The "God" Part of the Brain

by Matthew Alper

A thought-provoking study of science and religion about our human need to believe in a higher power, for spiritual seekers and atheists alike. In The God Part of the Brain , Matthew Alper pioneers a radical the human inclination toward spirituality and belief in a higher power can be attributed to a specific part of our brain. This bold hypothesis takes us on an exciting journey that merges science, philosophy, and spirituality in a unique way. Alper engages readers with compelling arguments based on neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and anthropology, provoking profound thought on the nature of existence and our inherent need for spiritual meaning as a coping mechanism that emerged in humans to help us survive our unique and otherwise debilitating awareness of death. His narrative is accessible yet deeply profound, providing insights that stimulate both intellectual curiosity and spiritual introspection. Key Praise for The "God" Part of the Brain "This cult classic in many ways parallels Rene Descartes' search for reliable and certain knowledge...Drawing on such disciplines as philosophy, psychology, and biology, Alper argues that belief in a spiritual realm is an evolutionary coping method that developed to help humankind deal with the fear of death...Highly recommended."― Library Journal "I very much enjoyed the account of your spiritual journey and believe it would make excellent reading for every college student - the resultant residence-hall debates would be the best part of their education. It often occurs to me that if, against all odds, there is a judgmental God and heaven, it will come to pass that when the pearly gates open, those who had the valor to think for themselves will be escorted to the head of the line, garlanded, and given their own personal audience." ― Edward O. Wilson, two-time Pulitzer Prize-Winner "This is an essential book for those in search of a scientific understanding of man's spiritual nature. Matthew Alper navigates the reader through a labyrinth of intriguing questions and then offers undoubtedly clear answers that lead to a better understanding of our objective reality." ― Elena Rusyn, MD, PhD; Gray Laboratory; Harvard Medical School "What a wonderful book you have written. It was not only brilliant and provocative but also revolutionary in its approach to spirituality as an inherited trait."― Arnold Sadwin, MD, former chief of Neuropsychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania "A lively manifesto...For the discipline's specific application to the matter at hand, I've seen nothing that matches the fury of The 'God' Part of the Brain, which perhaps explains why it's earned something of a cult following." ― Salon.com "All 6 billion plus inhabitants of Earth should be in possession of this book. Alper's tome should be placed in the sacred writings' section of libraries, bookstores, and dwellings throughout the world. Matthew Alper is the new Galileo...Immensely important...Defines in a clear and concise manner what each of us already knew but were afraid to admit and exclaim."― John Scoggins, PhD "Vibrant ... vivacious. An entertaining and provocative introduction to speculations concerning the neural basis of spirituality."― Free Inquiry Magazine

Genres: Science, Religion, Nonfiction, Psychology, Philosophy, Spirituality, Atheism

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 18, 1999

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing. I was hoping for scientific evidence to answer the question whether some or all God/religious experiences are formed inside our brain or not, but this is the personal quest of the author whether it would make sense for him to belief in the existence of a supernatural being, which presumably is interesting to read if you're the author.

Alper does not have a scientific background, and gets his information from reading (popularised) books and articles by scientists from a wide range of disciplines. This is fair enough in principle, except that Alper does not seem to fully understand what he's reading. As a physicist, I was appalled by Chapter 3, where the author outlines a short history of the universe, claiming a number of false statements, among which:

* "E=MC^2 ... means that if matter is accelerated ..., it will become energy" - not true
* The bit on planet formation suggests the 'mineral clusters' were not part of the cloud that formed the star, which is not true
* "All the galaxies ... make up the universe". 70% of the universe is forgotten
* The Earth's atmosphere shields us from meteorites, so when the Earth didn't have an atmosphere yet it grew in mass and size from impacts - not true
* The Earth cooled because an atmosphere formed - not true
* Jupiter doesn't have an atmosphere - not true

A similar impression, but on the topics of evolution and neurology, is documented in Broodingferret's review.

Hence, given the fact that parts of the author's understanding in fields where he doesn't have a background and I do are clearly wrong, there will be no way for me to know which parts to trust when we get to topics where I don't have any expertise either. Unfortunately, I quit reading it at page 33...

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matthew Alper has worked as an electrician, photography assistant, fifth-grade and high school history teacher, truck smuggler, personal tutor, produced screenwriter, and published author. He has a BA in philosophy from SUNY Stonybrook and originally published this book in 1996.

For the time period, it is an extensive and very personal look at Alper's quest for knowledge and understanding of "God."

