Why has every human culture--no matter how isolated--had words or symbol for good and evil, for the concept of sin? Is ethical consciousness the product of an evolutionary adaptation, a way of reasoning that emerged to make us a more survivable species? The answers to this and more can be found in Matthew Alper's, The God Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spiritualuty and God. To find out more, go to: www.godpart.com "Excellent Reading" -Edward O. Wilson, two time Pulitzer Prize winner A lively manifesto...For the discipline’s specific application to the matter at hand, I’ve seen nothing that matches the fury of “The ‘God’ Part of the Brain,”which perhaps explains why it’s earned something of a cult following. —Salon.com "Alper uses a Socratic method to brilliantly and flawlessly argue that our concepts of God are derived from the mechanics of the brain...enormously important...full of scientific and philosophical truths." -Mark Waldman, Senior Editor, Transpersonal Review "All 6 billion plus inhabitants of Earth should be in possession of this book. Alpers tome should be placed in the sacred writings section of libraries, bookstores, and dwellings throughout the world. Matthew Alper is the new Galileo. Immensely important. Defines in a clear and concise manner what each of us already knew but were afraid to admit and exclaim. The cats out of the bag." -John Scoggins, Ph.D. TABLE OF CONTENTS PROLOGUE BOOK I: THEORY'S EVOLUTION Chapter 1: Throwing Rocks At God Chapter 2: What Is Science? Chapter 3: A Very Brief History Of Time Chapter 4: Kant Chapter 5: God As Word Chapter 6: Universal Behavioral Patterns BOOK II: INTRO TO BIO-THEOLOGY Chapter 1: The Spiritual Function a) Jung b) Universal Spiritual Beliefs And Practices Chapter 2: The Rationale a) Man's Awareness Of Death b) The Pain Function c) The Anxiety Function d) When Awareness Of Death Meets The Anxiety Function e) The Advent Of The Spiritual Function Chapter 3: The Spiritual Experience a) Origins Of The Spiritual Experience b) The Ego Function c) The Transcendental Function Chapter 4: Drug-Induced God Chapter 5: The Spiritual Gene Chapter 6: The Prayer Function Chapter 7: Religious Conversion Chapter 8: Why Are There Atheists? Chapter 9: Near-Death Experiences Chapter 10: Speaking In Tongues Chapter 11: The Guilt And Morality Functions Chapter 12: The Logic Of God: A New Paradigm Chapter 13: What, If Anything, Is To Be Gained From A Scientific Interpretation Of Human Spirituality And God? EXPLORE THE EVOLUTIONARY AND NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF: -Pain -Anxiety -Self-Conscious Awareness -Human Spiritual Consciousness -Spiritual/Transcendental Experiences -Religiosity -The Healing Properties of Faith and Prayer -Near-Death Experiences *Moral Consciousness *Guilt and Sin -Mathematical Consciousness and the universal concepts of infinity and eternity -Atheism -Religious Conversion
Ad or not, I recently read some of Mr. Wilsons ideas and I was thoroughly impressed. Very good read. - KitNyx
Oh wait, I skipped through this too quick. I've never read anything by Mathew Alper. The paper I read was by Edward Wilson. Sorry. - KitNyx
i believe humans are hard wired for selfishness. group survival suits the individual so that is where the rules come in......nothing to do with hard wired ethics. a proclivity to judge helps people feel better about themselves too.
the individual is wired for selfishness, however humans, and apes, and all social animals very quickly learn that to spread out the risk associated with environemntal change, sharing, and the survival of the group, best benifits their own survival over the long term. At least that is what I have found from behavioral/population studies of everything from cell colonies to humans to schools of fish. Also, there was one group of aboriginal people found in South America int he 70's who didn't have any form of religion or concept of good/evil. There is some doubt as their authenticity, however, as some of the members were seen in modern clothing by one researcher who snuck into their village one day. He then went back a few weeks later with prior notice, and they were all back in traditional garb. With that exception, I'd bet that a sense of "Good vs Bad" as a genetic bit would be very helpful in species survival; and would also explain why some people seem to lack the ability to make that devide, despite a normal upbringing -their gene is broken to certain extent. I would think that people are , due to genetics, very good at learning to associate "good feeling" with certain things. This would allow for different cultures assigning different items as good or bad, while still keeping an inherited lineage and Biological evolutionary path for "Good vs Bad"
Humans aren't hardwired for anything contrary to the popular beliefs. Leave a human child to grow on it's own with no social contact and watch how it ignores any moral standards set by the socities it is set in. Yes, it it only arises from the need to survive. Morals and ethics are social constructs.
