The God-Drug

For those of us interested in what we are pleased to call "matter" and "spirit," this might be of interest.

Here is a provocative study (2003).

To summarize it: serotonin deprivation (specifically, variation in the 5-HT_1A receptor density) is associated with "self-transcendence."  That is, people prone to spiritual experiences have substantially lower levels of serotonin in the brain.  Spiritual acceptance "correlated significantly with binding potential."

I don't think it matters much: for those who "see" God more clearly than average, there's always been a sense of abnormalcy (or smug privilege).   In all the spiritual literature there's a motif that (in Flannery O'Connor's words) "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd." 

Then too, it's been suggested that serotonin and mood are mutually interactive (that is, serotonin influences mood and mood influences serotonin).

Comments

[Natalie]

Dude. So now we can add serotonin levels to temporal lobe misfirings to explain spiritual experiences and paranormal encounters. Huh.

Here's Michael Shermer experiencing a "presence" and an "out of body experience" as a result of magnetic stimulation of his temporal lobes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCVzz96zKA0

[Otter]

As you know, I don't really think of "spirit" as something that's distinct from the body... It's a word that describes an aspect of human life, whether self-consciousness or relationality or sometimes even respiration or whatever the speaker intends.

So this isn't really particularly disruptive news to me. Brain affects mind: well, yeah, duh. So does digestion.