is watching from there while science says there is no big brother there. Who does not wish some big brother to be watching from there, ready to shower relief and rescue at a word of prayer?

Why did the development in brain volume stop after the instituting of religion?

Why religion came into being as a biological need of man was because he was the least logical of all creatures. A logical and sensible creature would never have even thought about creating something like religion. His social interactions very late during evolution led to and created religion as is evidenced by the fact that religious feelings are experienced in the comparatively newly developed areas of the brain, in newly wired neuronal circuitries, and not in the ancient areas. Like language, religion arose as an establishment among human beings, unique among human beings, as an evolutionary response to changes in the environment and genetics. Language arose first and philosophy, religion and science followed in that order. Fossil studies by anthropologists show that the greatest development in brain volume was during the period of the development of language. Why did it stop there after the instituting of religion? Why didn’t brain volume develop after the founding of religion? Was it from then onward beginning to shrink? Will future studies show that it resumed this growth in volume after the disappearance of religion in and around the twenty first and twenty second centuries A.D. and a subsequent acceptance of science as a universal morality, as a universal belief system?

Was it not cunning of religion to base itself on social emotions of fear and guilt which are never likely to vanish?

So social interactions are a key to the existence of a religion. There will be no religion without social interactions. No social interactions in man, no religion for man. Moreover, both social interactions and religion are federalized on the same region of the brain and follow more or less the same brain circuits. Social emotions such as fear and guilt which evolved through ages are natural for man and it is on these social emotions that religion skillfully bases itself. Only when social emotions like fear and guilt subside or even vanish in man will religion need fear of vanishing from this world. Was it not cunning of religion to base itself on such social emotions as fear and guilt which are never likely to vanish, and to house itself permanently in the insular cortices in the same area of the brain where such emotions are handled?

6. PHOTOGRAPHING RELIGIOUS FEELINGS, EMOTIONS AND EXPERIENCES.

Will brain defeat religion eventually or succumb to the past dogmas of religion and finally wither away?

Brain’s processing of religious knowledge and feelings and emotions generated by religious experiences- in other words the neuro-physiological effects of religious beliefs- are studied, measured and recorded by imaging brain functions during such religious activities using scientific instrumentation. In the course of the evolution of human race and human brain, specific brain regions evolved to accommodate religion as other regions evolved to accommodate languages. These regions had already been identified by neuroscience decades ago and tremendous developments in genetics, neuroscience and psychology since then advanced the study of human brain to the level of being able to photographing these feelings, emotions and experiences through photon, positron and magnetic resonance brain imaging technologies. Thus interpreting feelings, emotions and experiences associated with religion more clearly and predicting whether brain will eventually defeat religion or succumb to the past dogmas of religion and finally wither away became possible and easier.

Photographing the neurological and physiological mechanisms of religious feelings, emotions and experiences.

The neurological and physiological mechanisms of religious feelings, emotions and experiences are now recorded through photographs of brain during such experiences taken using SPECT- Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, PET- Positron Emission Tomography and fMRI- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Radioactive dyes are injected through intravenous lines to help photographing the biological changes in brain, including the intensity of cerebral blood flow and metabolism and electro-chemical and electrical neurotransmitter activities during the period. Besides the essentials heart beat, body temperature and blood pressure, the galvanic skin responses indexing autonomous nervous system activities also are monitored, as religious feelings and emotions affect body physiology too.

Religious people have considerably more hippocampal degeneration due to release of stress hormones.

Not only religious rites but spiritual practices like meditation also have been thoroughly studied through brain imaging technologies. Both brain functions and brain volumes of the people involved in religion and those of people not connected in anyway to religion have been photographed at different time points and compared. As religious activities involve formation of memory and emotion, that part of the limbic system which controls these- the hippocampus- was especially measured for volume through MRI scans to see whether it was enlarging or shrinking during such activities, during such periods. It was always proved that religious people had considerably more hippocampal degeneration or shriveling of the brain than non-religious people- no doubt caused by the higher volume of stress hormones continuously released as a result of constant higher stress.

A God Helmet to alter electromagnetic fields in brain with electric pulses to create a sensation of god.

