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 LayYouIn
Slow down and grill.
 
Registered: 09/28/06
Posts: 3,542
Loc: Organ
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 What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God?
#8407012 - 05/15/08 08:59 PM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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is it ego?
animals dont seem to be concerned with "God" and they have no ego, there's a good chance we evolved from them...
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http://www.doctorfungus.org
http://www.mushroomexpert.com/
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 Oweyervishice
You're Vicious
Registered: 05/07/08
Posts: 313
Last seen: 21 hours, 12 minutes
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8407020 - 05/15/08 09:01 PM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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Curiosity 
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I was taught a month ago
To bide my time and take it slow
But then I learned just yesterday
To rush and never waste the day
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Rickster
El Conquistador
Registered: 02/06/06
Posts: 584
Loc: Babylon
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8407028 - 05/15/08 09:02 PM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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Evolved from what? Animals?
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Stainblue Kitchen
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Cameron
Registered: 10/31/07
Posts: 1,769
Loc: Canada
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8407822 - 05/15/08 11:48 PM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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I think ego (compilation of personality?) plays a big part, as people play their fears off into a religion that explains life, death, existence, meaning, etc all in one neat little package, no thought required. Neurotheology tries to explain religious/spiritual experience through brain chemistry and biological beginnings. Persinger attempts to induce spiritual experiences through electrical impulses.
I would imagine that 'God' would be too abstract for more primitive animals to conceive of and understand as we do (or don't  ), but that's pretty much just speculation.
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 9,756
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: Cameron]
#8407894 - 05/16/08 12:26 AM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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god is not from a part of brain, and neither is ego
both are constructs
ego is a defensive construct
& while the religious experience derives from epiphany (from shifting mental states/dreams),
the social god-construct is meant to channel that away from individualistic orientation.
i would go so far as to say animals have epiphanies as well as egos, but they have not been forced to think of god(s)
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 PhanTomCat
Wildcat that Never Was....
Registered: 09/07/04
Posts: 5,174
Loc: My Youniverse....
Last seen: 34 seconds
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 Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8407907 - 05/16/08 12:28 AM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
LayYouIn said:
is it ego?
.
animals dont seem to be concerned with "God" and they have no ego, there's a good chance we evolved from them...
Curiosity and reasoning....
We learn by example, and this forms the foundation....
From the sometimes abstract extrapolation of what we observe, we can make and create new things and concepts....
Based on observations like this, a parallel creative reasoning can draw a line from us, to something having created us....
It is not unheard of....
Abstract extrapolation sometimes yields new ground breaking results....
Sometimes not....
>^;;^<
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"The most important things in life that are often ignored, are the things that one cannot see...."
>^;;^<
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Middleman
Third Party
Registered: 07/11/99
Posts: 4,003
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8407926 - 05/16/08 12:38 AM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
LayYouIn said:
is it ego?
animals dont seem to be concerned with "God" and they have no ego, there's a good chance we evolved from them...
Animals have a form of id and persona, they just don't think in words.
People don't realize just how different our brains are from our nearest relatives.
The most obvious difference is the size of our frontal and temporal lobes...
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zouden
Neuroscientist
Registered: 11/12/07
Posts: 1,654
Loc: Australia
Last seen: 2 hours, 52 minutes
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: Middleman]
#8408104 - 05/16/08 01:49 AM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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Most animals can't identify themselves in the mirror, which indicates they have no sense of self. The smarter animals can (primates, some dogs, some cats, octopus I think, and some parrots). So it's definitely a part of the brain that gives us that ability. I don't know if that has anything to do with God though.
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9/11 was sketchy but I mean come on
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 9,756
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: zouden]
#8408359 - 05/16/08 05:22 AM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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in a thread under http://www.shroomery.org/forums/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/1 there is a thread about mycelial consciousness - where in it is cited that japanese scientists have trained a slime mold. and that multi acre shroom entities use the huge mycelial mass as a kind of brain. (it's possible?)
never the less, the more we know about the brain, the less it seems that single structures are responsible for mental constructs, and the more it seems that the whole brain is used holographic ally to function for content and ideation.
frontal cortex adds more "reflective" thought, and "prefrontal cortex" adds more another layer to reflective thought - a kind of zoom or theme extractor, which some consider is related to morality and long term goals.
I would admit that monkeys are weak in the area of long term goals, and that for dogs, long term goals are non-existent, while both dogs and monkeys have a real sense of morality (which is reflective thought) and fairness albeit nonverbal.
even pigeons have reflective thought.
the less wrinkled brains are smaller in capacity, less goes on in them, but even without reflective thought they are pretty much capable of an adaptive and preservative sense of self, although they may not recognize self image as anything.
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backfromthedead
Activated
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 3,590
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8408840 - 05/16/08 10:18 AM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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This high-tech imagery has a way of stating the obvious: As you fix your thoughts on the otherworldly, you lose contact with your immediate surroundings. Likewise, Newberg discovered stirrings in language regions for the nuns, who were meditating on a Bible verse, and in visual regions for the monks, who were imagining a sacred object. When he scanned Pentecostals speaking in tongues, both the frontal lobe and the language center blacked out as they abandoned themselves to a proto-linguistic frenzy. If he'd lit a stick of incense, the olfactory bulb would have joined the show.
