How God Changes Your Brain - Andrew Newberg, M. D_ [63]
THE FUTURE OF GOD
If our description of the neural evolution of religious belief is correct, it might be possible to predict the future of God. Historically, the notion of God has been reinvented a thousand times over, evolving from an authoritarian image toward a symbol of unity and love. Will a mystical God come to dominate the spirituality of the twenty-first century? Perhaps, but history tells us that such a change will be both psychologically and neurologically difficult to achieve. Rather, I think we will see a very slow acceptance of pluralism, in which believers of different faiths struggle to incorporate the disparate spiritualities that populate our world. But as one study reported, this may lead to lower levels of religiosity.35 However, the research we've reported on suggests that spiritual interests will continue to prosper and grow.
The God of the future would have to fill many roles and transcend many interpretations of historical religious texts. But as I have always argued, if God is truly infinite, then God must have infinite manifestations. Each person can only see a very limited version of whatever God or the universe might be. It is like the old story of the blind men who are asked to describe an elephant. The one who touches the trunk says that it is long, flexible, and wet. The one who touches the foot says it is short, stout, and rough. And the one who handles the tusk disagrees with the other two, saying that it is slender, smooth, and hard. They are all correct but will not be able to grasp what an elephant is until they put all the parts together. Perhaps, in a similar way, if we bring together all of our descriptions of human nature, reality, spirituality, and the universe, we might achieve a fuller understanding of what God is.
The enemy of a pluralistic God would reflect selfishness, anxiety, fear, anger, and racism—in other words, all the qualities that manifest themselves in an “us versus them” mentality. But you can't pluck out your amygdala, that neural fundamentalist in your brain. Instead, you must tame it, through education, contemplation, and love. That's what your frontal cortex and anterior cingulate are designed to do. They can imagine a better future, and they can manipulate the world to make those dreams come true. And as long as there are unanswered questions about ourselves, the universe, or the meaning of life, our brains will constantly invent new spiritual frameworks to make sense out of an incomprehensibly complex world.
∗1 As we discussed in earlier chapters, the anterior cingulate performs many essential functions related to assessing social situations. It detects when people lie, and it helps orchestrate strategies for handling conflicts. It reduces anxiety, fear, guilt, and anger, and is involved in learning, memory, and focused attention. The anterior cingulate is strengthened by meditation, which explains why meditation is effective in generating greater social awareness and compassion.
∗2 The evolution of religious beliefs is not as linear as I describe it. For example, few people today realize that having direct access to the Holy Spirit dates back to the Quaker movement of the seventeenth century.
7
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
GOD GETS MAD?
Anger, Fear, and the
Fundamentalist in Our Brain
As we have argued throughout this book, most Americans have greatly benefited from their personal relationships with religion, spirituality, and God. But when it comes to sharing our religious beliefs with others, certain problems may arise, especially if we want them to embrace our spiritual points of view. If we use our powers of persuasion to reach a general consensus of belief—which, from an evolutionary point of view, is essential for social cooperation—we are bound to create conflicts with those who hold different religious beliefs.
The culprit is not religion per se, but what our brain is biologically inclined to do when we encounter