What man learns about he will also try to create. If man learns which parts of the brain activate itself to create the sensation of a presence of god and become sure if these activations are limited only to those parts and will not affect other parts, he will try to artificially activate those parts to create that sensation of a presence of god- not the presence of a real god but an illusion of the presence of some god. So, neuro-theological research has produced some curious things in its wake. One Dr. Michael Persinger, Director of the Neuroscience Department, Laurentian University, Ontario, Canada came up with a God Helmet produced using the findings of these researches on the left and right sides of the brain. What the rights side sees, feels, senses or think it perceives, the left side also will have to interpret and finally accept as logical. So, if the electromagnetic fields in the right side, i.e. in the frontal lobe, are altered through electrodes in a helmet, or in plain words ‘the brain is disrupted with regular electric pulses’ to produce an effect of a divine presence, the parietal lobe of its wearer will naturally accept it as the real presence of a divinity. That is, the brain is thus tricked to arrive at a conclusion. This gadget produces not a presence of god but an illusion of a presence of god. Are not sensations of the presence of god in humans already a result of natural electromagnetic fields anyway? Then why shall not they be artificially created this way- that is the logic applied here in producing this contraption. Whether the wearers of this helmet finally reached god or reached an asylum is a thing of debate not yet come to public attention.

7. THE NEURO-PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF RELIGIOUS FEELINGS.

Prayer pacifies by raising the level of serotonin for producing happiness and morphine-like hormones for minimizing discomfort.

The neurobiological mechanisms associated with religion were a myth in the past but now it is not anymore. They have been well studied and documented during the past a few decades. The first to be studied was perhaps the effect of prayer on human mind and body. No one still doubts the power of prayer and how it consoles, quiets, pacifies and heals people. That prayer increases life span and at least in not a few cases saves human beings from diseases also has not been refuted. But the truth is it raises the level of serotonin- the neurotransmitter responsible for producing happiness. It also raises the level of endorphins- those groups of morphine-like opiate and analgesic hormones which is the discomfort-minimizer in brain.

Religion permitted hallucinogenic psychotropic drugs to stimulate neurotransmitter systems in the brain and induce spiritual and religious experiences.

It’s like a pediatrician prescribing strong medicines for an infant- giving it immediate relief and helping it fight malady using its own defensive mechanisms is the paramount interest. Religion gives immediate relief for the soul in torment, at the expense of permanent damage to the brain. In some societies, in some countries, they even go to the extreme of prescribing hallucinogenic psychotropic drugs to stimulate neurotransmitter systems in the brain to ‘raise the brain to another level to see things clearer’ and induce spiritual and religious experiences in brain. People have been doing this for centuries and religions have always permitted it. In certain societies it is even the normal and right religious rite to follow for ‘enlightenment’.

Intense concentration involved in meditation activating the frontal lobe also affects and disrupts the coordination of movement.

Intense concentration involved in some kinds of meditation activating the frontal lobe of the brain also affects and disrupts the coordination of movement. In several cases spiritual experiences and hyper-religiosity are the results of neurological and psychiatric disorders like temporal lobe epileptic seizures and schizophrenia and mania. In the end, in such cases, at least for them, religion is only a delusion. It has also been proved that the word God produces the greatest chemical changes in body in epileptic persons- more changes in body chemistry than erotic words produce in normal persons.

Intense religion-related blood flows in the right side diminishes blood flows in the left side of the brain and lead to disorientation.

The more intense the religion-related activities in the right side of the brain the higher were the blood flow appearing for those periods in the images obtained in these researches were. While all these intense blood flows were going on in the right side of the brain, the photographs showed that the blood flows on the left side of the brain were diminishing noticeably, indicating that whatever functions are assigned to that part of the brain were failing. It is this part of the brain that provides a three dimensional image of the things around us, orienting us in regard to time and space. Once these constantly appearing images fail we lose orientation of our self also- clearly leading to disorientation of time and space as regard to the person under study.

The brains of long-time meditation practitioners wrecked beyond repair by transcendentalism.

Praying and meditation which needs concentration increases the frontal lobe activities and connects us to religion, while it decreases the parietal lobe activities and disconnects us from orientation. In short, during intense religious feelings, emotions and experiences, activity increases in the frontal lobe of the brain and decreases in the parietal lobe. So, in religion, while we concentrate, meditate, pray or even see god, we loose our sense of space and time around us and become disoriented. You can guess what will happen in the long run to long-time religious practitioners, especially meditation practitioners. Their brains will have been wrecked beyond repair by transcendentalism.

