The Third Man Theory of Otherworldly Encounters

Some believe it’s a guardian angel. Others say it’s the brain’s way of coping under great duress. Whichever, the experiences are eerily similar: the sense of a presence that encourages, advises and even leads a person out of peril.

“Opinion is divided,” says Geiger. “There’s not a definitive explanation.”

By Nancy J. White (Mind Power News)

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Meditation: Changing the way we focus our attention.

Suggested by Pocholo Peralta (Plato On-line)

The Dalai Lama’s interest in neuroscience has been reciprocated by at least some members of the neuroscience community. Reasoning that studying the brains of people who meditate might lead to novel insights about the human brain, investigations of long-term meditators has been fertile ground for scientific investigation, with some of the more rigorous work emerging from Richard Davidson’s laboratory at the University of Wisconsin.

When expert meditators practiced focused attention meditation, demonstrable changes were seen using fMRI in the networks of the brain that are known to modulate attention.

By Peter B. Reiner (Scientific American)

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How Our Brains are Wired for Belief

Recent advances in neuroscience and brain-imaging technology have offered researchers a look into the physiology of religious experiences. In observing Buddhist monks as they meditate, Franciscan nuns as they pray and Pentecostals as they speak in tongues, Dr. Andrew Newberg, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, has found that measurable brain activity matches up with the religious experiences described by worshippers.

By The Pew Forum Transcripts

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