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By Root 583 0

but God declines to answer, until he finally says, “Where were you when I created the world?” The implication, at least for me, is that we can never know the mystery that is God. Nor should we be so arrogant as to think that we truly understand how the world works. This is where faith comes in, be it in ourselves, in medicine, in science, or in God. Faith tempers our anxiety and fears, and it may even temper one's belief in an angry God. The beauty of Job's story is that it reminds the suffering believer that God is ultimately compassionate. And from the perspective of medicine and neuroscience, compassion can heal the body as well as the soul.

In the evidence we've cited throughout this book, it is obvious that most forms of spiritual contemplation lead to a healthier brain, and most likely to a healthier society as well. But you must exercise that brain by exposing yourself to new ideas. Think about God and spirituality in different ways, as deeply as you can, and you will learn to appreciate the diversity, fallibility, and mystery of human beliefs.

But no matter how open-minded you become, and no matter how tolerant or compassionate you think you are, there will always remain the remnants of a neurological exclusiveness and fundamentalism in your brain—a wolf that will respond with fear and anger to all that is different and new. The struggle between good and bad, between tolerance and intolerance, between love and hate, is the personal responsibility of every individual on this planet. The question remains: Which wolf will you feed, and which wolf will you tame?

THREE

TRANSFORMING

YOUR INNER

REALITY

A UNIVERSAL SERENITY PRAYER

May I find the serenity of mind

to accept the things about myself

that can't be changed,

the strength to change the things

that can be changed,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

8

EXERCISING YOUR BRAIN

Eight Ways to Enhance Your Physical,

Mental, and Spiritual Health

Throughout this book we have emphasized that many forms of spiritual practice affect your brain in fundamentally healthy ways. It doesn't matter how you believe in God, and there is considerable evidence that such practices work even if you don't believe. Part of the reason for this is that spirituality is often defined in terms of personal values and the search for meaning and truth, and thus, spiritual practices can take on many forms.

If you take the most conservative assessment of the hundreds of medical, neurological, psychological, and sociological studies on religion, two conclusions are evident.

First, involvement with religious and spiritual activities generally does no harm, unless, as we described in the last chapter, you focus on an authoritarian God who fills you with anger and fear. And as we reported earlier in the book, even minimal religious participation is correlated with enhancing longevity and personal health.

The second conclusion is this: Activities involving meditation and intensive prayer permanently strengthen neural functioning in specific parts of the brain that are involved with lowering anxiety and depression, enhancing social awareness and empathy, and improving cognitive and intellectual functioning. The neural circuits activated by meditation buffer you from the deleterious effects of aging and stress and give you better control over your emotions. At the very least, such practices help you remain calm, serene, peaceful, and alert. And for nearly everyone, it gives you a positive and optimistic outlook on life.

However, when we looked closely at the neurological principles underlying most spiritual practices, we discovered that the health benefits associated with prayer and meditation can be achieved through activities that are unrelated to religion. Meditation is certainly one of the best ways enhance the neural functioning of your brain, but there are seven other “techniques” that you should consider incorporating into your life.

You won't find drugs or supplements on this list because, as a medical researcher, I am not convinced that they are any better