"Twice in a year and a half, I had undergone two complete transformations of my so-called self. First, my conscious self was transformed into something other than it previously had been by psychedelic drugs. Then, a year and a half later, my original self was restored, this time by a drug known as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI)." (10)

Alper writes, "Words originated, as did the concept of God, with our species." (60) "Within the human brain (and only the human brain), there exist specific structures responsible for the generation of our language capacities." (70)

He believes the tendency to believe in a spiritual reality is based on vast coincidence, verbal propagation by a few inspired individuals, and/or genetically inherited traits. God must be viewed as a product of human cognition in brains "hardwired" to perceive reality.

Alper explains how "pain" keeps organic lifeforms alive and intact. Anxiety is a biological survival technique as a result of the human awareness of death as well as the ability to conceptualize infinity: "As only our species possesses this sophisticated a capacity to enumerate, only we have this capacity to comprehend the concept of infinity." (125)

Alper believes that praying acts as a healing function to diminish anxiety. Additionally, faith suppresses suicidal thinking in the elderly whereas near-death experiences are linked to physical realities. "For people who undergo religious conversions, individuality is replaced by ideology, and very little room is left for personal growth or expression." (172)

Religious, spiritual, or music experiences can be interpreted as simply neurochemical processes, including sex. "In 1997, Japanese researchers found that repetitive rhythms have the effect of stimulating our brain's hypothalamus, which evokes feelings of either serenity or arousal in us." (132)

The intense playing of sports can also be defined as a form of meditation.

Twin studies continue to be referenced as means to explore genes affecting religious behavior. "Even more effective, however is to compare the results of adoption studies between fraternal (dizygotic or DZ) versus identical (monozygotic or MZ) twins." (160)

Alper's final chapters regarding logic and further experimentation could have been more fleshed out, but all in all this was a well organized book with some valid points.

I personally believe that the ability to express feelings, emotions, and experience through words (especially handwritten communications) is the closest human beings can come to whatever "God" may or may not be. The "God loving" (and fearing) Christians in America should all be more tolerant of secular humanists.

[Broodingferret · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disappointing book. I was expecting a broad, albeit necessarily simplified, summary of the brain research that has gone into uncovering the neurological activities and regions that are involved in religious experiences (and there is quite a bit), but instead I got yet another psuedophilosopher who apparently thinks that speed-reading a handful of science books qualifies him as widely educated (spoiler: it does not; see Designer Evolution: A Transhumanist Manifesto for another example of pop-science "expertise" that will make you cry). For instance, at various points he cites several active and legitimate professionals in a number of fields, but he misunderstands their ideas so thoroughly and applies their ideas so haphazardly that I'm not convinced he actually read the works he claims to have drawn from. He also has the most annoying habit of starting a train of thought in just such a way that he seems like he is about to make an insightful point, but then takes said train and drives it full-speed off of the nearest cliff. He also has the most astounding lack of understanding about things like evolution or the neurological pathways for things like experiencing pain, astounding because he makes constant reference to these and other factors when making his arguments.
If you want a scientific view of the way the brain functions when engaged in certain religious states, then read The Neuroscience of Religious Experience by Patrick McNamara (his theories are questionable, but his summary of the brain science is solid).

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book demonstrates what happens when one takes one’s own Evolutionary Psychology theories too seriously while mixing it with a little Freudian and Jungian mumbo jumbo and some Ernst Becker’s Denial of Death nonsense (am I the only person who loathes that book?) and giving an underwhelming splattering of philosophical thought while trying to support a genetically created spiritual center that resides in all of us and if we can just accept that spirits and God creations are biological we can tame the beast within us. I can’t blame this author for what comes after him, but a whole lot of the story he tells seemed to be retold by the racist Nicholas Wade and the unenlightened Steven Pinker. This author’s depth of persuasion goes as shallow as, imagine an island with only musicians: their generations latter would surely be great musicians and therefore Ashkenazi Jews will be as intelligent as Wade will later say in his racist book, and Pinker will site many of the same stories that were in this book while invoking Evolutionary Psychology beyond reasonableness in order to show that his privileged perspective is the only one worth having. (I don’t remember for sure, but I think Pinker too flirts with some of the nonsense that God and spirituality comes from our genes as a survival mechanism, or least he non-sensibly defended his tribalism in those terms).

