SECTION VII Chapter - 3 Influence of the Mind on Miracles/Amazing Happenings-- Hysteria, Hallucinations, Authoritarian Commands, Hypnosis, False Memories, and Prayer "The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." -- Voltaire "It is part of the cure to wish to be cured". --Seneca (3 BC - 65 AD) "The healing system is the way the body mobilizes all its resources to combat disease. The belief system is often the activator of the healing system." -- Norman Cousins I have known people who believe in miracles--such as faith-healing--and will earnestly swear that they have personally witnessed, say a wound healing before their very eyes. My family knew a woman who claimed that her arthritis ALWAYS improved whenever she placed her hands on the radio during an Oral Robert's sermon. (I suppose this means she was never COMPLETELY cured though, as she kept doing this every week.) No doubt, faith DOES help people get better! The question is whether this healing is done through divine channels, or instead results from the body's natural healing processes. That is, it is a medical fact, that when most of us are cut or bruised, that our own body will heal us. Some illnesses, such as certain cancers, have been documented to go into spontaneous remission. Thus, to be considered truly miraculous, then there should be no other "natural" explanation for the healing. Still, this is an extremely complicated subject. For as we shall see in this chapter, the brain's processes are so complex, that it is even difficult at times to tell which healings are real, as opposed to illusionary. Even more intriguing, is the possibility that our attitude towards our health (including levels of stress) may play a role in the functioning of our body's immunity system. To begin, we shall review the role of the mind in conjuring up illusions. Hallucinations The use of hallucinatory drugs have been used since ancient times, and are known to conjure up images and sounds in our mind, which do not really exist. Psychologists and doctors have documented that these hallucinations result from the chemical effects of these drugs on our nervous system-- probably by interfering with the transmission of nerve cell (neuron) signals in the brain from one to the other. A large number of mental disorders, commonly known today as schizophrenia, multiple personalities, and epilepsy can create hallucinations, not unlike those induced by drugs. Books on psychology contain case studies of individuals who have hallucinated that they were saviors of the world (or alternatively demons), or sometimes they were famous people. Examples range from Queen Elizabeth to the Virgin Mary to Jesus Christ. Some critics have claimed that famous prophets--such as St. Paul and Mohammed--were epileptics. (See Section I, Chapter 7 and Section VII, Chapter 6). Stress, such as that caused by extreme sleep deprivation, may cause TEMPORARY hallucinations in some individuals. Michael Shermer (president of the Skeptic Society) tells an amusing story how he once had a hallucination that his friends were really aliens from outer space. Shermer was then in the process of competing in a 3000 mile nonstop bicycle race across America and had determined to come in first place. After leaving California and riding some 83 hours without sleep, he took his first 45 minute sleep break. When he woke up, he was convinced that his "entire support crew were aliens from another planet", perfectly disguised as his friends. (Shermer later realized that the source of his hallucination was from a television program called THE INVADERS. Indeed, just as with the television show, Shermer carefully watched his support crew to see if they had a "stiff little finger". In the show, this was the only way to discover an "alien's" secret disguise.) After his bicycle crew forced him to go back to sleep --this time for about 90 minutes-- Shermer's alien delusions had ended, and he was back to normal. (Shermer noted that his EEG readings have shown that his deep sleep cycle lasts, on average, 90 minutes--and this is perhaps the reason why he should at a minimum, have taken a sleep break of this duration of time.) (SKEPTIC, "Can Science Cheat Death? Cryonics, Altered States, and the Quest for Transcendence", Michael Shermer, Summer 1992, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp 56-7) Shermer checked out the experiences of other long distance bicyclists and found that his was not an uncommon experience.--For example, another rider hallucinated that he saw the road covered with hieroglyphics, after being similarly deprived of sleep. Hypnosis Hypnotic-like trances scenes can be seen on cave paintings that are over FIVE THOUSAND years old. Witch doctors have used the rhythmic beating of drums, dancing and chanting to place one under a trance. In ancient Greece, the healing cult of Aesculapius appears to have made use of hypnotic trances in curing insomniacs. Trances were identified with witchcraft during the Middle Ages. They were not "rediscovered" until the late 1700's, when the Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer set up his famous mesmerize salon in Paris. Claiming to be using the "science" of animal magnetism, Mesmer would place his patient (many of whom would be diagnosed today as having mental or psychotic problems) into a magnetic circular tub. With dramatic effect, Mesmer would then wave a large wand at the patient, while the "magnetizing" session was taking place. Typically, the patient would begin shaking after minutes, and then scream until the "crisis" was attained. Then they would fall limp. Later, many patients testified that they had indeed been helped by Mesmer's magnetism. In 1784, a French Royal Commission was established to investigate Mesmer's powers of healing. The committee, which included both Benjamin Franklin and the chemist Lavoisier, almost unanimously agreed that Mesmer's "cures" could be explained as the result of suggestion. The conclusions of the committee led to a growing recognition that suggestion might also account for other miraculous cures-- such as the Royal Touch. An American named Perkin used metal tongs ("tractors"), which he claimed could magnetically draw out the evil forces from arthritic limbs. A physician named Haygarth set out to test if suggestion was playing any role in the proclaimed "cures". He took a pair of wooden tongs and coated these with a metallic sheen. Playing the role for all it was worth--he maintained a serious demeanor--complete with brandishing a stop watch for effect. As expected, he also had patients who claimed to have been relieved of their pain. Today, most modern physicians and researchers believe that magnetisms has no real long lasting healing effects. Instead, Mesmer had merely placed his patients in a hypnotic trance--and