Religious leaders becoming more disoriented, their speeches and actions out of place and shocking, and they now dangers to the world.

Not that both hemispheres of the brain would need to function actively always, but what if it is disorientation of space and time and self in the left brain due to increased intense religious activities in the right brain the effect, for a time in the beginning and for permanently in the long run? Due to this contrast in their brain functions, compared to ordinary people with not much religion in their brain, the elect few among our religious leaders are becoming more and more disoriented in space and time, their proclamations, speeches and actions are becoming more and more out of place and time and shocking, and becoming dangers to the world. Due to their long years of unscientific and abnormal life they became totally disoriented and lost and do not know in which world and in what time they live in. Totally isolated from the sane people of the world and always finding it easy to surround them with large numbers of similar minded brain wrecked people, they vigorously and zealously practice religion as a profession and short-cut to political power, and make large hordes of people, even whole countries, to follow that path to self destruction like Adolph Hitler led his people into, made his racial people march through France, and caused such tales of retaliation, revenge and resistance as told in stories like The Lord of Château Noir by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

Religious activities also shrink part of the brain.

Intense religion not only disorients a person but religious experiences shrink part of the brain also. Studies conducted on people with no religion and people with religion prove this shrinking, especially on the left side. The temporal lobe of the brain primarily responsible for generating and registering religious experiences and the parietal lobe responsible for orienting the person were where most of these researches were conducted. The centuries-old tenet that religion is a stress-reliever was questioned, and the teachings by the agents and benefactors of religion that religion relieves anxiety and depression in human beings and so is good for human brain was shattered by these researches.

Brain chemicals deplete fast during intense religious feelings and rigorous activities and can never be replenished at that rate of consumption.

We may ask why, can’t our brains manage to carry on all these brain activities perpetually, safely, as we use only two or three percent of our brain’s capacity and capability generally, now, as we are told? Any engine can work perpetually, provided it is fed with a constant supply of energy and lubrication and its parts are kept in equilibrium without trying to destruct one another which human brain is not. The one hundred-plus chemicals in brain deplete fast during intense religious feelings and emotions and rigorous religious activities. They can never be replenished at that rate of consumption. We are speaking here about what happens in the brains of those zealotic apes that spend tremendous volumes of energy for generating religious feelings, emotions and actions.

Our brain cannot carry on all out-of-default activities indefinitely which we force it to.

Are they restoring their brain chemicals or are they depleting them and destroying their brain for ever is the question, for this depletion of brain chemicals may come sooner than they expect it to come unless they devour huge quantities of food and also gets enough time to digest it. Our brain cannot carry on all out-of-default activities indefinitely which we force it to because we are not Einsteins all. Nor are we Samsons or Herculeses. The brain can carry on all these activities indefinitely only if there is an abundant and undiminished supply of brain chemicals replenished constantly through food and rest, provided we have no engagements other than religion like those Shankaracharyas among the Hindus.

8. WHY RELIGION WON’T WORK WITH SCIENCE AS PHILOSOPHY DOES.

Philosophy works with science as a team but religion doesn’t because they have different reasoning systems.

Many people think science and religion can work in harmony towards the betterment of human race. But wherever we look in history it has never been so. Why it is so is because their reasoning systems are different and mismatched. We can understand the correlation between science and philosophy which did well for mankind. Such a correlation does not exist between science and religion. It never did. Philosophy undertook examining and analyzing things and arriving at forming hypotheses at an age when science was not yet born or was only a child not able or equipped enough to examine and analyze things in minutiae. Thus philosophy took up atomic theory and biological reproduction and formed hypotheses by collecting and processing information available till then and elaborating on them, speculating on them, and hypothesizing on them. Later, when science grew up from childhood and became able and equipped enough to examine things it took over atomic theory and reproduction from the hands of philosophy and proved or disproved philosophy’s hypotheses and formed concrete theories in their place. That was why H. G. Wells said ‘philosophy leads science and progresses into and through science’. After handing over to science its once-pet hypotheses, philosophy moves on to other things which science is still not in a position to examine and hypothesize for science to take them up in future. That is a magnificent process going on in man’s society- philosophy and science not competing but completing each other. Why didn’t religion work this way and serve this purpose? Was it not for the disorientation and shrinking it causes in human brain and the confusion it causes in human mind that religion is incapable of working as a team with science?

