Great Course - The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience

I have just finished the Great Course called "The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience" taught by  Professor Andrew Newberg.  Today, I will write about my reactions to the course.  I won't be able to do so without mentioning some of the content, but I suspect I will not be able to delve as deeply into that content as I might like. 

I am a strong believer in studying the world scientifically, and I have enjoyed going through many Great Courses on scientific topics.  I am also clearly interested in faith and religion.  And, if you have been following my Knowledge Series of posts, I clearly approach both topics with a heavy focus on philosophy.  Consequently, when I saw this course offered, it was clear I would want to hear it.

 

Here we have a doctor, a scientist and a believer all rolled into one teacher.  Dr. Newberg has done some very interesting brain studies related to spiritual experiences, and has detailed knowledge of other related studies.  I entered this course expecting a very technical and scientific experience.

That's not quite what I got.  I did get some science -- in particular, Dr. Newberg taught his listeners about the basic parts of the brain, and what parts of the human mind those parts are involved in.  And several scientific studies were described during the lectures, to show how science is being applied to the study of spirituality and religion, as well as practices common to both. 

But mostly, the course was philosophical and "directional."  I'll explain.

First why do I say "directional?"  Well, it appears that, while science has done some work on understanding how spiritual experiences manifest themselves in the brain, and how physiology differs between spiritual and non-spiritual people, the science is not particularly mature.  In the course, Dr. Newberg often talks about directions new studies could take.  There are directions it could go from the studies done so far, and from what we know about how the brain works during other uses of the mind.  But apparently, science has not taken up those directions to an extent which would allow a true scientist to make definitive statements.

Second, why "philosophical?"  Well, two of reasons, really.  First, in order to talk about the functioning of the brain, Dr. Newberg has to talk about the mind, and science, and religion, and spirituality.  In order to do this, he is touching on topics which he felt obliged to describe with philosophy.  I can understand this, to some extent.  I have learned a lot about the philosophy of each of these things in my other studies, though, and so some of what he taught seemed superfluous to my goals for the course. 

Second, the course was "philosophical" because Dr. Newberg makes the case for doing this sort of research at all.   I can't fault him for that.  When people think about studying spirituality scientifically, many object, and for widely different reasons.  One camp thinks of spirituality as something which is super-natural and those who are close to this end of the spectrum are concerned that a scientific study will only be used to try to eliminate or disprove that.  Another camp thinks that spirituality and religion are social constructs only, and therefor not appropriate for study by "hard science."  This makes it difficult to get funding for such work, and clearly Dr. Newberg believes there is significant value to be found in research on these lines, so he argues for its importance - philosophically, but with interesting facts and significant knowledge of how the brain works.

I did get some very interesting things from this Great Course.  I hope to document a few of them in a later post, but just to give you some idea:

• Brain scanning techniques show clear changes in how the brain is being used during prayer and meditation practices.  That brain activity corresponds well to what one might have predicted, knowing how the various portions of the brain function in non-spiritual settings, and knowing how people describe those experiences.
• Religion & spirituality has been a part of human existence since before civilization was founded, based on the current scientific information.
• There are physiological differences -- at a statistical level -- between groups of people who are spiritual and those who are not, between people who engage in spiritual practices and those who do not.  Cause and effect are not clear, but the differences exist.

On the whole, this course was probably the least interesting one I have heard.  Largely this is because I think the material could have been covered in twelve lectures rather than twenty four.  There were many times, especially later in the course, when I thought "OK, you said this same sort of thing in another lecture.  Your topic is slightly different (mystical vs revelation experiences, for example) but the points are similar.  You could have combined these topics."  I also would have found it more gratifying if the "known science" had been collected, at least in summary, near the end of the course.

However, I am not sorry I listened.  I won't listen again.  I will refer back to points made in the lectures -- so I hope the course guide book is as good as previous courses have had -- but this will not be a repeat course.

So, that's it for this time.  Once again, I will mention that I truly appreciate being able to hear university-level lectures from highly qualified academicians.  If any of you do, and you know me personally, I would be glad to loan you a course.