used his position of authority to place the suggestion to his patients that they were improving. According to the mentalist Kreskin who has studied hypnosis for many years, there is nothing extraordinary about hypnosis: "Hypnosis is the persuasion of a subject to accept your suggestion. It is not a trance. If a trance occurs, it is the result of an accepted suggestion. It is not a spell. It is not a form of sleep. To the extent that we respond to suggestion by others, we are all 'hypnotized' every day of our lives." (Kreskin, THE AMAZING KRESKIN). To disprove the claim that hypnotized subjects can tap into hidden reserves of "true" memories, Kreskin hypnotized a girl named Ginny who testified that she had somehow been struck by a car while she was talking to a friend. Per Kreskin, no accident had occurred. Instead, but he had placed the false memory during a hypnotic trance session. Kreskin also placed a "false memory" in another man so he would believe he had been confronted by a teenage gang, and "pinned to the wall". The memory seemed SO real, that the man began to hyperventilate. He later told reporters, "The false memory Kreskin suggested to me was more vivid than most of the things that have really happened to me." (Ibid, p 74) True vs. False Memories Early in his career, Sigmund Freud treated women patients who claimed during therapy that they had been sexually abused as children. However, rather than accept that so many distinguished families had sexually abused their children, Freud later posited a new theory that these memories were childhood "fantasies" of an incestuous relationship with their fathers. Today, the controversy still rages--with psychiatrists on one side angrily denouncing Freud for demeaning womanhood by questioning the veracity of their memories-- with others believing that Freud might have (at least partially) been correct. A recent study has demonstrated that it is easy to inject a false memory, even without resorting to hypnotism. This study, conducted by psychologist Elizabeth Loftus at the University of Wisconsin, asked five individuals to falsely tell a younger relative that they had gotten lost once as a young child on a shopping trip. Over the following days, the relatives were asked to recall more on the "lost" experience. Typically, they eventually not only "remembered" being lost on the trip, but also manufactured details, such as what they were wearing when they were "found". Neuroscientists believe that memories are broken into components, which are stored separately in as many as five different places of the brain. The limbic system within the brain reassembles these linked memory fragments together, just as a filing clerk would pull out selected folders from a large desk drawer. The problem is that, especially over time, memories of imaginary stories and events can become entangled with the fragments of real memories. Severe emotional stress or trauma can also interfere with the mechanism through which genuine memories are stored. It was during psychology session for postpartum depression that "Anne" remembered under hypnosis that she had been repeatedly raped as a child by her father and co-workers. Even more incredible, she remembered being the priestess of a satanic cult, which had killed and then eaten thousands of babies during their orgies. However, after leaving therapy, Anne recanted her story-- determining that her therapist had instead implanted the idea in her mind. She has since filed a lawsuit against her therapist. Many psychologists are convinced that therapists can indeed implant false memories in their patients through suggestion. According to David Spiegel of Stanford University, "Under hypnosis, you can create [memories] rather than retrieve them." (Sharon Begley with Martha Brant, "You Must Remember This", NEWSWEEK, September 26, 1994, p 68). This mechanism demonstrates how people's memories of "UFO Abductions", demonic parties, and sexual incest might also be literally (but falsely) believed by an individual. In the case of UFO abductions, these stories have arisen mainly in the last century, when science fiction stories have become popular. Some researchers believe that whereas centuries ago, people imagined witches, spirits, and demons-- these are now identified as "extraterrestrials". Some of these visions are believed by psychologists to be related to hysteria or mental disorders (such as schizophrenia which impacts some 1% of the population--see Chapter 6). However, even otherwise normal individuals can have mental visions and memories that are false. Since the 1980's, there have been a spate of individuals who "recall" being present at witch sabbatical parties where large numbers of children were sacrificed. Investigations into these "missing" children have always turned up empty-handed. Indeed a 1992 FBI report on the issue of ritual or satanic cults, stated that after an eight year investigation by law enforcement officers, that there was "little or no corroborative evidence" that such exaggerated claims had taken place. Some researchers have wondered if there is a correlation between the increased claims of satanic cults, and the recent popularity of occult movies and books. (An acquaintance of mine was almost certainly affected in this way. Catholic, and very religious, she told me soon AFTER seeing the movie, the EXORCIST, that she feared she might be "possessed".) Memories of sexual abuse and incest are more complicated. Studies have shown unfortunately the tragic incidence of incest within families. Some of these are remembered, but some of these repressed. Obviously some of these repressed memories are REAL. Research on combat soldiers have demonstrated, that under conditions of extreme duress (sometimes called "shell shock") how soldiers can REPRESS painful memories.