God and the Brain - The Persinger God Helmet

[Compassionist]

is a great video on neurotheology. Has anyone on this forum tried the God Helmet? Has anyone had dreams or hallucinations of God? Please share your experience with us. Thank you.

[DrNoGods]

[Replying to post 1 by Compassionist]

Has anyone on this forum tried the God Helmet?

This looks a great deal like the Sear's catalog products from 100+ years ago where magnetic fields could cure anything:

https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/the-11-mo ... s-catalog/

(check out the second ad for the "$18 Giant Power Heilderberg Belt").

Here's another one:



I'd put this in the same category as fortune tellers and mystics ... unproven pseudoscience. I think the Wikipedia article on this is a more accurate summary of the gadget:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet

[Compassionist]

[Replying to post 2 by DrNoGods]

Thank you very much for your reply and the links. Fascinating.

[William]

Enjoyed the video. Thanks for posting.

[imhereforyou]

[Replying to post 1 by Compassionist]

I've heard of, but never tried, this thing. It's really interesting what the mind if capable of on its own and with given stimuli.

I've had several (many?) experience that I once considered 'God' - even visual and physical experiences.
Though, as I learned more about life and the human experience, I considered these experiences of my own making.

[Monta]

is a great video on neurotheology. Has anyone on this forum tried the God Helmet? Has anyone had dreams or hallucinations of God? Please share your experience with us. Thank you.

Please give us the summary of God Helmet.

[PeterPan]

The original God Helmet experiments did not use proper experimental blinding. When a group of Swedish researchers tried to replicate the experiments, the found that the God Helmet did not work.

Roxanne Khamsi (December 9, 2004). "Electrical brainstorms busted as source of ghosts". Nature. doi:10.1038/news041206-10.

In fact, I think that generally the temporal lobe - religion connection is exaggerated. Only a very small minority of temporal lobe epilepsy patients report spiritual or religious experiences during seizures, and in fact an fMRI study of Carmelite nuns suggested that religious and spiritual experiences involved several areas of the brain and failed to find evidence of a 'God spot'.

Mario Beauregard; Mario Beauregard (26 June 2006). "Neural correlates of a mystical experience in Carmelite nuns"

On the other hand, I have heard suggestions that the particularly large number of 5HT-2A receptors in the medial temporal lobe may explain why psilocybin frequently triggers spiritual experiences.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/heal ... 682610.htm

[nobspeople]

is a great video on neurotheology. Has anyone on this forum tried the God Helmet? Has anyone had dreams or hallucinations of God? Please share your experience with us. Thank you.

I haven't tried the helmet, but have had many dreams of God (and Satan) in my youth. I've also seen people effected by (unaware) magnetic stimuli. Seems to me much affects the brain, including magnetism and positive (as well as negative) thinking.
I've always thought the brain is capable of much we don't understand.

[Compassionist]

is a great video on neurotheology. Has anyone on this forum tried the God Helmet? Has anyone had dreams or hallucinations of God? Please share your experience with us. Thank you.

I haven't tried the helmet, but have had many dreams of God (and Satan) in my youth. I've also seen people effected by (unaware) magnetic stimuli. Seems to me much affects the brain, including magnetism and positive (as well as negative) thinking.
I've always thought the brain is capable of much we don't understand.

We don't fully understand how the brain works. Please see this fascinating TED talk I expect we will know much more with more research and improvement in brain imaging technology.

[Miles]

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