How God Changes Your Brain - Andrew Newberg, M. D_ [9]
There you have it: a half billion years of neural evolution condensed into six paragraphs, and meditation teaches you how to alter the functioning of each of these parts of the brain in ways that improve your physical and emotional health. Indeed, it can even change the way your brain perceives reality.
RELIGION MAKES US MORE “HUMAN”
The neurological evolution of the brain suggests that empathy and social awareness are the most recently developed parts of our psychological anatomy. For the most part, our brain was designed to survive in an environment that used to be incredibly harsh, and it managed to make it through tens of thousands of years without the comforts of medicine, plumbing, or democracy. We lived in small groups that competed for limited amounts of property, food, and wealth, and two opposing dynamics evolved, fueled by the development of the language centers situated in the frontal lobe. The old reptilian part of our brain selfishly fought for survival, while newer, more fragile parts struggled to form cooperative alliances with others.
Mark and I believe that historical religious groups intuitively recognized this inner neural conflict between the old and new brain. Through trial and error, some traditions developed contemplative exercises that could strengthen neurological circuits involved with consciousness, empathy, and social awareness. These circuits, when activated, helped us become more cooperative and alert, and tempered our natural tendencies toward anger, fear, and distrust. Contemplative practices allowed our ancestors to envision a better world—and possible afterworlds—and the creative processes within our brain gave us the power to make some of those visions come true. But most important, contemplative practices helped us to become more sensitive and compassionate toward others.
LEARNING TO FEEL COMPASSION
Ultimately, this book is about compassion—a primary concept found in virtually every religious tradition. Compassion, as I am using it here, is similar to empathy, and it expresses our neurological capacity to resonate to another person's emotions. But compassion goes a step further, referring to our ability to respond to another person's pain. It allows us to be more tolerant of others and more accepting of our own shortcomings and faults.
Compassion appears to be an evolutionary adaptive process, and our neurological heart appears to be in the anterior cingulate, a very small structure that sits at the center of an important communication junction between the frontal lobe (which initiates our thoughts and behaviors) and the limbic system (which processes a wide range of feelings and emotions). It helps to maintain a delicate balance between our feelings and our thoughts, and is the newest part in the evolutionary history of the brain. If you have a larger or more active anterior cingulate, you may experience greater empathy, and you'll be far less likely to react with anger or fear. If the anterior cingulate malfunctions, your communication skills will be compromised and you won't be able to accurately sense what others are thinking or feeling.
The anterior cingulate appears to be crucial for empathy and compassion, and many brain-scan studies of meditation show that this part of the brain is stimulated by such practices. The neural circuits spanning the anterior cingulate and the prefrontal cortex integrate attention, working memory, motivation, and many other executive functions. Throughout this book, we'll return to the functional importance of this special part of the brain.
We can use spiritual practices to become less hostile and greedy and feel more compassionate toward others, but internal compassion is not enough to deal with the problems we must face in the world. Thus, we must find ways of bringing our spirituality into dialogue with others. But how do you neurologically promote peaceful cooperation between people, especially