This may be a bit out there, so we'll file it in the "FYI" category---and you can file it wherever you like---but it is interesting nonetheless. From Barbara Bradley Hagerty writing in USA Today:
For the past century, science has largely discarded "God" as a delusion and proclaimed that all our "spiritual" moments, events, thoughts, even free will, can be explained through material means.
But a revolution is occurring in science. It is called neurotheology, and it is sparked by researchers from universities such as Pennsylvania, Virginia and UCLA. Armed with technology
Freud never dreamed of, these scientists are peering into the brain to understand spiritual experience. Perhaps, they say, God is not a figment of our brain chemistry; perhaps the brain chemistry reflects an encounter with the divine.
The article goes on to detail an experience one Pam Reynolds had in 1991 while undergoing experimental treatment for a brain aneurism, where she was able to communicate what had happened in the room even though her brain had been drained of blood in the treatment.
Her story raises the question: Was Reynolds' consciousness operating separately from her brain?
Reynolds' experience — and that of many others — is prompting researchers at institutions such as the University of Montreal and the
University of Virginia to investigate the astonishing proposition that a person might have a consciousness — or (gasp) a soul — that can operate when the brain is off-line. In the end, we could learn that we are nothing more than nerve cells and molecules. But it is too early for believers to raise the white flag. It is just as plausible —indeed, more elegant — to believe that our brain activity reflects an unseen reality. Perhaps our brains are reflecting an encounter with the divine — unseen, surely, but still real
No comment. Not dismissing it, not endorsing it. But fascinating nonetheless that science may be finding evidence of the existence of a soul that operates even when the brain is not.
HT: Eric Metaxas via Facebook