-- Sometimes they do not recall these repressed memories until fifteen or twenty years later. Likewise, there have been documented studies whereby young girls were traumatized by sexual abuse and incest--and similarly repressed these painful memories. For example in one case, an abused women named Claudia entered into a weight-reduction program at a hospital and for the first time, experienced flashbacks of sexual abuse committed by her older brother. Because her brother had died fifteen years earlier in Viet Nam, she was able to go through his belongings that had been preserved by her parents. Among them, she found a large pornography collection, handcuffs (which she remembered) and a diary that explicitly recorded some of the sexual "experiments" performed on her. (Bruce Bower, "Sudden Recall--Adult Memories of Child Abuse Spark a Heated Debate, SCIENCE NEWS, September 18, 1993, p 184) But as we have seen, at least SOME cases of alleged rape/incest appear to be imaginative--possibly placed in their minds by overzealous therapists and psychiatrists. Some incest victims, for example, claim that their abuse occurred when they were six months to a year old. Yet most scientists believe that the brain is not fully developed for specific memories before the age of two. (Or to be more specific, the hippocampus is not fully developed until age two. The hippocampus is that part of the brain which is responsible for memory formulation.) This means that SOME incest memories are true--but maybe NOT ALL OF THEM are true! Unfortunately, most people INSIST on ONE simplistic rule -- that either ALL abuse memories are true, or else they are ALL false! Instead, claims of sexual abuse should be evaluated on a case by case basis, to determine their validity. As Judith Hermon, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School in Boston and author of TRAUMA AND RECOVERY (1992, Basic Books) wrote, "Everybody wants certainty when looking at these cases, but we usually don't have certainty." This was the danger of blindly following the theories of Sigmund Freud-- In his dogmatic quest for certainty, he simplistically assumed that ALL of his female patients' memories of sexual abuse were fantasies. In this way, he very likely harmed, rather than helped, at least some of his female patients. (Note: On the other hand, one must remember that over time, as more studies are documented, that "refinements" are almost always necessary. After all, Freud did make SOME important contributions in the area of psychology--such as positing the existence of an unconscious area of the brain, and a wish fulfillment component of our dreams. More serious, is the fact that Freud and his followers made dogmatic assertions--without subjecting them to rigorous scientific testing--to find their limitations and weaknesses. Indeed, some historians assert that Freud fudged some of his early successes in using psychotherapy on early patients--reporting that his patients had improved, when in reality they had not). Hysteria It is well documented in the medical profession that hysteria can produce symptoms of paralysis, blindness, the inability to hear or speak, disfiguring skin disorders, and a large number of mental illness symptoms. To the patient, this disorder is very real. Psychotherapy treatment, drugs, and sometimes hypnosis can effect a dramatic "cure". Although, the medical professions has treated (with various degrees of success) illnesses that are of "hysterical" origin-- they are at a loss to explain the brain's mechanics of how it happens. Neurologists will tell you that theirs is a new science, and frankly there are many areas of the brain that are NOT well understood by modern medicine. (see Chapter 6). Commandments issued by an Authoritative Figure to Heal The gospel of Matthew tells how Jesus gave his disciples "authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out, and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness" (Matthew 10:1) Apparently, doctors sometimes help their patients--merely by issuing firm, authoritative commands. Carl Jung spoke of his observation that a "suitable explanation or a comforting word to the patient" in and of itself could have "something like a healing effect" on a patient. He believed that the doctor's words effectively "influence[d] the biochemical processes of the body", either making one ill or curing them. Combined with hypnosis, there have been reported instances, where authoritarian commands have effected spectacular "cures". Ian Wilson in his book JESUS:THE EVIDENCE, told of a woman who was involved in a car accident, and could not close her hand.(She had undergone several operations but all had failed to improve her condition.) After only one hypnotic session, she could close her hand and use it normally. According to Ian Wilson, "Effectively, her 'cure' was achieved by commands little different from those which Jesus is said to have used in curing the paralytic by Jerusalem's Sheep Pool". (p 103). (Jesus told the paralyzed man, 'Get up, pick up your sleeping mat and walk' and he did. (John 5:8)) Another dramatic example of how a doctor's authoritative command can appear to "heal" hysterical people, was given by Joel Kovel, in his book, A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THERAPY: "A physician I knew, weary and disgusted with the endless work of a New Year's Eve in the hospital emergency room, was confronted by an obviously hysterical woman who had come in shrieking, "I'm blind! I can't see!" Drawing himself up to his full height, he pointed an imperious finger and in his deepest and most convincing voice solemnly intoned, "You are not blind! You can see!" Whereupon--you guessed it--the woman ecstatically cried, "I can see! I can see!" and rushed back out into the night. A complete cure, purely directive (Joel Kovel, A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THERAPY. New York: Pantheon Books, 1976, p 208, as quoted by Gerald A Larue THE SUPERNATURAL, THE OCCULT AND THE BIBLE, Prometheus Books, 1990, p 141) Authority Figures Can Also HARM One's Health! From ancient times to the present, there have been numerous documented cases where BELIEF in the power of some authority figure can also HARM, as well as help, an individual. Seemingly healthy people have become hysterical and fallen ill or died, after "believing" that a bad spell or hex had been placed on them. For example, individuals have been documented to have quit eating and soon died, after they learned that a voodoo curse had been placed on them. For this to work, the individual had to be absolutely convinced in the power of the voodoo spell. An interesting case demonstrating the power of believing was documented in the 1960's between an Oklahoma man and his domineering mother.