NEW YORK, USA, May 13, 2008: Over the past several years, scientific momentum has shifted away from hard-core materialism. The brain seems less like a cold machine. Instead, meaning, belief and consciousness seem to emerge mysteriously from idiosyncratic networks of neural firings.
Now, scientists have more respect for elevated spiritual states. Andrew Newberg of the University of Pennsylvania has shown that transcendent experiences can actually be identified and measured in the brain (people experience a decrease in activity in the parietal lobe, which orients us in space). The mind seems to have the ability to transcend itself and merge with a larger presence that feels more real.