New Study Confirms Spirituality

Throughout history there has been a struggle between science and faith. Science is all about the physical proof of events or certain happenings, while faith is more about the substance of things hoped for, yet the evidence of things not seen. Science has a certain theory regarding how the earth was formed as well as how humans have evolved. Faith credits God for the creation of earth and man. Science has attempted to prove many spiritual things true or false. One of the latest scientific studies has once again confirmed something that faith has taught throughout history which is selflessness.

In the new study, Brick Johnstone and Bret Glass of Missouri University questioned a small area of the brain. The right parietal lobe is the part of the brain responsible for defining "self." This part of the brain is what generates things like self-criticism as well as guides people through social environments by updating our awareness or knowledge of self in those situations. For example, my voice, my outfit, my good looks, etc. It's reported that those of us with less activity in this area of the brain are more likely to feel spiritual.

Before even going into this study any further we can already see that this is going to line up with what the faith teaches. Faith teaches selflessness or self-denial in pretty much every religion. People who lead spiritual lives usually put others before themselves.

Johnstone and Glass turned to techniques of early neuroscience and tested brain regions implicated then, with exams tailored according to each area's expertise. They then compared the correlations between the brain and their subjects' self-advised spirituality. What they found was that the more spiritual of their subjects had less going on in their right parietal lobe, which suggests that spirituality is related directly to selflessness or less self-awareness.

Feelings of spirituality are not only related to religious practices even though prayer and meditation have the biggest effect on quieting the me-definer or the activity of the right parietal lobe of the brain. There are other human experiences that quiet the me-definer such as charity work, love, and art appreciation. If you ever hear of a person talking about being in tune with the universe or losing them self, they are obviously feeling spiritual and are in a state where "self" is totally disregarded.