-- A man built a nightclub and ran it for fourteen years, under the influence of his mother--who had been very involved in the club's operations. When the son, announced at the age of 38, that he wanted to marry and sell the club off, the mother announced that if he did so, "something dire will happen to you". Two days after the threat, the man (who had no previous history of any respiratory problems) developed a mild attack of asthma. Nevertheless, he sold the club against his mother's wishes. When he called his mother and reported what he had done, she repeated her earlier warning, "Something dire will strike you." The man's asthmatic condition worsened almost immediately and he was rushed to the hospital. The man sought out a psychiatrist after the attack, who was able to show him the connection between his asthma and his mother's warnings. The man's asthma improved and he began making plans for another business. He called his mother again one day to tell her of it. She again repeated her warning that "dire results" would occur if he persisted in his plans. Within an hour of his phone call, the man had another attack of asthma, but this time he died before reaching the hospital. (Psychosomatic Medicine, 26:104-07, 1964). The "Placebo" Effect This mechanism also explains how authoritarian, or prestigious figures can affect a person's belief system. For example, why quack doctors (given they have a good bed side manner) can make the patient "believe" that they are getting better. Placebos, or sugar pills administered by an authoritative person are believed to also invoke this response. According to Richard M. Restak in his book THE MIND, a woman visited his practice one day, with a "very unusual complaint": "She was angry, depressed, and disillusioned because she had discovered that her doctor of over a decade had been exposed as an impostor. But she had improved over the period she was under his care". She wanted to know why "If he wasn't a doctor and didn't know anything about medicine, how was it that she did so well under his care?" Restak determined after talking with the woman, that "her 'doctor' had always spent a good deal of time with her, inquired about her family, and encouraged her to think well instead of ill of her appearance, intelligence, and personality. In a word, he made her feel good about herself." (Ibid, p 157) Many scientists believe that this psychological mechanism is effected through the patient unconsciously tapping into the brain's release of endorphins, the natural "morphine-like" substance in our brains that are generated to provide relief from to pain. Regardless, the psychological mechanism could help explain why people continued to rely on doctors throughout the centuries--even when it has been estimated that at least half of the time, they actually made the patient WORSE instead of better. This would also explain why WITCH DOCTORS, applying questionable medicines and procedures, even today, may still enjoy a "successful" practice within their tribal communities. Current medical testing recognizes the psychology of believing to have such a strong influence, that scientists now statistically "adjust" for this effect, when testing new medicines on patients. That is, for some people, just the act of being prescribed medicine by a doctor (or authority figure) can make them think they are getting well. It is now standard testing procedure to give a placebo to a control group to measure how even the giving of a 'sugar' pill can lead some people to report that they feel better. Use of the Placebo Effect to Help Patients Some physicians actively use the psychology of the placebo effect to try and give their patient's a will to live. According to Richard M. Restak, "Physicians who can successfully elicit a placebo response tend to be optimistic and hopeful. In the fact of uncertainty they emphasize affirmative emotions while encouraging confidence and expectations for recovery. Such physicians encourage their patients to develop a positive sense of themselves and their body, as well as to cultivate a trust in the body and its capacity for recovery." And, "...physicians capable of eliciting a placebo response see patients as active participants in their own care. In this case, the patients, in cooperation with the physician, help to effect their own improvement. The distinction, although subtle, is important. In a phrase, the physician stimulates the patient's 'will to live.'" (Restak, THE MIND, p 162) A similar view on the subject of keeping up the patient's hope, was put forth by Dr. Joseph Collins in a 1927 Harper magazine article. According to Dr. Collins: "To tell the whole truth is often to perpetuate a cruelty of which many are incapable...The physician soon learns that the art of medicine consists largely in skillfully mixing falsehood and truth in order to provide the patient with an amalgam which will make the metal of life wear and keep men from being poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, unpleasing to the eyes and to those who love them." (Joseph Collins, "Should Doctors Tell the Truth?" HARPER'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE 5(155)(1927):220) Obviously medical professions such as Dr. Collins are actually acting on an important observation--that a person's health CAN be related to their psychological sense of well-being. But, it also means that the doctor will most likely agree to any hope that the patient has (at least to their face) that they will be the recipient of a miracle. Thus when looking for documented miracles, it is important to talk to physicians OUT OF HEARING of the patient, or after the patient has fully recovered, to make sure they are not just telling the patient what they want to hear. A Positive Attitude Towards Healing A positive frame of mind may also affect the healing process. For example, one study of Harvard graduates in 1946 and 1980 showed that those students who were most pessimistic in 1946 were the least healthy when interviewed again in 1980. Another study showed that Virginia Tech students who were most pessimistic, suffered the most from colds, sore throats, and flu the following year. There are numerous testimonials to this affect. I remember watching a Nazi concentration camp survivor describe how he "knew" which of his fellow prisoners would die soon.--It was those whose faces showed they had given up hope--and with it the will to live. Interesting, the flip side from despair--hope and laughter--has been claimed by some to IMPROVE one's health! Norman Cousins (the former editor of SATURDAY REVIEW) credited laughter with his recovery from an often fatal, degenerative disease of the spine. He watched as many comedies as he could find in the hospital--such as movies with the Marx Brothers--and basically laughed away much of his hospital stay. (In his book ANATOMY OF AN ILLNESS, Cousins explains that along with the laughter therapy, he simultaneously took high dosages of vitamin C intravenously) Cousins fully recovered from his disease. He believed his laughter had healed him: "One of the common characteristics of serious illness is panic... It's well known, for example, that panic will constrict the blood vessels, even as it increases sharply the presence of catecholamines in the bloodstream. The catecholamines, in turn, can destabilize heart rhythm and can even rupture muscle fibers of the heart... the best way to deal with the panic is to replace it...By changing the mood of the patient the physician is able to set an auspicious stage for treatment. It is useful, I believe, to reach beyond laughter to all the positive emotions--hope, faith, love, will to live, purpose, and confidence." (as quoted by Restak, THE MIND, p 158) (Cousins died of a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 