The Science of God
My friend Sergio Carmona, an eminent neurologist from Argentina, sent me a very interesting book written by his friend Diego Golombek, who is professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Quilmes. The name of the book is “Las Neuronas de Dios” (God’s Neurons), and the author describes it as “a neuroscience of religion, spirituality and the light at the end of the tunnel.”
His approach is quite original. He is not interested in conflicts between science and religion and he is convinced that to hypothesize incompatibilities between religion and science is a totally useless enterprise. His proposal is to study religions by means of scientific methods. His proposal is a study of the neuroscience of religion. In addition to God’s science and neurons, he also takes a look at God’s genes, God’s medications and God’s culture.
He starts the book with a quotation forom Robert Pirsig, the American philosopher that wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
When a person has a hallucination, it is called insanity. When many persons have a hallucination, it is called religion.
And he adds a quotation from Isaac Asimov as a comment to Pirsig’s statement:
And what can we offer in exchange? Uncertainty, insecurity!
He states very clearly that God has a lot to do with the way in which our brains work. And that there two possible hypotheses to explain this:
1. This happens because God is everywhere and he ordered this;
2. This happens because our brain connections maintain the idea of religion.
And he proceeds to demonstrate that the second hypothesis is the real answer to the questions. Our brains look to religion because the “cables” that they have inside were made to work this way. And genetics play a definite part in this.
Let me add some fascinating quotations that can be found in the book.
1
Somebody asked Mr. Keuner whether God existed. Mr. K said: “I advise you to think carefully whether the answer to this question has an inpact on your behavior. If it does not, we can forget the question. If it does, I can offer you some help just saying what you have already decided: you need God.”
2
If God at least could give me some clear signal oh His existence... like a significant deposit in my bank account...
3
In 1936 a girl named Phyliss wrote a letter to Albert Einstein:
Dear Dr. Einstein:
In our Sunday class the question arose that we did not know how the scientist pray. It all began with a discussion on the possibility of believing in science and in religion at the same time.
We would be honored to receive your answer to our question: do the scientists pray? And how do they pray?
We are in the 6th grade, in Miss Ellis’ class.
Respectfully,
Phyliss
She received her answer five days later.
Dear Phyliss,
I will try to answer your question in the simplest way.
The scientists believe that everything that happens, including the things that refer to human beings, is related to Nature’s laws. For this reason, a scientist cannot believe that the course of events may be influenced by prayers or for a wish that something supernatural can occur. Our present knowledge of these forces, however, is quite incomplete, so that the belief in the existence of a Spirit requires faith. This faith is well disseminated, in spite of our present scientific successes.
On the other hand, all of the persons seriously involved in science, on the last instance, reaches the conclusion that some type of Spirit, superior to Man, manifests itself in the laws of the Universe. This implies that the search for scientific knowledge leads to a particular type of religious feeling that is certainly different from the religion of more ingenuous persons.
Cordially,
I will end my page with a different quotation of Albert Einstein, that is not in Golombek’s book, but is worth thinking about.
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the Mysterious — the knowledge of the existence of something unfathomable to us, the manifestation of the most profound reason coupled with the most brilliant beauty. I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, or who has a will of the kind we experience in ourselves. I am satisfied with the mystery of life’s eternity and with the awareness of — and glimpse into — the marvelous construction of the existing world together with the steadfast determination to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature. This is the basics of cosmic religiosity, and it appears to me that the most important function of art and science is to awaken this feeling among the receptive and keep it alive.
His approach is quite original. He is not interested in conflicts between science and religion and he is convinced that to hypothesize incompatibilities between religion and science is a totally useless enterprise. His proposal is to study religions by means of scientific methods. His proposal is a study of the neuroscience of religion. In addition to God’s science and neurons, he also takes a look at God’s genes, God’s medications and God’s culture.
He starts the book with a quotation forom Robert Pirsig, the American philosopher that wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
When a person has a hallucination, it is called insanity. When many persons have a hallucination, it is called religion.
And he adds a quotation from Isaac Asimov as a comment to Pirsig’s statement:
And what can we offer in exchange? Uncertainty, insecurity!
He states very clearly that God has a lot to do with the way in which our brains work. And that there two possible hypotheses to explain this:
1. This happens because God is everywhere and he ordered this;
2. This happens because our brain connections maintain the idea of religion.
And he proceeds to demonstrate that the second hypothesis is the real answer to the questions. Our brains look to religion because the “cables” that they have inside were made to work this way. And genetics play a definite part in this.
Let me add some fascinating quotations that can be found in the book.
1
Somebody asked Mr. Keuner whether God existed. Mr. K said: “I advise you to think carefully whether the answer to this question has an inpact on your behavior. If it does not, we can forget the question. If it does, I can offer you some help just saying what you have already decided: you need God.”
Bertold Brecht, The Stories of Mr. Keuner
2
If God at least could give me some clear signal oh His existence... like a significant deposit in my bank account...
Woody Allen
3
In 1936 a girl named Phyliss wrote a letter to Albert Einstein:
Dear Dr. Einstein:
In our Sunday class the question arose that we did not know how the scientist pray. It all began with a discussion on the possibility of believing in science and in religion at the same time.
We would be honored to receive your answer to our question: do the scientists pray? And how do they pray?
We are in the 6th grade, in Miss Ellis’ class.
Respectfully,
Phyliss
She received her answer five days later.
Dear Phyliss,
I will try to answer your question in the simplest way.
The scientists believe that everything that happens, including the things that refer to human beings, is related to Nature’s laws. For this reason, a scientist cannot believe that the course of events may be influenced by prayers or for a wish that something supernatural can occur. Our present knowledge of these forces, however, is quite incomplete, so that the belief in the existence of a Spirit requires faith. This faith is well disseminated, in spite of our present scientific successes.
On the other hand, all of the persons seriously involved in science, on the last instance, reaches the conclusion that some type of Spirit, superior to Man, manifests itself in the laws of the Universe. This implies that the search for scientific knowledge leads to a particular type of religious feeling that is certainly different from the religion of more ingenuous persons.
Cordially,
Albert Einstein
I will end my page with a different quotation of Albert Einstein, that is not in Golombek’s book, but is worth thinking about.
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the Mysterious — the knowledge of the existence of something unfathomable to us, the manifestation of the most profound reason coupled with the most brilliant beauty. I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, or who has a will of the kind we experience in ourselves. I am satisfied with the mystery of life’s eternity and with the awareness of — and glimpse into — the marvelous construction of the existing world together with the steadfast determination to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature. This is the basics of cosmic religiosity, and it appears to me that the most important function of art and science is to awaken this feeling among the receptive and keep it alive.
Albert Einstein, 1954
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