[recycled material - first appeared here]
Continuing with the theme of the bogus dichotomy of logical thinking vs. illogical, another important question is raised by these phenomena: alter brain chemicals and you frequently change the behavior of that brain. If person A has high levels of serotonin, for example, and tends to interpret a scenario in a rosy fashion, while low-serotonin-levels person B interprets the same scenario differently, can we say one being more or less logical than the other?
Here's a problem: we can't just magically remove all the chemicals that influence the functioning of brains without crippling those brains. This very moment your brain is "under the influence." And it's a good thing. Is there an optimal level for serotonin, for testosterone and oxytocin and the countless other neurotransmitters and hormones, etc.?
In a fairly recent article found over at the Huffington Post (forwarded my way, I don't read the site), I encountered material about religious belief that pertains to the topic of this discussion. In I Know Because I Know - Christian Belief Through the Lens of Cognitive Science: Part 3 of 6, Valerie Tarico makes some very important points. But also seems to fall into the black/white thinking about human cognition.
First the good. Tarico shares the opinion of neurologist Robert Burton -
"feeling of knowing" (rightness, correctness, certainty, conviction) should be thought of as one of our primary emotions.
Other research has likewise highlighted an emotional aspect to conclusions of right/good wrong/bad.
Tarico hits a supremely important nail on the head with this statement:
Nonetheless, it is a healthy mistrust for our sense of knowing that has allowed scientists to detect, predict, and produce desired outcomes with ever greater precision.
Yes, none of us is a cold computer capable of perceiving the world with perfect accuracy. We aren't logical creatures; nor are we illogical. Logic is the wrong word. However, where we know our thinking can go astray and want to prevent and correct it . . . we have the insights and methods of science.
Lastly, here is where I think Tarico gets it at least a bit wrong. She writes,
Religious belief is not bound to regular standards of evidence and logic. It is not about logic but about something more intuitive and primal.
What regular standards of evidence? And primal? As mentioned before, I love Einstein's description of science as the refinement of every day thinking. So we don't have logic here and primal irrationality there. We have a spectrum of thought from more refined to less. If we must simplify a very complicated issue.
I don't think it is helpful to approach the why of differing conclusions -- no god and no belief vs. god and belief -- by claiming the two positions rely on distinctly different categories of cognitive processes. Convenient as it may be, I just don't think that is the case.
The miracles we hear about today are comparatively tepid. We've got an oil slick in the shape of the virgin Mary (or maybe Little Red Riding Hood), an arthritic elder taking a few steps on the stage of a tent revival, and a tortilla with a brown singe mysteriously resembling the profile of Jesus. Or maybe Willie Nelson. No walking on water, no feeding thousands with three boxes of instant pudding.
Because I am a scientific kind of guy, I will now, at this very moment--which I am fairly certain "now" means--conduct an experiment on the power of prayer. Though I will focus on the supposed singular entity of the Bible God, I will allow any god out there in the theosphere (I'm not prejudiced nor partial) to intrude and answer the call. I'll give the Bible God or Any God within hearing distance 10 chances. One out of 10, and I'll consider it a sign. Here goes:
1. God, please warm up my coffee. The cup has gone cold sitting next to the telephone. Cold coffee is a bummer. Being all-powerful, you can spare a few kilowatts. All I'm asking you to do is violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics and make heat flow in the opposite direction it normally does. I'm sure you are not constrained by well-established, scientific principles. I'll give you a minute to do it. . . .
Nope. Still cold. Guess I'll give the microwave the same minute.
By the way, the 2nd law of thermodynamics and the flow of energy from more concentrated to more diffuse, otherwise known as entropy, implies that the universe has a shelf-life. All suns will eventually shed their dense heat and become lifeless cinders. The cosmic furnaces will flicker out one by one, the lights going dark. Space will become a mighty frigid place. A hell of cold awaits the universe, if predictions are correct. Anyone left behind will not be gnashing their teeth; they'll be trying to keep them from chattering.
2. God, please bring a woodpecker, of any species, to the bird-feeding station outside my window--within the next 30 seconds. I can't give you a whole day, because that is liable to happen by chance, for we have three species living in the area. . . . One one-hundred, two one-hundred, three one-hundred. . . .