75. His death came 11 years after the publication of his bestseller, "Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient.") Norman Cousins was not the first to note the relationship between laughter and good health. Thomas Sydenham (1600's), and one of the best physicians of his time wrote, "The arrival of a good clown exercises a more beneficial influence upon the health of a town than of twenty asses laden with drugs." More modern studies have demonstrated that laughter not only reduces stress and pain, but also seems to alter the basic body chemistry. For example, in one study, blood samples were drawn from ten healthy subjects every ten minutes, to test for the presence of eight different hormones and biochemical messengers. Half of the individuals sat quietly, while the other half was shown a comedy videotape. The subjects who watched the comedy tape showed significantly lower levels of cortisol and epinephrine-- two stress hormones that are known to suppress the immune system. (William Poole, THE HEART OF HEALING, Turner Publishing Inc., Atlanta, 1993, p 100). Some researchers have attempted to study the association between the patient's psychological outlook on life and spontaneous remissions. For example, Charles Weinstock, a psychiatrist and professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicene studied eighteen cases of spontaneous remission from his practice. He found that all of these followed a favorable change in either their outlook on life or their environment. These ranged from "religious conversion, to reconciliation with a long-hated mother, to a sudden marriage, and the death of a long-hated husband." (Ibid, p 20) There have been documented claims of remission by individuals after they determined they wanted to live again--and mentally stimulated their own body's healing process. Listening to these cases, one is reminded of how Indian gurus, through concentration, can affect such bodily functions as blood pressure and heart rates. For example, one woman with cancerous tumors withdrew into her room, relaxed, and focused on her body's participation in attacking her cancerous cells. After several months of this effort (she did this four to five times each day), her doctor took new x-rays. To his amazement, he found she had a complete remission of her cancerous tumors. Other stories tell of using a "laying of hands" technique, although now in a completely secular setting, to both soothe the patient and accelerate the healing process. (The placebo process possibly works from a similar effect-- as any medication will calm the patient down. ) However, this is still a controversial area, and many sick patients undergoing these holistic treatments still die uncured. Researchers have noted that healing is more common for certain types of cancers, arthritis, and general wounds/headaches. Although not instantaneous, these techniques apparently help people--possibly through stimulating the body's own natural healing processes. A person's religious beliefs can help provide the stimulus for this type of healing! It is the success stories of a small number of cured individuals that are advertised by faith-healers of all religions from around the world.-- This in turn, helps provide the euphoria and continued momentum for the Faith-healing movement. Skeptics point out that nonreligious individuals may also experience these type of remissions/healings. However, even the skeptic must acknowledge that one's religious beliefs may assist with the healing process! Religious States of Mind Biofeedback researchers at the Menniger Foundation have shown how states of altered consciousness produce different brain-wave patterns. Religious experiences (described as "oceanic feelings" by Sigmund Freud) shows up as "theta" waves which is that state a person experiences between sleeping and waking. This, which is a sort of trance, can produce tremendous bursts of creative activity. One famous example is how Kekule discovered the molecular structure of benzene, when in this state. These feelings can occur spontaneously, or be brought on by such disciplines as meditation. Certain drugs and/or exhaustion have also been observed to induce this state. In the non-drug induced, naturally occurring cases, researchers know that important chemical changes-- interacting with endorphins in our mind-- are taking place. People may also experience these feelings, in everyday settings. According to Michael Persinger, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario-- all of us at times, experience being overwhelmed by our senses from say a grand, or beautiful sight. (One example of such a sight, would be a panoramic view of the Grand Tetons.) According to Persinger, it takes more powerful images to jolt our senses today, than it did for our ancestors who lived during Medieval times. Per Persinger, "At the time Gnostic cathedrals were designed most people lived in dark huts, so just walking into a space vastly larger that they were habituated to, lit by stained-glass windows, was literally awe-inspiring. Today, we're not as impressed by big buildings, so we have to go to very large mountains to experience that kind of diminutive effect. Nor had medieval people heard anything like the acoustic effects of two choirs responding to each other from opposite ends of the church, which would have flooded their senses, shifting transmitter levels and releasing natural opiates. The more vulnerable might have been driven into ecstatic states, the extreme form of which is the seizure, which was commoner then because of bad nutrition." (Winifred Gallagher, "Sacred Places", PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW, Volume 26, No 1, February 1922, P 66) After studying volunteers in his laboratory (see Section VII Chapter 2) in an acoustic chamber "tinted with red light and filled with eerie music" Persinger, studied the reactions of the subject based on a number of scenarios. What he found was that "This setting produces a strong feeling of novelty, which jacks up the subject's adrenaline. We know that if someone is injected with a small amount and then put in a setting where everyone is crying, he'll get upset, too. If he's in an aggressive setting, he'll become irritable. Similarly, we've found that for a person aroused by a novel setting, listening to tapes of Gregorian chants are likely to produce a religious experience, while viewing CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND then inspires a UFO-type experience. In short, in an aroused person, the cognitive aspects of a situation determine his emotional response." (Ibid) Persinger suspects that those of us who are more emotionally responsive to stimuli than others, have minds that are constructed with increased electrical activity. He notes