What happens in the brain during a spiritual experience?

What does spiritual experience do to the human brain? A recent study claims to hold the answer.

For decades, researchers who are intrigued by the importance of spirituality in people’s lives have conducted studies investigating what happens in the human brain when people feel deeply spiritually connected.

Due to the fact that the concept of “spirituality” can be understood in so many different ways across cultures and individuals — and that whatever someone may term a “spiritual experience” can stimulate the brain in very complex ways — it has been hard to pinpoint a brain mechanism for spirituality.

Nevertheless, researchers have persevered despite the challenges. So, studies on Carmelite nuns and dedicated Mormon practitioners have suggested that multiple brain regions are involved in processing experiences of union with a higher being.

Also, a commonality suggested by a few studies was that individuals engaging in long-term spiritual practice had decreased activity in the right parietal lobe, which has been tied to self-oriented focus.

In other words, spiritual experiences seemed to increase, as it were, selflessness in the brain…. more at https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322092.php