Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Prayer and the Brain

Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg has bee doing some interesting work on how the brain changes when we pray, meditate or engage in other spiritual disciplines. The following video show an example of a non-Christian meditation and how the brain activity is altered. This same result would be expected in the practice of the Jesus prayer. We must remember that in the Jesus prayer we are not aiming at an experience but a relationship with God. It has similar techniques to meditation, but is much more because it is also a prayer invoking the power of the name Jesus Christ and our faith in Him. In its practice we are overcoming the dominance of our brain and allowing our "heart" or our soul to take command. One way to think of it is we are reprograming our neural connections allowing us to concentrate and focus on God.
Check out these videos and post you comments.
July 17, 2009 ~ Faith and the Brain | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

Here is another video with more from Dr. Newberg.

His recent book is How God Changes Your Brain.

What do you think about this work?

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