that studies of epileptics have shown that they experience unusual thoughts, sensations and emotions (similar to those experienced by his test subjects) just prior to a seizure. Persinger believes that these sensations, are similar to the ones induced in his lab. He refers to these individuals as "energetic, creative, suggestible, intuitive, and [who] feel 'guided' . They're normal people with light hypomanic spikes that suggest an excitable brain chemistry. Ultimately, all our experiences are tied to our transmitter balance. Unusual neurochemistry, unusual experiences." (Ibid). Whatever their validity, Persinger's experiments show that mystical experiences consist of not only what we perceive, but also how we interpret it. "The label that is … used to categorize the experience will influence how the person remembers it. And that will happen within a few seconds." There's a third aspect, too: the reinforcement that humans get, as social animals, from sharing their religious rituals with others. "Religion is all three of those, and all three are hardwired into the brain," says Persinger. "We are hardwired to have experiences from time to time that give us a sense of a presence, and as primates we're hardwired to categorise our experiences. And we crave social interaction and spatial proximity with others that are the same. What's not hardwired is the content. If you have a God experience and the belief is that you have to kill someone who doesn't believe as you do, you can see why the content from the culture is the really dangerous part." (In Search of God, NEW SCIENTIST magazine, April 21, 2001) Physical Basis for "Spiritual Feelings" Discovered in the Brain Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia engaged in an interesting research project to determine whether there was a physical component to those spiritual feelings shared by people of all faiths. These spiritual feelings included feelings of transcendence (or "oneness with the Universe") and a sense of awe that makes spiritual revelations stand out as the ultimate important reality of our existence. Newberg began with eight Tibetan Buddhist volunteers who agreed to undergo brain imaging while engaging in mediation. His goal was to map out which parts of their brain were active/inactive as their sense of self began to dissolve during meditation. Using a technique, called Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, or SPECT, Newberg compared the activity of the subjects' brains during meditation with scans taken when they were simply at rest. (See his "Why God Won't Go Away" by Andrew Newberg, Eugene d'Aquili and Vince Rause (Ballantine Books, 2001)) Newberg discovered there was intense activity occurring in those parts of the brain that regulate attention--a sign of the meditators' deep concentration. But more important, he also observed that the parietal lobe became inactive. This was important because this is the region of the brain where the distinction between "self" and "otherness" originates. The left-hemisphere side of this region deals with the individual's sense of "self" while the right-hemisphere orients the "self" through time and space. The researchers concluded that as the meditators developed the feeling of oneness, they gradually cut off this area of the brain's signals that help orientate their body image through space. "When you look at people in meditation, they really do turn off their sensations to the outside world. Sights and sounds don't disturb them any more. That may be why the parietal lobe gets no input," says Newberg. Deprived of sensual input, these regions of the brain no longer function normally, and the person experiences the boundary between himself and otherness melt away in a sensation of infiniteness if space and eternity. (In Search of God, NEW SCIENTIST magazine, April 21, 2001). Newberg has repeated the experiment with Franciscan nuns in prayer. The nuns prayer centered on words, rather than images--activating the language areas of the brain. But they, too, shut down the same regions of the brain that the meditators did, as their sense of oneness reached its peak. Neuroscientists generally agree that the limbic system (lying deep within the temporal lobes on the sides of the brain) also becomes unusually active during periods of intense religious feelings, tagging spiritual feelings with special significance. This could explain why people who have had such experiences find them so difficult to describe to others. "The contents of the experience--the visual components, the sensory components--are just the same as everyone experiences all the time," says Jeffrey Saver, a neurologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Instead, the temporolimbic system is stamping these moments as being intensely important to the individual, as being characterised by great joy and harmony. When the experience is reported to someone else, only the contents and the sense that it's different can be communicated. The visceral sensation can't." (Ibid) Epileptics who experience seizures in the limbic system, or the temporal lobes in general, sometimes report having profound experiences during their seizures. "This is similar to people undergoing religious conversion, who have a sense of seeing through their hollow selves or superficial reality to a deeper reality," says Saver. As a result, he says, epileptics have historically tended to be the people with the great mystical experiences. (Ibid) Newberg believes that limbic stimulation may explain why religions rely so heavily on ritual. Religious ceremonies may flag the brain's limbic system that something profound and significant is going on. Music appears to directly affect the limbic system, generating deep feelings of arousal or serene bliss. Chanting or ritual movements may do the same. Skeptics of religion are quick to claim that the brain's hardwiring proves that God has no real existence--that it's all in the brain. But others, including Newberg point out that it is also valid to consider that it would make sense for a God to design the human brain in order that it can experience spirituality. Drug-Induced Religious States on the Mind Interestingly, mind altering drugs can engender powerful religious experiences. Some historians suspect that the religious states of mind described by some of the ancient Greek mystery religions (such as the Eleusian mysteries) were produced through the use of mind hallucinogenic chemicals.