I’m really not doing justice to this book. It’s worse than what I’m saying. Time has passed it by and the author belongs on youtube selling his nonsense to those who need to see the world in make believe paradigms that always make sense when they are considered only from within their own terms. William James, who is favorably quoted multiple times in this book, makes that same fatal error in his book The Varieties of Religious Experiences and will ‘pragmatically’ show his preferred view that spirituality and God must make sense because it works when examined by its own terms by its own believers. Look, use anything that works for you and helps you make it one day at a time, but in the words of David Foster Wallace from Infinite Jest ‘sometimes one must get on their knees by their bed and pretend to look for their lost shoes in order to discover meaning since the presence of the absence can be just as enlightening and meaningful as the absence of the presence’.

[Joseph Soltero · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book opens as the author’s personal quest to uncover the meaning behind, and origin of, the posited cross-cultural impulse to religiosity. As one can imagine, this endeavor might hardly not fit into one sole book, something especially notable in his one-chapter(!) summary of the history of the universe, but Alper makes it work in an accessibly simple manner, to the delight of this non-scientifically-oriented reviewer.

His thesis, namely that religious belief surfaced in humans as a defensive mechanism meant to cope with humans’ unique awareness of their own eventual demise, is brilliantly presented in his second book, Intro to Biotheology. Its main theme is the negative side effects of those advantages we receive from nature. For example, pain and anxiety help to keep us alive by safeguarding us from things detrimental to our survival. Consciousness enhances our self-preservation by helping us to envision, and thus prepare for, tomorrow. However, the human condition is left in a state of perpetual fear when consciousness and anxiety are mixed, and we realize that, not only will we one day die, but also that any moment may be our last.

This of course is an oversimplification of what might’ve actually transpired. Indeed, I give this book four stars out of five because I feel that he oversimplifies his point. For example, he conjures up the image of newly self-aware proto-humans pondering their own existence in awe. In reality, this probably never took place, just as nature didn’t really develop a defensive mechanism in us; humans somehow predisposed to believing in a better, eternal life after death triumphed over humans who could not because their anxiety was relieved, and thus, they could fearlessly perfect their survival and quality-of-life skills.

The portion of the book that struck me the most was his description of the ego and transcendental functions in humans. Alper cites a psychologist who says that “humans are born without any recognizable sense of self.” (p. 145) As he develops, he begins to realize that he is “autonomous being” who must develop “a sense of responsibility” and “must learn to fend for himself” (p. 146). Thus he develops an identity, an ego. Alper argues the ego is the “body’s control center”, “our body’s personal manager” that makes our decisions, and informs us of our life needs such as food, drink, or sleep. When the ego becomes aware of its powerlessness to guard us against death, something Alper calls the “transcendental function” takes over, relieving our body’s manager or captain of duty, so to speak. Alper claims this is the origin of the spiritual experience, that sense of loss of self, becoming one with God, the cosmos, existence, etc. I interpreted that as the body’s own way to revert to the last time it felt this, which was during infancy. With our anxiety relieved, and feelings of spiritual transcendence introduced, we are able to resume our lives with our fear of death abated.

Given this, there are some shortcomings in the work. For example, Alper, towards the end of his book, addresses relevant topics such as the accessing of God through drugs and other substances, the existence of a “spiritual gene”, the existence of atheists, who by definition don't fit into his theory, near-death experiences, and speaking in tongues… and yet, on average, each of these chapters is about five pages or so in length. (Chapter 16 is actually slightly under two pages). The reader is left feeling a sense of haste, as if the author has made his point and is now rushing to end his book. I wish he had explored these topics in more depth.

His concluding appeal to humanity to consider the implications of his theory, and how a “biologization” of religion might actually have positive consequences for our lives (e.g., no more religious discrimination, no more wasting opportunity to better *this* life, etc) is not to be overlooked.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 1996 when knowledge of the brain was a bit less advanced so his hypothesis is not as neurally specific as it might be if he wrote it today. He postulates that the religious and spiritual instincts that lead to believe in God and the afterlife are an evolutionary adaptation on the part of a species that became smart enough to have an ego and realize that this ego would die. So there were evolutionary advantages to belief in God and hereafter. as well as tying this to moral pro-group behavior and relieving the stress of living with day to day mortality throughout life.

Matt strikes me as very much someone who taught themselves all he has researched and I very much like the determination with which he follows his path, recovering from serious mental illness and being open about it. I think that he takes us to a place where we could actually construct a new less destructive spirituality but does not go there. And he does not really bring Buddhism for instance into the picture.

