Ispectrum Magazine Ispectrum Magazine #04 | Page 8

therefore more likely to have mystical experiences. Persinger’s early results have been confirmed in a more recent analysis of more than 400 additional subjects [2]. For some, this research provided the proof that mystical experiences, and even the experience of God, were the result of aberrant neural circuitry, an artefact of brain function. However, this view is flawed. Our brains are designed to receive information about our experiences, whether that be the experience of biting into an apple or a mystical experience. Hypothetically, if we were capable of experimentally stimulating the specific areas of the brain involved in the perception of an apple, the subject would likely report that they had experienced an apple. The perceived apple would not be real; it would be, quite rightly, an artefact of brain function. Does the replication of the neural impression of an apple in the laboratory call into question whether apples actually exist in our world? Similarly, the observation that mystical experiences can be artificially evoked merely reveals that the neural circuitry of the human brain has evolved to allow it to process the full range of experiences, including mystical experiences. Like a radio receives and transmits music, our brain receives information about all of our experiences, includ7 ing mystical experiences, and, in doing so, gives rise to our conscious awareness of these experiences. This research therefore merely suggests that most of us possess the innate neural circuitry, or hard-wiring, allowing us to perceive and make sense of mystical experiences when they occur.