--This included the naturally occurring ergot, which is a plant fungus containing lysergic acid. During the Middle Ages, it has been suggested that some of the descriptions of witches flying in the air, could have been induced through the use of plants from the nightshade family—such as henbane, belladonna, and mandrake--which give users a sensation of levitation. (Based upon their socio-religious background, these visions were interpreted to be from the Devil, as opposed to from God.) Modern research on mind-hallucinogens have shown that certain drugs such as LSD can create a feeling of transcendence -- where the individual feels himself to be experiencing another level of reality. Psychiatrists refer to this mental state of the individual as "disassociation" with reality. Metaphysical enthusiasts sometimes call this state "cosmic consciousness" or "peak experience". This state of mind can also produce powerful religious experiences, as can be seen in the following account of an individual, who was under the influence of hallucinogens: "Suddenly I burst into a vast, new, indescribably wonderful universe. Although I am writing this over a year later, the thrill of the surprise and amazement, the awesomeness of the revelation, the engulfment is an overwhelming feeling-wave of gratitude and blessed wonderment, are as fresh, and the memory of the experience is as vivid, as if it had happened five minutes ago. And yet to concoct anything by way of deception that would even hint of the magnitude, the sense of ultimate reality... this seems such as impossible task. The knowledge which has infused and affected every aspect of my life came instantaneously and with such complete force of certainty that it was impossible, then or since, to doubt its validity." and the account of university professor who was testing mind altering drugs on himself: "Almost instantly [after inducing himself with a psychoactive plant] I somehow knew that I had opened a door into something unknown but very powerful. I remember uttering a curse. My field of vision was immediately a dark ink-black, which then rapidly filled with brightly colored swirling phosphorescent 'sparks'. This vortex built in intensity... and luminosity until it coalesced into a sort of ball of intense light into which I was swallowed up. This light or energy was completely overwhelming; it roared like a tornado...like being at the center of a nuclear explosion without being consumed with pain or annihilated. I felt THIS IS GOD, and for the first tie, I could sense the power that this Creative Force actually represented. I was totally in awe. Yet throughout the whole experience, I was not able to keep a grasp on my own personality. I was just a thread of freely running consciousness, holding on for dear life to this screaming freight train of energy that was tearing through the cosmos. At the same time, I had the realization that this light was God, my body was filled with ecstasy or love." (Porush, op cit) Symods, a nineteenth century art critic is another example of a person who experienced this state of euphoria and religious feelings, while under the influence of chloroform: "suddenly my soul became aware of God, who was manifestly dealing with me, handling me, so to speak in an intensely personal present reality. I felt him streaming in like light upon me... I cannot describe the ecstasy I felt." (Baker, op cit., p 198) The American philosopher William James wrote in his VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE that (while under the influence of psychoactive agents) he experienced an altered state of mind. He was uncertain as to what they really meant: "They may determine attitudes though they cannot furnish formulas, and open a region though they fail to give a map". Similarity of Emotional Release Between Psychology Sessions And Religious Revivals. Religious States of mind can, of course, be DRUG FREE in nature! For example, I am repeating here John Wesley's description of how one feels when s/he commits their spirit to Christ: "the 'eyes of his understanding are opened .'... He feels 'the love of God shed abroad in his heart."... And now he may be properly said to live..." Nor is this feeling restricted to Christians. According to a Hindu yogi practitioner, "I--my drasha, the Looker--became separated from my body and mind. This was Atman...And then the Looker witnessed everything in the world, THIS ground, THESE trees, THIS river, THIS mountain, and all people, and all other things, the light, the energy, and also itself, myself--all were SHAKTI, the primordial energy of the universe. There was no Seer and seen, no Looker and looked--they are One--that is BRAHMAN, the Absolute." (David Porush, "Finding God in the Three-Pound Universe: The Neuroscience of Transcendence" OMNI, October 1993, p 60) According to William Sargant, during WW II, one of the techniques used to help combat soldiers who had succumbed to a mental breakdown was to induce the patient to RELIVE the situation, and thus directly confront the stress and fear that led to the breakdown itself. After the war, it was discovered that it was not the stress that helped recovery--but instead letting the patient go through an intense emotional release surrounding the bad experience. After the patient had gone through an emotional outburst expressing his intense anger--or alternatively intense anxiety or fear-- then the patient would collapse from the exhausting experience--but the "demon" memories that had haunted him would be purged, and the patient would feel cured. Sargant noted the similarity between his clinical experience with the soldiers and the emotional release experienced at religious revivals. It is known, for example, that John Wesley's hell and brimstone revival meetings were characterized by people in the audience swooning, shrieking, shaking, and writhing on the ground in a state of mental anguish before finally passing out. Upon being revived, the believer would feel a sense of religious purging for their sins--which would be interpreted as a spiritual rebirth and reawakening. Sargant believed this state closely resembled the one he observed with the soldier's after their emotional purging. This emotional release was also reported by some of Mesmer's patients during the late eighteenth century. Contemporary critics of Mesmer wrote that his patients (which were primarily women) appeared highly suggestible-- and that the emotional release (which in many cases resembled a "female organism") probably made the patients feel better, although it effected no real cure. The Psychology of Faith-Healing A psychological study performed in 1973 by Mansell Pattison and his associates looked at Pentecostals who claimed they had been helped during faith-healing sessions. When questioned about their "healing" they responded that they had placed all their faith in God and therefore were no longer worried about their problems. The results from a battery of psychological tests (MMPI) indicated that the people were NOT mentally ill. However, this group did score high on the test for the defense mechanism of denial. (People with a