But nevertheless this book made me think hard, was very generative of new thought, and challenged the whole basis for belief. Just occasionally he got a touch of the Dawkins, but generally he stayed convincing and open to being wrong.

[Steve Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one of the most important books I have read in my life! There has always been a seeking in me, a trait so very common in those who have not had the easiest of lives. In that seeking I have roamed over the landsacpe of religious faith, in vain alas. There was always something there for me, a felt experience that I couldn't explain, it was always real and tangible to me in ways that my day to day dealings were not. No matter the intensity of that sense of things the religious teachings to whicjh I was exposed (principally Christian) for most of my lfe just never carried any weight for me. I might just as well have sought to construct a faith around the "Goldilocks and the three Bears" that had appealed to me so much when I was 5.

This became a real issue for me when I entered a 12 step program as a result of the debacle that had become my life as a result, at least in part, of an addiction to alcohol and drugs. Well the basic premise upon which the 12 step programs are based is the idea of surrender of self to a Higher Power, which despite the one reference in the basic text, the Big Book, to ne of "my understanding" is essentially put with fervour as God with a Chrsitian bias and that is evident in most meetings particularly in the US. I tried I really did, at the time I had to confront the issue as one of "life and death" I did so with fervour certainly, fervour born of desperation. It did not serve me in the final analysis, because essentially it still simply did not carry any weight for me at a visceral leve;l, despite the sense of "something" that kept turning up. I often discounted the form in which it appeared because it did not accord with the form into which I was attempting to push it. In the end when the crash finally came I had nothing to fall back on and all the "fellowship" had to offer was the dry well, that is the essence of spirituality held by the bulk of its members through simple compliance rather than the suuender at depth Bill Wilson speaks about in the Big Book, but few have experienced or even understand.

Eventually, brought to my knees yet again by the addiction and all its accoutremounts, I had to get sober, This time however I was to be fortuante. I realised that the issue of surrender was the essence of my problem. Clearly the path I had followed the first time around was not going to work for me and I got lucky, I found meditation and Buddhist practice as a framework that could hold me on the journey. The benefit here was that in essence there is no fabled God creature involved, just another man, no dogma, I am not required to believe anything other than what my experience provides and responsibility for my experience of life falls to me. It was a fit.

As part of that journey I have also become interested in brain science and the evolution of mind and the expolration of psychology that seeks the explain its dynamics. In the process of looking at the influence of practice on the brain (Rick Hanson "Buddha Brain"" and the neurology of persnalty (Le Doux "The Synaptic Self")I had come to an understanding that everything is mind and that there ois pattern here. The sense of something greater than self though, persisted. I could not discount that as my practice, derived from acknowledgement of my own experience without judgement, simply demands my regard. Now Alper has posited not only a theory, but an explanation that resonates with me as the truth for me. This book has pushed tyhe boudaries of my thought into the outfiled, I am excited to see where it may go from here, without the burden of the bulshit that so disturbs me about religion, particularly the Abrahamic religions; Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Great work! Great read!

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was mislead. I thought it's going to be about how the brain is hardwired for religion. Not so. It's some guy's personal quest and his result of endless hours on Wikipedia. Too many inaccuracies. If you're hungry for knowledge then this is like eating chewing gum for your evening meal.

[Victoria Hawco · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Throwing Rocks at God” is an A+ chapter title. 3 stars for that alone.

[Kathleen]

This book struggled to hold my interest and i had to put it down for a later place in time

[Andrew Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the scientific justification used to explain God is generally sound in the book, the author's writing style falls somewhere between pedantic and insulting. Alper insists on continually reiterating his points, and making tiring lists of examples far beyond what is called for. Even worse, he sometimes repeats his lists, which seems like a method of meeting some imaginary word count.

I also had a hard time digesting one of his central pillars: Alper claims that when humanity became smart enough to realize that we all eventually die this induced a species-wide paralyzing anxiety on par with that felt by a mouse cornered by a lion. He then reasons that religiosity arose to combat this anxiety that, left unchecked, would have made our species extinct. The leap of faith required to buy this argument is simply too big to make, which is a shame because his thesis is sound otherwise.