it may be that humans are hardwired for spiritual experience . at least from one science video I saw on neuroscience. it was called The Secrets of the Mind and is a PBS production. it's about how our brain preceives things and labels them with an importance factor. For example, one man in that video got into a car accident and some regions of his brain were damaged and he started seeing all things as miracles. every rock, every flower, he was crying from happiness on how it's all beutiful and he told that he often has an experience as if he was a god who has created all things and now marvels at them. the neuroscience prof told that he won't try to cure the patient, because he now was a lot more happy person than before. and I wouldn't have anything agains if same thing happened with me, because I'm also stunned at the beuty of this world, and if I a bonus to that had god experience Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! anyways back to the point. it seems that there is a part of the brain that does this labeling and the prof said that he has a good guess that all spiritual experiences come from there. some just are enjoying them, but many in a need for explanation label these experiences with some religious motives. so it can be said that human brain is hardwired for spirituality
"Alper uses a Socratic method to brilliantly and flawlessly argue that our concepts of God are derived from the mechanics of the brain...enormously important...full of scientific and philosophical truths." -Mark Waldman, Senior Editor, Transpersonal Review Hmmm.....concepts are a result of thinking......seems kinda fundamental to me........Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
If this is true, and since God is typically defined as higher than humans, does this imply higher human potential is being projected into the ideas of God? This could explain the drive that religions can give certain people; Saints and suicide bombers. Religious art is often among the best art of all time. It may tap into that higher human potential; then called divinely inspired. The power to reason was at one time worshiped via the goddess rationalis. This would suggest that this ability was innate but not yet fully developed. It was first projected as something that happened to you from the outside by the goddess Eventually, it becomes something we can do from the inside. Religion is useful because it anticipates. The typical religious projection places God, as separate from the ego, and not subject to ego will power. This would imply that the higher human potential is not subject to willpower (rationalis), at least at first, but appears gradually through repetition via faith. Is it also possible that the atheism is also a projection, but of a more limited place within the mind, where higher human potential is not conscious. Instead of inner voice, it depends on outer voice; it becomes projected as occurring outside in physical reality; Einstein, Obama, etc. Religion has an ethereal projection so it is not physical but is to remain the substance of consciousness; ethereal.
Personally i think human religions are all basically voodoo. Mankinds only real choice in life, is between the light and the dark. Its upto you to decide. You have the freewill to decide to go to the light or the darkness. This is our only free will. I think the darkside is seductive and more powerful to try and see what you will do. The darkside would have to be more seductive to draw people away from light. Its probably some sort of test, and most people want darkness as its easy root to power for them. Heading towards the light means you want no power over anyone, or anything. Like i said all our religions are based on voodoo, and mankinds religions exploit this to there advantage of there group. Still think the Jews and the Islamic faiths are just different groups of voodoo practising groups. So what you see in the middle east is two groups doing voodoo to each other in effect. At the top of all faiths i reckon, they are just voodoo high priests in effect. Its just that they where competing with each other. Its easier to destroy than to create sums up this world.
Sorry, but I see this as the height of ego and hubris. The assumption that we can have an influence on a god which is nearly infinitely large and infinitely powerful, so that this god will grant our wishes is hopelessly naive IMO. And then it has no physical impact does it? It is an internal process of the mind, by the mind, for the mind. Nothing happens to the world.
The human brain is hardwired for ethical consciousness. This has to do with the way memory is created and how law memories (good and evil) are stored in the brain. When memory is created the limbic system of the brain adds an emotional tag to the memory. If you are hungry, images of food will appear since each has this hunger tag. Memory is a binary in the sense of image-feeling. Law is a unique binary form of memory, in that it has two opposing emotional tags at the same time. The good side of law brings feelings of goodness, rest, security. The bad side of law has feeling of pain, punishment, death, etc. Because both sides of law are implicit in any law, the brain stores one half of the law memory in two separate image-emotional locations. In tradition, all the good souls (who obey the good sides of law) go to heaven (one brain-emotion location) and all the evil (bad side of law) go to another place with pain, fear, punishment, etc., This is a projection of how law memory is stored. Say you try to do only good (one side of law) there will be temptation and impulse, because the opposite side of the law still exists, but is unconscious. One tries to only do half the law, and repress the other half. It cannot erase since the two sides are halves of the law. This unconscious compulsion can then appear through projection (hate the other person who does those bad things) or impulse (you do the sin). This data storage for law was called the tree of knowledge; Satan is the binarius. As soon as humans started to make laws of right and wrong, the emotional polarization begin, and there was unconscious compulsion that departs from natural. The impact on each of us adds up like an equation, with the law of good and evil input creating an average output, based on who much we try to polarize ourselves to either side. This polarization can be forced by social norms. In modern times, law is less strict/severe, for little things, and more compulsion is allowed, so humans are not quite as cruel and compulsive with each other.
We evolved of ethics. Any sort of evolution would be ethical so long we are not of nothing, or in a pure dogma. The concept of ethics would far pre-date mankind.