high defense mechanism are individuals who are unable to tolerate reality, and thus actually convince themselves that their present reality does not exist--even when confronted with evidence to the contrary.) The Pentecostals tested by Pattison believed that their faith-healing experience was real, regardless of whether their physical symptoms later reappeared afterwards or not. He and his colleagues concluded from this, that the primary function of faith healing was not necessarily to physically heal the believer, but to reinforce Pentecostal beliefs and values on the minds of the believers, and in this way providing a mechanism for "avoiding harsh realities." (Gallagher, op cit., p 41) However, religious beliefs are not always a source of comfort during ill health: they may actually increase your risk of dying. Belief Can Be Both Positive or Negative on Mortality-- Depending on How One "Interprets" their Experience A study of nearly 600 older hospital patients (95 per cent of them Christian) showed negative feelings evoked by religious beliefs sometimes predicted mortality. Key factors that increased the risk of death were feelings of being "abandoned or punished" by God, "believing the devil caused the illness", or "feeling abandoned by one's faith community", the study by researchers at Duke University Medical Center and Bowling Green State University showed. "The study reminds us that religion ... can, at times, be a source of problems in itself," says lead author Kenneth Pargament. Several studies have demonstrated a reduced risk of death among those who attend church regularly, but the new research, published in today's Archives of Internal Medicine, is the first to examine negative aspects of religiousness. Patients who reported feeling alienated from God or who blamed the devil had a 19 to 28 per cent increased risk of dying during the following two years, say the researchers, who found no association between gender, race, diagnosis, brain function, independence, depression, or quality of life with mortality. Duke University's Dr Harold Koenig said anger and frustration were normal grief responses when people discovered health problems. Those who were religious and were able to reconnect with God and their spiritual feelings could use those resources for support. But those who continued to experience conflict could be making their health worse. "Those people are in trouble and doctors need to know about it," he said. "Doctors need to be assessing their patients for these kinds of feelings." Referral to clergy may then be helpful. He said more than two-thirds of medical schools in the United States had courses that trained students on how to take a patient's spiritual history-- a trend that recognized the growing body of evidence about the mind-body connection. (Copyright 2001 Michael Shermer, Skeptics Society, Skeptic magazine, e-Skeptic magazine) Prayer There have been numerous studies that have tested whether prayer can significantly improve the health of the person being prayed for.--No important correlation could be found. In actual PHYSICAL terms, (ie in terms of reducing disease and mortality), it is a fact that modern medicine, and not prayer, has had a more dramatic impact on society's health! Anyone can see this for themselves-- go to any old cemetery dating from BEFORE the nineteenth century, and one will see that a HIGH proportion of the deaths occured among very young children and pregnant women.-- Today most of these deaths could have been prevented using modern medical procedures and drugs. Nevertheless, although scientific tests have not "proven" that prayer can help the individual who is prayed for--recent studies HAVE SHOWN that the ACT OF PRAYING CAN help the health of the person who is doing the praying! What is important is that the prayer(s) contain REPETITIVE CHANTS. (Stephen Kiesling, and George Harris, "The Prayer War", PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, October 1989, pp 65-66) This discovery was kicked off in 1968 when Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson showed that transcendental meditation and its concentration on the repetition of a mantra, could result in a lower metabolic and heart rate. This, in turn, led to lower stress and therefore improved health. Benson had experimented at first with Americans in the TM movement founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He became curious whether this effect might not also apply to Jews and Christians. He thereupon selected a group of Jews and Christians to meditate on a single word or phrase in a state of prayer--ie the Western version of meditation. Catholics favored using "Hail Mary, full of grace" or "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me." Favorites with Protestants were "The Lord is my shepherd" and "our Father who art in heaven." Jews frequently settled on words of peace or oneness-- "Shalom" or "Echad". Benson found these repetitive prayers were just as successful in invoking what he called the relaxation response (RR) in Judaic-Christian subjects as it had been with the transcendental mediators. He wrote up his findings in his book THE RELAXATION RESPONSE (1975), which was a bestseller. When Benson did not use actual religious themes in his prayer (for example if he asked his respondents to focus on a word--such as "one") many people would not stick with the chanting because they found it too "boring". Benson's data also suggested that his RR program, especially combined with what he called the "faith factor" appeared to give the best results. People rating high on Benson's measurements for spirituality (which Benson defines as a feeling that "there is more than just you") tended to benefit the most from his RR training. He also found a connection between his relaxation response (RR) and frequent exercise. Runners ran more efficiently when they were cadencing their steps along with repetitive prayers. Further research showed that positive results in RR led to a significant reduction in headaches, hypertension, and other physical pains such as pre-menstral syndrome. Religious leaders of various denominations--ranging from such diverse groups as southern Baptists to the Dalai Lama--have been delighted with the findings. Not that repetitive prayers are anything new in Christianity. The Catholic Church has taught monks to clear their minds and focus repeatedly on a prayer or the image of the mother Mary--since the times of the early Church. What was new--was evidence that this appears to have both spiritual AND physical benefits! * * * In the next chapter, we shall look at one of the most exciting areas under research today.--That is, reports by individuals who were on the fringes of death and reported afterlife experiences, after being revived back to life.