[Ypatios Varelas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το βιβλίο είναι μία φιλοσοφική πραγματεία που προσπαθεί να απαντήσει ουσιαστικά στο γιατί πιστεύουν στο Θεό όσοι πιστεύουν, γιατί και πώς αναπτύχθηκε η θρησκευτικότητα στο ανθρώπινο είδος και πώς μπορούμε να εξηγήσουμε διάφορα πνευματικά και θρησκευτικά φαινόμενα και συμπεριφορές. Είναι ένας συνδυασμός από στοιχεία που προκύπτουν από επιστημονικές έρευνες και πειράματα με υποθέσεις και ιδέες του συγγραφέα, ο οποίος το παρουσιάζει όλο αυτό ως ένα προσωπικό του ταξίδι έρευνας που τον οδήγησε στον αγνωστικισμό. Υπάρχει λοιπόν το πρίσμα της συνεχούς αμφισβήτησης (μέσω της λογικής και των ευρημάτων της επιστήμης) της ύπαρξης μίας ανώτερης, υπερβατικής οντότητας ή διάνοιας που κυβερνάει το σύμπαν και επηρεάζει τις ζωές μας και αυτό μπορεί κάποιους να τους ενοχλήσει.

Βρήκα τον τρόπο αφήγησης και ανάπτυξης του θέματος πάρα πολύ ενδιαφέροντα, σε γλώσσα και ύφος που μπορεί να ακολουθήσει σχεδόν οποιοσδήποτε με ένα καλό επίπεδο λογικής σκέψης χωρίς να είναι επιστήμονας ή ειδικός. Υπάρχουν κάποια κενά στα επιχειρήματα, καθώς και αρκετές υποθέσεις, όμως είναι βιβλίο γραμμένο από φιλόσοφο και όχι από επιστήμονα και όσοι περιμένουν να βρουν εδώ μία πλήρη ανάλυση των σχετικών επιστημονικών δεδομένων φυσικά θα απογοητευτούν (όπως φαίνεται και από κάποιες κακές κριτικές που έχει δεχθεί το βιβλίο). Σε αυτό ίσως συμβάλει και ο υπότιτλος του βιβλίου "Μία επιστημονική ερμηνεία του Θεού και της θρησκευτικότητας" που δεν είναι ακριβής, καθότι το βιβλίο είναι φιλοσοφική πραγματεία, παρόλο που περιέχει πάρα πολλά επιστημονικά στοιχεία και παραπομπές.

Η ενδιαφέρουσα και ουσιαστική βασική ιδέα του βιβλίου είναι ότι, ανεξάρτητα από το αν υπάρχει Θεός ή κάτι αντίστοιχο, ο εγκέφαλός μας έχει διαμορφωθεί εξελικτικά ώστε να υποστηρίζει την ύπαρξή του, την πίστη και τα θρησκευτικά τελετουργικά. Ο Άλπερ δίνει μία αρκετά πειστική λογική ερμηνεία για αυτό και πόσο μας έχει οφελήσει στην επιβίωσή μας, για να καταλείξει σε συμπεράσματα ανάλογα αυτά του γνωστού βιολόγου και άθεου Richard Dawkins. Φυσικά το αν κάποιος θα αντιμετωπίσει αυτήν την ερμηνεία και τα συμπεράσματα θετικά ή αρνητικά τελικά εξαρτάται από το πόσο θρησκευόμενος ή λογικός είναι, κάτι που ισχύει για όλα τα βιβλία που πραγματεύονται το θέμα της πίστης και του Θεού με βάση τη λογική και τις επιστήμες.

Με λίγα λόγια, αν πιστεύετε στο Θεό ή σε κάποια ανώτερη δύναμη το βιβλίο αυτό δεν πρόκειται να αλλάξει τις απόψεις σας και πιθανώς να σας εκνευρίσει. Αν δεν πιστεύετε, το βιβλίο μπορεί να σας ψυχαγωγήσει και πιθανώς να ενισχύσει τις απόψεις που ήδη έχετε για το Θεό και τις θρησκείες. Σε κάθε περίπτωση ΔΕΝ είναι το κατάλληλο βιβλίο για όσους ψάχνουν μία δυνατή επιστημονική ανάλυση του θέματος με βάση τη βιολογία και τη νευροεπιστήμη. Έχετε υπόψη ότι το βιβλίο αυτό έχει εξαντληθεί και δεν επανεκδόθηκε, οπότε θα το βρείτε μόνο μεταχειρισμένο ή από ξεπούλημα στοκ.