Nope. Just a cardinal. And he came at 12 seconds. The male cardinal feeds frequently, so I can't count that as a hit. Others might, but I am going to hold you to a higher standard than chance alone.
3. Make that squirrel scampering across the ground, running from the base of one tree to another, trip and fall. . . .
Nope. Maybe you wouldn't have answered that one anyway, seeing it was a bit cruel. Although watching one of the many garden vandals living in our trees skid on his nose and flip tail over teakettle would have been good entertainment.
Now there is a titmouse at the feeder. Sorry, God, can't count that as a hit. It's not what I asked for.
4. Okay, how about this: There is a red pen on my desktop. God, move that Bic. . . .
Alright, just make it twitch a bit. . . . Nope.
5. God, please make my 6 year-old dog, curled up on the rocking chair at the far end of the room, sit up and say, "I could really go for a bone right now."
Nope. Maybe that one was unfair. The Bible says nothing about dogs speaking in tongues. And this time of morning ours is one lazy pooch. Furthermore, as far as I can tell she is a non-believer in the gods of humans, so why would she answer the call?
6. Make my brindle-coated, 5 year-old dog number two, sleeping in her doggie bed, wake up and give a yawn. . . .
Nope, still sleeping.
7. Okay God, I'm going to flip an old silver dollar I've got in my desk drawer, a gift from my grandmother who is, according to some, in heaven at this very moment, perhaps within nudging distance of you. I'll flip it three times. Make it come up heads three times in a row.
I must be a gambling man, because the probability that chance alone could bring three heads in a row is 12.5%. Even a minor god could beat those odds. Here goes: First flip. . . .
Tails. No go. Because I said I'd flip three times, I'll finish what I started.
Tails again. Heads. One out of three. Well, thank you, for providing me--if I were the superstitious kind--with the opportunity to imagine that you've given me a hint of a hint there is someone/something listening. You did, after all, make my coin come up heads once in three tries.
8. As I write this I'm listening to blues on the radio. God, please interrupt the current song, "My Problem is You" (a coincidence?) by Al Green. Break into the programming with . . . anything. Just do it before the song ends. . . .
Nope.
9. God, my bladder is full. Too much coffee. I really should go to the bathroom, but I hate leaving my desk. However, it's difficult to get work done when you are the verge of holding your little general and squinting your eyes as if pee is likely to come flying out your pupils. Please make the toilet in the hallway bathroom flush to inspire me to get off my butt. . . .
Nope. Alright, one more request before I hit the John.
10. Dear God, a male ruby-throated hummingbird visits the hummer feeder outside my window this time of morning. Please make the frenetic little dude do a 1080 degree spin (3 full airborne pirouettes) before inserting his slender beak into the feeder . . . .
Now that's an interesting result. A squirrel just climbed the cypress tree from which the hummer feeder hangs, hitting the small branch, making the feeder sway, a bit like a metronome. Tic...Tic...Tic.
Ha! A squirrel climbed smack into the middle of my prayer experiment. Hallelujah -- nature exists!
Those with Spaghetti-Os in the bowl of their skull may reason, I asked for a spinning hummingbird, and a feeder-shaking squirrel appeared, which means that a god answered my request creatively. Sorry, but that's post hoc bologna.
God, what about the words of Saint Luke, (11:9) --
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened?
Yes, I know, the Bible also says that thou shalt not piss off this god by testing him. But it's not like I prayed for anything big, like ending world hunger or resurrecting Michael Jackson and making him black again.
Maybe Luke's words should be amended:
And I say verily unto you, Ask, but not too specifically; seek and ye shall find something or other; knock, and be prepared to wait.
My wife and I bought our house in Florida from a woman who had recently lost her husband to heart disease. From the condition of the house and yard, he had been sick for some time. The woman accepted our offer and promptly moved north to live with her daughter.
