Brain Cancer Victims Shed Light On ‘Crazy Wisdom’

Calling folks who claim to see God sick in the head may not be so far off the physiological mark. Just say it nicely.whether the individual be religious or not.

Damage to a specific brain area may increase feelings of transcendence, which are part of some religious experiences and other forms of spirituality, according to New Scientist magazine. The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) helps the brain separate self from the environment and its association with mystical states has long been the stuff of medical urban legend. To find out whether it truly helps us feel we are transcending the physical world, Cosimo Urgesi of the University of Udine in Italy turned to 88 people with brain cancers. Prior to the tests none were screened for religious or spiritual leanings. Urgesi's team tested them on a personality trait called self-transcendence before and after surgery to treat the cancers. High scores for this trait are gained by people who feel so connected to others that they "feel there is no separation" and "so connected to nature that everything feels like one single organism". Such people also tend to believe in miracles, extrasensory perception and other non-material phenomena. The 34 people who had neurons in the PPC removed scored higher after surgery than before, while those who lost neurons in another region, or whose surgery did not remove neurons, scored the same before and after. Urgesi speculates that people who by nature have low activity in the PPC could be predisposed to self-transcendent feelings too. Sounds like a case could be made for linking self-transcendence to self-delusion brought on by impaired brain function. Once they’ve calmed down, it’ll be interesting to see what the theologians make of this and how it’ll be spun in the service of God.