God and the Brain (The Globe and Mail)

Speaking of atheism. Today's issue of The Globe and Mail covers a neuroscientist who is studying Carmelite nuns. He wants to find out what happens in their brains when they think they feel the presence of God.

He says one of the goals is to be able to offer the same experience -- instant spirituality -- to anyone without the belief. Kind of a spiritual Prozac.

Excerpted below.

The Globe and Mail

God and the brain

Charlottetown -- Mario Beauregard, a neuroscientist with the University of Montreal's psychology department, won a two-year $100,000 (U.S) grant from mutual-fund titan John Templeton to study spirituality. So far, six Carmelite nuns have agreed to undergo three different types of brain scans to uncover what happens in their brains when they feel the presence of God.

After the analysis of all three experiments is completed, Dr. Beauregard hopes to have a clear, biological picture of an experience that mystifies even those who have lived it. Ultimately, he would like to know enough about how it works to be able to offer the same experience to anybody seeking spiritual growth. In other words, instant spiritual growth, without the necessary faith, life-long effort and the many painful failures in life that produce growth.

The rare rapprochement between science and the Carmelite order may produce new facts about the brain ...