[A.R. Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

OMG! It made sense all the way up to the planaria heading for the light, about half way through. Then logic died and was replaced by the fallacy of correlation implying causation. That, and many, many reasonable sounding anecdotes. Not until the final chapter does Alper come right out and declare his true purpose for writing the book, his disapproval of religious violence.
OK. I accept his conclusions in this case, but not his supporting argument. Denying the existence of God, the soul, and spiritual reality is unnecessary. Besides, he never succeeded in more than implying that structures in the brain might be related to spiritual thoughts.
He claims that spiritual consciousness exists as the consequence of a neurophysiological reflex. “Just as planaria reflexively turn towards the light, humankind reflexively turn towards imaginary powers.” Now, logically if that statement is true, “just as” would imply that the “imaginary powers” were as real as “light.” Maybe those genetically evolved brain structures are organs that allow people to see beyond physical reality, “just as” eyes see light.
Alper’s book is pseudo-scientific and muddled. He quotes Kant’s description of reality as “things as we perceive them” but never deals with what “perceive” or “we” actually mean. Who is doing the perceiving? He denies the existence of “mind” and only accepts the existence of “brain.” It was an awful lot of words emerging from a bunch of neurochemicals and genes.

[Melanie Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I don't really agree with the assumption that activity in the brain demonstrates the cause of anything - be it 'love', or 'god' or whathaveyou, this was a fascinating book and did not come from an automatically dismissive approach as some atheist screeds do. Alper was initially a spiritual seeker who ended up turning to science, and in his discoveries, he covers some interesting ground (glossalalia/speaking in tongues, near-death experiences) and presents his case clearly and accessibly. This is a much easier read than what I've read of Richard Dawkins; if you're an 'average joanne" like me, you'll find this much more comprehensible than Dawkin's presentation of statistical probability in evolution ("The Blind Watchmaker").

However, Alper's assumptions cause and effect/ perception vs. reality don't ultimately disprove anything for me after I thought about it for awhile (and I"m an atheist). But his cultural surveys of religious experience are fascinating. A good read.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read to those who want another avenue to the question of Where did God come from. I respect Mr. Alper for his time of research and deep investigation using the Scientific Method to render himself and answer to the age old question "Is there truly a God". I am open to all opinion on this subject and his is one of worth and credit. I am of faith, and I must admit that with all Mr. Apler offers in his book, my faith remains. However, a new light has illuminated my origin of faith and fostered a desire to search and discover more about my faith. Excellent book for those with strong "brains" and the ability to accept that science and religion can coexist if not depend on one another.

[Martin Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read, would recommend…

Although I truly enjoyed the content of this literature, it appears that the author may be engaging in similar practices of those on the spiritual side, “What I’m saying is correct, because of my ability to substantiate findings, based upon the scientific method…and everybody else is wrong!” When no matter what the method, there’s much more to learn as a human species, than we’ve already have discovered. Saying human’s have proof of a Spiritual Being or God, is similar to, “Hamlet or Juliet saying they know Shakespeare.”

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would go well as a series of blogs with a comment feature. Mr. Alper has taken a scientific journey and learned some essential lessons about what it means to be human. The information presented is engaging, however, his style and layout are in need of refinement. I wouldn't consider this a science book; it is thought filled musings.

[James Vath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much in the way of scientific evidence, but a very well reasoned explanation of religion as a socio-biological evolutionary adaption. Supports what Edward O. Wilson said about religion in The Social Conquest of Earth. It's an idea that needs to be more well known and I can think of several people I would like to recommend this book to.

[Caihui Lim · Rating 2 out of 5]

didnt sustain to finish reading this. bland.

[Kera Nielsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was part of my search for answers about spirituality. It lead me to think more on the meaning of religion/spirituality to the human race. Fascinating read.

[Ron Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty fun read. The writer is an atheist, but open to there being a spiritual realm, a god or a divine. There are some contradictions in what he says, philosophically speaking, but that stands to reason when tackling such a vast subject, like the science behind spirituality. For instance, he acknowledges that we humans have a different reality from any other given species, but later says that we are the only beings with certain capacities, such as viewing things spiritually. We can not definitively say that, though, as our reality is not the same as say, a fox's or a salmon's. Alper believes that we should use the science behind our species' tendency to believe in a divine spirit to dispel ourselves of religions, basically leading us, as an entire species, to the happiness and ease of suffering we seek through religion. I understand, and don't necessarily disagree with what he gets at in this book. I'd love to sit down for a while and chat with him. One of the things I'd discuss is how maybe there is a spiritual world we all become part of after our earthly life, and religions should come together and realize that they're all cogs in a wheel, with the hub being what we call "God", something I see as a timeless, formless being/existence; I think we actually have very similar views about what life should be like on earth. Anyways, don't read this with the expectation of an outline of there being a scientific explanation of God, but rather read it with the exact opposite in mind, that there is no God, and we have evolved to create God ourselves, as opposed to having been created by God. Worth a read.

