People who are religious or spiritual have 'thicker' brains

reply to post by BlueMule


Why would you say God is non-local? God is everywhere and everywhen. He is the beginning and the end. He is. Why would that preclude him being local, too?

It could be because 'religious' people tend to engage in beneficial mystical techniques such as meditation on a regular basis.

The effect of meditation on brain structure: cortical thickness mapping and diffusion tensor imaging

reply to post by logical7


I'm calling shenanigan's on this....what a load of BS. Really? Their cortex gets thinner and they operate "more low" like animals? Give me a break.

reply to post by rickymouse



I believe it is an evolutionary process, but people did eat a lot of fish back in the day


That fish thing was only for Catholics.

reply to post by dollukka

Why did you miss this bit out which is inbetween the first quote quoted?

Religion. The one word, next to politics, that is sure to get a rise out of a group of people sharing in a heated conversation. Everyone's beliefs are different and yet everyone has a point to make when the word religion comes up. So what does this have to do with mental illness? Plenty.

www.examiner.com...
Which is then followed by................"Fanaticalness plays a key role with depression and bipolar disorder............"

People can become fanatical about many things that they 'believe'.

reply to post by parad0x122


Your cortex supports higher function. The more you use it, the more developed it gets. A less developed cortex indicates less usage.

That makes sense my wife always keep telling me that I have a large head lol.. And it's true I'm a broad spiritual believer, Well I almost believe anything there's to know about the paranormal realm and beyond..

Maybe the cause that spiritual people not get quickly depressed, is that they are not afraid to die , because we know it's not the end ?

BlueMule
It could be because 'religious' people tend to engage in beneficial mystical techniques such as meditation on a regular basis.

The effect of meditation on brain structure: cortical thickness mapping and diffusion tensor imaging

The result of prayer and meditation on the brain, that's a possibility.

reply to post by ketsuko


Maybe you should re-read his post and my comment:

logical7
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

Humans are rational beings, we need a higher purpose to feel a sense of well being. Spiritual people have it. Others get cognitive dissonance and to counter that their cortex gets thinner, simply put they operate more lower animals like.

He said the cortex gets thinner and they function like animals.

Sooo.....you're O.K. with the generalization that just because someone isn't spiritual, they can be likened to an animal?


Wow.

Just wow.

Not even worth the keystrokes anymore to comment on the broken logic this thread is breading. Have fun with this one!

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

One thing I have noticed in my 40+ years here on this Earth is that God isn't here to help us. All we got is each other.

Well since that is what Jesus taught, bingo

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Well done.

reply to post by ketsuko


No, it doesn't. There is no evidence to support what you are saying. The cerebral cortex simply refers to the outermost layer of the brain. There are many factors that go into higher reasoning. Many animals have a cerebral cortex yet they do not seem to involve themselves in what humans would call higher reasoning.

People of high intelligence have been shown to have thicker cortices in one study. Another study showed that migraine sufferers have thicker cortices. Really, it's one study amongst many-It proves nothing.

randyvs
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

] During human evolution, the hominid brain tripled in size, peaking 500,000 years ago.

Wiki has failed to mention that along with this tripling in brain size,
our brain then evolved to become smaller from neanderthals to modern man.

Awesome, I always thought we lost a lot of what we once were.

If it is found that nothing is separate then one will not fear not being.
If one feels oneself as separate to all things then one will be fearful.

Dis eased being.
Well being.

Sadly, the Daily Mail article does not link to the actual study. That could indicate journalistic bias.

That article is here (Source).

The sample for the study is surprisingly small: 103 respondents. It is a familial study (respondents are related in some way) and primarily addresses various depressive disorders. The subject group is apparently associated long-term with the researcher (as the study refers to previous work done with the group). Samples were taken from participants on two occasions over five years.

I would welcome more hard research, but this particular work seems to be virtually anecdotal, and does not correlate very well (as previously noted in the discussion) with other research in related areas.

Equating this study with general comments made about the evolution of primate brains seems far-fetched at best at this time. I'd be very careful about cherry-picking data when strong personal beliefs are at stake.

reply to post by ketsuko


Oh, and you're pretty wrong on your description of the cerebral cortex. You overlooked about 3/4 of it's job, which also includes:

Determining Intelligence
Determining Personality
Motor Function
Planning and Organization
Touch Sensation

reply to post by parad0x122


Rationality and reason are higher functions, and they are part of what separate us from the animals. They keep us from acting on mere instinct and emotion ... like the animals. If you don't use your rational mind and reason as much, it is indicative that you are, indeed, acting more on your lower, more primitive functions like an animal.

That has nothing to do with faith or spirituality and everything to do with how you behave and are trained/taught to think ... or not as the case may be.

reply to post by parad0x122


Your point? You have to actively use it for it to matter and make a difference.

You can be an intelligent person and still not use it. It won't make any connections and thicken your brain.

ketsuko
reply to post by parad0x122

 

Rationality and reason are higher functions, and they are part of what separate us from the animals. They keep us from acting on mere instinct and emotion ... like the animals.

You don't know how animals think as you cannot communicate with them. Either way, you view is very outdated.

en.wikipedia.org...

Many species beyond humans have been observed to engage in reasoning capabilities.

reply to post by Gryphon66


I guess you will have to take this along with other articles into consideration.

See also: Origin of language and Myth and religion

Religion requires a system of symbolic communication, such as language, to be transmitted from one individual to another. Philip Lieberman states "human religious thought and moral sense clearly rest on a cognitive-linguistic base".[13] From this premise science writer Nicholas Wade states:
en.wikipedia.org...
"Like most behaviors that are found in societies throughout the world, religion must have been present in the ancestral human population before the dispersal from Africa 50,000 years ago. Although religious rituals usually involve dance and music, they are also very verbal, since the sacred truths have to be stated. If so, religion, at least in its modern form, cannot pre-date the emergence of language. It has been argued earlier that language attained its modern state shortly before the exodus from Africa. If religion had to await the evolution of modern, articulate language, then it too would have emerged shortly before 50,000 years ago."[14]

Another view distinguishes individual religious belief from collective religious belief. While the former does not require prior development of language, the latter does. The individual human brain has to explain a phenomenon in order to comprehend and relate to it. This activity predates by far the emergence of language and may have caused it. The theory is, belief in the supernatural emerges from hypotheses arbitrarily assumed by individuals to explain natural phenomena that cannot be explained otherwise. The resulting need to share individual hypotheses with others leads eventually to collective religious belief. A socially accepted hypothesis becomes dogmatic backed by social sanction.

It just makes sense to me.

Animals are not concerned what happened yesterday or how it will effect tomorrow.
Animals are not concerned with how they appear.
The human brain worries about things it cannot control - is that a higher function?