Ispectrum Magazine Ispectrum Magazine #04 | Page 5

THE BLISSFUL BRAIN: NEUROSCIENCE AND THE PROOF OF THE POWER OF MEDITATION BY DR SHANIDA NATARAJA WEBSITE WWW.BLISSFULBRAIN.COM T he human brain is a mindboggling feat of neural engineering; a biosupercomputer. Over the last couple of decades, as the experimental tools at our disposal have become more complex and more successful at probing the inner workings of the brain, we have been able to define the brain’s involvement in everyday tasks, such as object recognition, the expression of consciousness through language, and even sexual 4 attraction. However, the less tangible aspects of what it means to be human have largely resisted our scientific scrutiny. Not only are we are still trying to define the neural basis of human characteristics, such as creativity and inspiration, but we are also still far from understanding the exact nature of the relationship between the brain and consciousness. Mystical or religious experiences have historically been seen to