[The Wanderer · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best part of this book is the misleading title/subtitle. While this book is a fun read, there are so many fallacies in this book (in my opinion) that it's hard to ignore them all. Matthew Alper has a degree in philosophy, however, he relies heavily on genetics and evolution to back up his points in this book; unfortunately, many of his claims are simply not realistic or even true when compared with sound biology/genetics teachings. In short, he sounds very much like a genetic determinist who relates spirituality, afterlife, God, etc. to the human genome and a work of evolution.
Being a biomedical science major myself and having talked to a number of professors/geneticists/researchers about the ideas and claims in this book, I came to the conclusion that while this is an entertaining read, it is not a book that should be taken seriously from a scientific point of view.
But as I mentioned earlier, it is a fun easy read and Matthew knows how to engage the readers and communicate his idea(s) clearly.
Overall, I am very disappointed with this book, but If you are curious and just looking for some light reading with lots of information, then go for it. Otherwise, if you are like me and want to learn something solid and worthwhile, I do not recommend this book as it is not scientifically factual and/or accurate... not even close!

[Riley Sainz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comenzó siendo un libro que leí con mucha calma, muy lentamente. En cierta medida en un día pude haberlo terminado. Aspectos a tomar en consideración sobre el libro... Si buscas un libro que te muestre evidencia científica respecto a Dios en el cerebro humano, encontrarás muchas ideas interesantes, pero más que teorías o fundamentos encontrarás preguntas. Preguntas que te harán despertar esa capacidad de asombro respecto a la creencia de "Dios". En lo personal, me ha gustado más la segunda mitad del libro, donde se mencionan aspectos relacionados a la religión y la espiritualidad. Tomando referencias de patrones conductuales que se repiten una y otra vez en diferentes culturas y sociedades, así como en los individuos. El autor te va llevando de la mano mostrándote la perspectiva del humano en sus diferentes facetas, como animal, como individuo, en sociedad, en el ámbito científico, político, biológico, histórico, religioso y espiritual.

[Miguel Ángel · Rating 5 out of 5]

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Dios está en el cerebro: una interpretación científica de Dios y la espiritualidad humana



Matthew Alper

Granica, 2008 - 285 páginas

0 Reseñas

El autor nos presenta una exploración de la espiritualidad humana, basada en las ciencias naturales y sociales. Alper concluye en su investigación que el hombre es el único ser vivo consciente de su existencia y, por lo tanto sabe que va a morir. Este libro nos dice que en el cerebro hay una programación predeterminada para que sea posible la creencia en un dios.