In the junk mail we received for her, I found evidence that Mrs. Aaron Miller (not her real name) was a religious woman. Judging from the many solicitations, she may have sent one or a number of contributions to an organization called St. Matthew’s Church. After two years of scribbling “Not at this Address” or “please forward” on the letters we received for the Millers, I began tossing out everything that wasn’t first class. Then I noticed the line, “or current resident” on one of the solicitations from St. Matthew’s. So I opened it. I found this:
God brought us together for a purpose. He always anticipates what problems you may face. Though your failures are planned by Satan and his Demons, YOUR RECOVERY AND EMINENT VICTORY IS FAR MORE ORGANIZED BY YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN! Your life and the results of it will be determined by the decisions you make.
Sure, prayer may give people a sense of control over their lives, however fleeting the feeling may be. Perhaps it can help reduce stress. In times of difficulty, I’m glad that lonely widows have something to turn to. If Mrs. Miller prayed and it made her feel better, good for her. If, through a door opened by her propensity to pray, an organization was preying upon a desperate elderly woman like Mrs. Miller, not good for her.
From that third, or fourth, or maybe it was the seventh, religious “investment” solicitation, I removed a contribution envelope addressed to “St. Matthew’s Prayer Family.” Upon lifting the flap I was greeted with an image of a muscular Jesus, arms extended outward, as if about to pick up a travel trunk, shoulders as broad as a Hercules'.
Dear Jesus, yes, Lord, I want your divine help. Enclosed is my prayer page. Thank you Jesus. Amen. PLANT SEEDS OF FAITH FOR YOUR FINANCIAL HARVEST.
From inside the outer envelope I pulled “prayer tickets.” One side of these green tickets was printed so as to crudely resemble $1,000, $5000, and $10,000 bills. The flip sides read, "Prayer family, my largest need is ________. Print your name here ________.”
Also within the text were these words:
Acts of Faith Create Blessings. Ignored instructions create setbacks. 1 Samuel, 12:22.
Funny, that verse in my King James version of the Bible reads,
For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.
St. Matthew’s also gave this advice: "Never ignore God’s Instructions For it is the key to your blessing." Finally, I read on the instruction page, “Say ‘Jesus’ seven times and pull out one of the three tickets.”
In the words of humorist Dave Barry, “I am not making this up.”
First I laughed while simultaneously shaking my head. Then I got peeved at St. Matthew’s Pariah Family. And so I sent them, in their return envelope, a terse message about what I thought about their operation. Although I am no longer receiving the third-class solicitations, I’m sure thousands upon thousands of lonely, desperate people are.
Wretched are the meek that receive not true aid from religion, but a false hope that robs their wallets while hobbling their hearts and minds.
Yes, I am an atheist. But my primary beef with religion is not the potential benefits it provides people, but the harm.
Do gods not reside in a heaven above, but within the strands of our DNA? Judging by recent research, in the least we might say that human beings are born with traits that may predispose a person to believe. In other words, the building blocks for belief in gods are likely inborn. It is then personal experience that facilitates the creation of a particular deity.
The news release I found at ScienceDaily, Humans 'Predisposed' to Believe in Gods and the Afterlife, contained two share-worthy nuggets:
1. The element of "theory of mind." At a point in human development we become able to "see" that other people and animals have "minds of their own." Can this ability be over-extended? Or is it instead, under-refined?
Children aged three believed that their mother and God would always know the contents, but by the age of four, children start to understand that their mothers are not all-seeing and all knowing. However, children may continue to believe in all-seeing, all-knowing supernatural agents, such as a god or gods.
2. The nature of consciousness makes it very, very easy to categorize the essence of such things as feelings and thoughts as fundamentally different than other types of perceptions. We develop a belief in the fundamentally physical and the fundamentally "other."
Experiments involving adults, conducted by Jing Zhu from Tsinghua University (China), and Natalie Emmons and Jesse Bering from The Queen's University, Belfast, suggest that people across many different cultures instinctively believe that some part of their mind, soul or spirit lives on after-death. The studies demonstrate that people are natural 'dualists' finding it easy to conceive of the separation of the mind and the body.
The mind? Is it truly an entity, a thing?
Without a belief in other minds coupled with the belief that minds can be disembodied, it is unlikely that gods would exist. In other words, without the psychological tendencies of A & B, the result would be C -- no gods.
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