Religion which was supposed to rejuvenate man’s life took the sap away from man’s life!

Negative philosophers and thinkers from Sigmund Freud to our contemporary Richard Dawkins believed that ‘religion was a pathological mistake made by the brain’ even while most of the other philosophers and thinkers holding religion as a constructive creation of the human brain to help it adapt itself to the changing environment, helping it to acquire a feeling of more control over the world. The brain itself knows that religion helped acquire not a control over the world but a feeling of control over the world, in its attempt to get rid of the anxiety of what would happen next! The fact is, religious thoughts did not help the brain to adapt itself to the changing world but it was the brain that was changed as a result of being over-religious!! What degeneration and withering is was wont to achieve as a result of the process of ageing was achieved through the process of creating and harboring religious thoughts and feelings and emotions in unusually high voltages. What a paradox it is that religion which was supposed to rejuvenate man’s life took away the sap from man’s life!

9. WHY RELIGION SHOULD GO FROM HUMAN MIND?

Religion today is more physical than spiritual, heightens anxiety, wrecks mental health, and collapses the immunity system of body.

No one will say religion was without benefits to human race. The natural tendency in man is to look after one’s own needs only and never care for others. Man’s society is not selfless or charitable by default. Religion was what made many communities go philanthropic and bountiful in circumstances by making it easier to pool resources available to society and make life less hard. To mention examples would be to mention a long list of organizations including the Red Cross. In ages when religion was less physical than spiritual it must have been true that spirituality and religion relieved people of anxiety and depression, eased improvement of their mental health and physical health and strengthened the immunity system of their body. But in ages as of now when religion has become more physical than spiritual, its effect is exactly in the reverse, heightening the anxiety and depression which already exists in religious people, wrecking their mental health and the physical health, and collapsing the immunity system of their body. So, the benefits of religion will not more than compensate for the losses it causes.

Are they restoring brain chemicals or are they depleting them fast?

One may ask has not religion served as a stress-reliever through ages. It must have been so in the past in unrecountable years when there were only prayer, meditation and charity work in religion. Religion’s evolution as a social institution like language was in strict compliance with nature’s laws regarding the mind and body, and also laws regarding gray matter and pray-matter. But religion is not just prayer and meditation anymore. What will you say about armies of Crusaders and Jihadists which moved through countries of the infidels who needed conquering and conversion which needed exertion of brutal physical force and destruction and liberation and dominance of peoples and countries? What will you say about its modern versions of terrorism, rape, rebellion, racial cleansing and subjugation- adopted by racial governments and communities in the world?

Modern religion creates stress and anxiety to the point of regions of neural networks in brain falling apart and making everyone a Caligula.

The biological development of brain functions and the neurological development of religious belief systems are directly connected- the former led to the latter as part of a process of cultural evolution. As god himself did not set down a particular belief system for man to follow and no specific brain region has been detected to be set apart to receive and process perceptions of god, it is only logical to conclude that the evolution of religious belief systems was an effect of the biological development of brain functions through ages. So we finally come to the finding that brain does not receive religious perceptions: it creates them. That is why the presence or manifestation of god has never been able to be detected through man’s scientific instrumentation. But the senses are continuously adding religious data for the brain to interpret and what if intense religious feelings change the brain? Not that the brain never changes- every enzymatic reaction associated with religious feelings and emotions is a change in the brain. Some communities even use drugs to induce such changes to reach ecstatic states prescribed by their religion. Are not these changing the brain such that it won’t ever be useful to the society again as it had been earlier? Won’t it even be creating abominable changes in the brain that may even be dangerous to society? Won’t it even be creating undue stress and anxiety to the point of regions of neural networks in brain eventually falling apart and making everyone a Caligula, shattering the ancient myth that religion is an effective stress and anxiety reliever?

10. POLITICS NOT COMPETING WITH RELIGION BUT CONVERTING AS RELIGION.

Politically clever people can cause through religion increase of stress, unrest, anxiety, anguish and fear among minority religious groups.

