Citizen Columns
Question
A neuroscientist in Quebec has conducted experiments on nuns to
see if he can capture the experience of being at one with God. What are the
pros and cons of such an endeavor?
Answer
Poets and saints have tried to capture this experience, so why not
a neuroscientist? But just as poetry conveys the experience of love better
than a purely scientific description, I think the results of this experiment
will leave most people cold.
It is no surprise that human beings are a psycho-somatic whole, so an
experience of God will surely have some effect on our brains and bodies. One
of the pros of such experiments is that they can demonstrate this connection
between body and spirit. This is something that mystics of all religions
have witnessed. The face of Moses shone when he came down from Mount Sinai
"because he had been talking with God" (Ex 34:29). The disciples of Jesus
saw him dramatically shining with light at the transfiguration on Mount
Tabor (Mt 17:1-2). Throughout the centuries there have been saintly people
who shone with the light of divinity. And this phenomenon is just one
example of how the body has been affected by the spirit of God.
The intersection between neuroscience and spirituality is a hot topic today,
with some claiming that all religious experience is merely a product of
neurochemistry. But how one sees determines what one sees. Some see a
miracle at the parting of the Red Sea; others see just an unusual tidal
phenomenon. Scientists too have a theoretical framework that shapes how they
see their results, until someone else comes along with new evidence or
points out flaws in their assumptions.
The experiment will produce results, but it cannot "capture" the experience
of being one with God. God is not mocked. He refuses to be captured by
anyone who is not on their knees and coming to Him with a pure heart. He
breaks human wisdom and arrogance and chooses instead what is foolish, weak
and despised, "so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1
Cor 1:29).
Father John Jillions
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