[Charles Kato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of all the species to have ever risen from our Earth, Homo sapiens remain unchallenged in intellectual capacity. Without claws or venom, nor fangs or horns, on intellect alone we rose to the top of the food chain. The great display of human dominion over animals, sea, and land is a clear indicator of our unparalleled innovation and abilities to adapt to our changing environment. We have pushed the need for physical evolution aside; we no longer need to evolve in the mechanical sense. In other words, if Texas were to become as frigid as Northern Alaska, the animals there would have to evolve into thicker coats to survive extinction. Humans on the other hand would simply sew coats together for insulation, avoiding extinction and expediting the spread of humans into new territories.
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As our hominid ancestors continued to evolve into this ever cleverer creature, there would be certain side-effects that would need to be overcome. In order to make this clearer let’s use Alper’s own illustration and first imagine the, “conditions that a rabbit experiences when cornered by a mountain lion – its body pumped with adrenaline, its heart palpitating, its muscles tensed, its brain surging with painful anxiety.” While it is obvious that such anxiety is good for the rabbit in the short run, as a relaxed little rabbit would surely be eaten, it is easy to see that if the rabbit had to experience this on a continuous basis that its mind would shift into an unhealthy state.
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According to Alper this is exactly the state that humans were once in. A state of constant anxiety, a circumstance in which humans felt like cornered rabbits their entire waking life. It is not difficult to see why Alper thinks this. Humans are the first animal in the known Universe to become self-aware, “For the first time in the history of life, an organic form turned its powers of perception back upon its own self, rendering it aware of its own existence.” While at first this may seem like a most wonderful discovery; for a brain not prepared for such an idea it could be an all consuming anxiety that could prove catastrophic to human existence. The main problem with such a deep cognition such as becoming aware of one’s own existence is that the next logical realization is of one’s own non-existence. And now suddenly humans are aware that they will die; like the rabbit cornered by the mountain lion, humans are cornered by the realization of their own mortality.
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It’s simple to see how detrimental such a mindset could be to one’s survival. Knowing you were going to die, knowing everyone you loved would die, wondering if everything would be cast into oblivion and all was meaningless. This new, “Cognitive Revolution” could be more detrimental than beneficial if not controlled quickly. So what could Natural Selection do to fix this stemming problem? Obviously a bunch of people walking around like panicky lion food on the brink of nervous breakdowns weren’t going to get very far in the Darwinian struggle for existence. What possible solutions could Mother Nature come up with? Alper supposes that one solution is that she could make people dumber; that Mother Nature could cast a spell of stupidity on humans so that they would not feel the anxiety from realizing their own mortality. But this probably wouldn’t work because as we said earlier, humans have no claws, no horns, etc., it is intelligence which gives humans their advantage, and to take this away would be like stripping a snake of its teeth or a turtle of its shell.
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Maybe nature had something more inventive in mind; maybe it would tell a white lie for the good of all mankind. Maybe it would instill inside us an undeniable feeling of immortality. If nature could convince us that we wouldn’t “really” die then the anxiety would be gone and the daily struggle for life could continue. Alper argues that this feeling of something bigger, this intrinsic connection most of us feel to the Universe, Nature, Gods, etc, is nothing more than genetic programming. That our perception of reality has been preconfigured for us by nature because Mother may indeed know best.
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There is of course with anything involving genetic coding, a variation of sorts, with some people on the far left of the bell curve feeling no such sensation or connection, all the way to those on the far right of the curve, typically manifesting themselves as the hyper-religious/evangelical whom often are so enveloped by the sensation of immortality that they literally spend their lives waiting for deities to come and physically remove them from the planet, or sometimes participate in even more schizophrenic behavior such as visual and auditory hallucinations and in some circumstances even glossolalia.
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Alper’s, The God part of the Brain, has some excellent insights that have really cleared up some questions I had in regards to human religiosity. I have always wondered why it was so futile to discuss the potential non-existence of deities with people whom feel connected with one. As a “Non-Believer” I have never had a problem with discussing the potential for the supernatural, but with a complete lack of evidence and science making it unnecessary, I simply can’t have beliefs based on nothing. I had always assumed that those whom did, made such decisions because of early indoctrination into a church/cult combined with the powers of confirmation-bias. But all those things are looking more symptomatic now, rather than a root cause. If Alper is indeed correct, then there is no point discussing non-belief with someone who has a strong genetic predisposition; they will simply not be able to wrap their mind around the idea of non-existence. Immortality has been, “Hard-Wired” into their brains and the rest of us must accept this genetic condition and navigate around it as best we can.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. I appreciate the author's attempt to identify all the brain regions that predispose us to have spiritual and religious experiences and belief in a god, thus postulating that religion and god(s) are human creations. However, I could also see the counterarguments from people of faith who would just say that god(s) created those brain regions to function so that people could receive communications and feel connection to god and spiritual realms. So the outcome is equivocal but the book was engaging.

[Luke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Among other rambling thoughts, he argues that since he finds "the person" in the mind can change by drugs and other glitches, therefore it is entirely a physical phenomenon. Or in other words, as we know that cars can break down, there should be no need to think of cars as created or having a designer.?
As touching "other religions" he doesn't consider that Atheism is a religion with the barbarism he attributes others with the God-part-of-the-brain, and scientific explanations seem quite arbitrary.

[Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books you want to keep around as reference. I will not spoil the read but you will need to keep an open mind. I can't think of a book that covers the search for God in such a structured way. But all should take the journey even if one believes they are a religious person or a non believer.
It took me a month to read the book and I certainly did not eat the entire elephant. It is a book that demands reflection. Reading this book is time well spent.

[Meira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really stunned by some of the negative reviews.
This is a wonderful book. But I am almost certain that if and when you have not as yet met the level of understanding, you will definitely be disappointed.
Understanding the G'd part means embedding this in YOU, as we all are divine G'dly sparkles.

[Nicole Jennings · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I was expecting a scientific view on how spirituality and the brain but it was more the authors view on spirituality and religion and explaining basic biology, psychology, and human evolution. It also kind of reads like a terrible high school essay to me. I wasn’t a big fan of the authors voice