d) Functional MRIs have revealed that the acts of meditation and prayer activate specific parts of the brain.
Q: Is there a difference between our spiritual and religious impulses ?
A: Yes. Whereas the religious impulse compels us to create a mythology, adhere to church doctrine, and engage in ritualistic behaviors, the spiritual impulse compels us to undergo experiences that make us feel connected to some "higher" force or power. Consequently, we tend to view these experiences as evidence that some higher realm does indeed exist.
Being that these represent two unique impulses, it's very possible that someone can be exceedingly religious, though not particularly spiritual, or, exceedingly spiritual, though not very religious.
Q: What is the extent of the "god module"? Does it explain all manifestations of spirituality or only religion?
A: Though what is referred to as a "God module" is really a nexus of several interactive mechanisms in the brain, religiosity does seem to be focused in the temporal lobe, whereas spiritual experience is derived from a combination of the amygdala, the parietal lobes and the right frontal cortex.
Q: Given that, as you mention, every feature of our experience can be reduced to neurophysiological processes, how would you qualify yourself on the reductionism/anti-reductionism conflict?
A: I am a strict reductionist.
Q: What do you think of reducing everything to genetics? Do you think there is more to life than the development of the effects of the genome in the individual and, by extension, society?
A: In regard to behavior, I look at it as genes representing the foundation of all behavior, whereas experience is the architect which builds upon that foundation. Savant that he was, had Mozart been born to indentured slaves, he would have grown to be the guy who could whistle a mean tune while toiling the fields. We are born with certain genetic potentials. Whether we fulfill these potentials depends on whether they are properly nurtured with experience.
Q: But does not the context of our experience also derive from the genetically-motivated behaviour of other people?
A: Absolutely, all feeding into the reductionist cycle of human experience.
Q: Can research on the "god module" bridge the much-vaunted gap between science and religion? What do you think of scientific pantheism as another possible bridge?