Reductive as these studies are—that is the whole point of neuroscience—there has been no loud objection from religious believers. They just take the results as evidence that the gods designed brains to be efficient spiritual resonators. Hence the eagerness of Tibetan monks, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to participate in brain-wave experiments at Richard Davidson's lab at the University of Wisconsin. Donning chain-mail hoods of electrodes and contemplating universal peace and love, the monks show EEG patterns that appeared to be laced with higher than normal levels of gamma waves—even after they stopped meditating. These higher-frequency vibrations have been proposed as a mechanism for synchronizing separate brain modules—auditory, visual, etc.—to produce a unified perception of the world. How the brain does this is what philosophers call "the binding problem." Maybe the monks can bind these parts so tightly that everything seems like one—a mystical short circuit.
From: http://www.slate.com/id/2165026/
Bzzzt!!
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NIMH
MadCap
Registered: 05/13/08
Posts: 255
Loc: Central Oregon
Last seen: 6 hours, 56 minutes
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: backfromthedead]
#8410374 - 05/16/08 05:44 PM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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Control
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I must not Fear. Fear is the mindkiller . Fear is the little-death that
brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over and
through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. ONLY I WILL REMAIN.
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OrgoneConclusion
Thinker
Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 6,617
Loc: Not gardening
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: zouden]
#8410576 - 05/16/08 06:49 PM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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Quote:
Most animals can't identify themselves in the mirror, which indicates they have no sense of self.
I believe you may be in error here. Those same animals do NOT identify ANY other animals in the mirror. This may be more due to the light spectra reflected than anything else. They ignore the image because it does not appear as a live creature.
A dog will generally not respond to a fake dog as something doesn't appear 'right' to them.
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I am not an actor, I merely play one on TV.
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zouden
Neuroscientist
Registered: 11/12/07
Posts: 1,654
Loc: Australia
Last seen: 2 hours, 52 minutes
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: OrgoneConclusion]
#8410615 - 05/16/08 07:08 PM (3 months, 4 days ago) |
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For many animals that would be true but have you ever seen a bird pecking at its reflection? Or a cat getting all aggressive at what it thinks is an intruder cat that mysteriously doesn't have a scent. For those animals, a mirror is a source of fear and confusion, because they think its another animal and don't realise it's themselves. But in a higher animal, like a human baby, they quickly lose interest in their reflection because they can see it's them. I believe that's the basis for the self-image test.
I'm a neuroscientist working on mice, though I've never done the self-image test. I'm not sure how mice would perform, but it would be difficult since they have such crappy eyesight that it's only a minor sense for them.
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9/11 was sketchy but I mean come on
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OrgoneConclusion
Thinker
Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 6,617
Loc: Not gardening
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: zouden]
#8410755 - 05/16/08 07:57 PM (3 months, 3 days ago) |
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Perhaps you could invent rodent optical aids, a miceroscope or something... 
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I am not an actor, I merely play one on TV.
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zouden
Neuroscientist
Registered: 11/12/07
Posts: 1,654
Loc: Australia
Last seen: 2 hours, 52 minutes
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: OrgoneConclusion]
#8411039 - 05/16/08 09:28 PM (3 months, 3 days ago) |
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Miceroscope <- awesome name for an invention 
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9/11 was sketchy but I mean come on
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Penguarky Tunguin
Touching Your Taint
Registered: 08/08/04
Posts: 9,558
Loc: Nonlocal
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8411329 - 05/16/08 11:03 PM (3 months, 3 days ago) |
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Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.
A road is a flattened-out wheel, rolled up in the belly of an airplane.
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zouden
Neuroscientist
Registered: 11/12/07
Posts: 1,654
Loc: Australia
Last seen: 2 hours, 52 minutes
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
#8411346 - 05/16/08 11:07 PM (3 months, 3 days ago) |
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That's quite interesting. Thanks for sharing that.
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9/11 was sketchy but I mean come on
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BlueCoyote
Beyond
Registered: 05/07/04
Posts: 3,615
Loc: Between
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8412075 - 05/17/08 06:47 AM (3 months, 3 days ago) |
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As it's said before, 'god' is only a verbal concept. Animals may just live in g*d, as they have lower reflective abilities to make 'concepts'.
That even is, what human may separate more from g*d, than animals.
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Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion
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Oweyervishice
You're Vicious
Registered: 05/07/08
Posts: 313
Last seen: 21 hours, 12 minutes
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: BlueCoyote]
#8412826 - 05/17/08 01:22 PM (3 months, 3 days ago) |
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Quote:
BlueCoyote said:
As it's said before, 'god' is only a verbal concept. Animals may just live in g*d, as they have lower reflective abilities to make 'concepts'.
That even is, what human may separate more from g*d, than animals.
More complex brains are a gift and a curse. 
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I was taught a month ago
To bide my time and take it slow
But then I learned just yesterday
To rush and never waste the day
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery
Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 20,731
Loc: underbelly
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Re: What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God? [Re: LayYouIn]
#8413836 - 05/17/08 05:57 PM (3 months, 3 days ago) |
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What part of the human brain makes a human have thoughts on God?
The dumb scared part. (maybe that's most of it)
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What the thinker thinks, the prover proves. R.A.W.
I don't believe anything, but I have many suspicions. R.A.W.
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