Researchers are exploring the science behind mystical experiences.

By Stephen Pincock
Source: The Age

They're among the most personal and mysterious sensations we might encounter - a vision of blinding light as death draws near, the ecstasy of prayer or meditation or the sensation of floating outside our own bodies.

For millenniums, people have given these experiences religious significance. But in recent years, scientists have begun exploring this spiritual realm, asking their own questions about what goes on in our brains during these extraordinary events and coming up with some fascinating answers.

In laboratories around the world, a few specialists have had their own insights into the neurology of spiritual experiences, using precise techniques to stimulate and monitor the brain's function.

These new studies delve into questions that have long fascinated scientists, says John Watson, a neurologist at the University of Sydney.

"Neuroscientists are now doing bolder and bolder things," Watson says. "We've already seen studies into the neurology of things like love, thirst and hunger, so it wasn't a big step for them to start wondering about these religious and quasi-religious experiences."

Some people call this new field "neurotheology", a term coined by Aldous Huxley in his 1962 novel Island. Scientists often refer to it as the cognitive neuroscience of religious experience and spirituality.

In 1997, researchers from the University of California in San Diego announced there might be dedicated neural machinery in the brain's temporal lobes specifically linked with religion. Vilayanur Ramachandran and his team studied the brains of people with an unusual type of epilepsy that affects the brain's temporal lobes.

People who suffer this kind of seizure often report having intense mystical and religious experiences as part of their attacks. The researchers found that one effect of the seizures was to strengthen the involuntary response of the patient's brain to religious words.

It wasn't long before these regions were being referred to by newspapers as the "God spot" or "God module" - areas of the brain that become electrically excited when people think about their deity.

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http://www.mindpowernews.com/NeuralPathways.htm

By Tom Venuto
Author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, "I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps it's because escape is easier than change."

Success psychologists say that 95% - 97% of the people in the world do NOT have written goals and fail, while 3-5% have written goals and succeed.

If these statistics are correct, then Mr Rohn's observation really IS quite fascinating isn't it?

Unfortunately for most people, the odds for success are actually even lower, because out of the few people who do set goals, most don't take goal setting seriously, they don't do it scientifically and they only do it once a year.

Goal setting is so important, that I always teach goal setting and mind dynamics first, and only THEN, do I teach nutrition and training second.

It doesn't matter how much you know about nutrition or exercise. Until specialized fitness knowledge is linked with goals and directions, the knowledge is useless and you won't accomplish very much or keep the changes long term.

In fact, I devoted the entire first chapter of my book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle to the subject of goals and constructive "mind programming" for successful, permanent behavior change.

I've also studied neuro linguistic programming (NLP) for many years and more recently spent many months researching the latest information about neuroscience to see just how much of the traditional self help and goal setting wisdom is actually backed by brain research.

As you start thinking about your goals for 2007 right now, I'd like to help you start the year off right by sharing two very valuable, science based tips on acheiving your goals...

Read the two tips for Goal-Setting Success here...

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