Politically clever people can bring about legislation one after the other and cause increased stress, unrest, anxiety, anguish and fear among minority religious groups in their countries, finally forcing them to go off-track, or leave the country if any other country would accept them. This was what happened to the Hindus in Pakistan when Pakistan became a fundamentally Islamic nation after India’s partition in 1947. It is what is happening now to the Muslims and Christians in India as India is gradually becoming a fundamentally Hindu nation. The anxiety of the European scientific world of the Kashmir people going mentally stressful and suffering from severe psychiatric problems after the abrogation of Jammu & Kashmir by the India government and the taking away of the constitutional special status of Kashmir was validated by the press reports coming from there. The magnitude and quantum of psychiatric problems the people there undergo are reportedly surging unprecedented.

Religion cleverly being exploited by politics in China also.

The happenings in China as the communist regime there supposedly reshapes Islam and rewrites school text books are not any different from the those after India’s skillfully using Hinduism to persecute and pressurize Muslims through a series of legislation, threatening the dilution of the constitution and rewriting history text books. But China cannot do exactly what India does to its minority citizen groups because it does not have an official religion. And under communism no religion can be made official religion. Religion is anathema to communism. China far earlier when the symptoms began anticipated India to become a Hindu country eventually and so they have been taking steps in advance, embracing Buddhism for long against the very principles of communism, to counter the move in India.

Buddhism is the new Chinese way of communist imperialism.

We know China is predominantly Buddhist. But the Chinese communists did not fight against Buddhism as their brothers, the Russian communists, fought against the Christian church there once. Buddhism is the new Chinese way of communist imperialism. The Chinese Communist Party is lenient towards Buddhism but hard against Islam, so that the soft corners of the other surrounding Buddhist countries in Asia like Japan, Nepal, Taiwan, Korea, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, and also a large population belt in India, could be won against Hindu India in future, if and when India became a Hindu country. Since its inception in 1949 the communist government of China has been favoring Buddhism by making monasteries spread to Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong, and since 1970 restoring and renovating monasteries, in 2005 building the highest Buddhist statue in the world, in 2006 opening the highest pagoda in the world, and since 2006 hosting the event World Buddhist Forum every two years. The signs are clear, and significant.

Why these two governments make people religiously zealotic instead of controlling them- India at the expense of sacrificing its democracy and China at the risk of abandoning its communism?

We know China and India are two countries with the highest populations in the world, and also two countries far advanced in science and technology. For example, in bridge-building there is no one there to compete with China. India has the cheapest satellite launching system in the world. Both countries have reached far regions of the space and invented so many things in neurosciences and molecular biology. Their achievements both ancient and modern in the field of science are excellent. How religion affects human brain and human mind must not be unknown to these two governments. Still, why do these two governments embrace religion as enthusiastically as was not before and make people religiously zealotic instead of controlling them- India at the expense of sacrificing its democracy and China at the risk of abandoning its communism?

When China and India turn to silencing their Muslim religious minorities and embracing Buddhism and Hinduism, they are going to abandon communism and democracy.

China has 20 percent of Buddhists in its population and 2 percent of Muslims. India has 80 percent of Hindus in its population and 14 percent of Muslims. It is as simple to understand as reading a children’s’ fairy book that when China and India turn to silencing their Muslim religious minorities and embracing Buddhism and Hinduism as official religions which is easier, they are going to abandon communism and democracy the keeping of which is going to be harder in future. Whether in the name of Communism, Democracy, Buddhism or Hinduism, their present ruling dynasties are going to continue to rule, finishing politics for religion, without scruples, without any sense of right or wrong. Chinese dynasties seduced and ruled people through opium successfully for centuries. Now it is the turn of religion which in clear-cut communist terms was once defined as ‘opium of the masses’. Yes, no scruples in future. Polluting and eventually destructing the brains and minds of people through religion would be the main agenda of these two governments in future.

In the beginning of this treatise we saw politics competing with religion for ruling power in the ancient world in the middle ages and in the dark ages. In the modern world we are going to see politics not competing with religion but converting as religion. Sure, more countries will follow the same path in future, unless socialism, communism and democracy retaliate with every resource available and imaginable.

Article Title Image 2 By Fancy Crave. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Written between 25 December 2019 and 11 January 2020
First published on: 11 January 2020

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English Articles Essays, Free Student Notes,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.