The Neural Buddhists

In an excellent article called 'The Neural Buddhists'published back in May 2008 in the New York Times, columnist David Brooks identified what he saw as an emerging paradigm in consciousness studies and neural philosophizing. This he called 'neural buddhism'.

Some background. He starts with a reference to a fascinating essay by Tom Wolfe, called 'Sorry, but your Soul Just Died', which casts a critical eye over the brave new world of neurological reductionism, circa 1996, in which scientists boldly declared that the workings of the human mind, even the soul, could really be understood as patterns of neural firings going on in the cortex. "In this view", he wrote, "people perceive God's existence because their brains have evolved to confabulate belief systems."

Yet, he notes, in the years since this essay was publiushed, "the momentum has shifted away from hard-core materialism. The brain?does not operate like a computer. Instead, meaning, belief and consciousness seem to emerge mysteriously? Those squishy things called emotions play a gigantic role?"

He notes the work of researchers such as Andrew Newbergat the University of Pennsylvania, who has produced studies suggesting that the brain is somehow hardwired for the experience of the transcendent, and this experience has many positive effects. Other researchers are exploring ideas such as the common foundational themes to diverse religious experiences, the kinds of experiences that have been understood from all cultures as an encounter with the sacred.

But where Brooks sees the real impact of this is not so much on the debate between science and religion, but the emergence of a new type of spiritual outlook which he dubbed 'neural Buddhism', often emerging from the work of scientists whose beliefs overlap in with Buddhism. He feels the real casualty in all of this will not be belief in the transcendent, but belief in the Bible. Why? Because "it is bound to lead to new movements that emphasize self-transcendence but put little stock in?revelation".

As I write this, the Dalai Lama is star attraction at a conference in Sydney on 'the science of happiness'. Work is underway at research centres all over the world on 'the effect of mindfulness on the brain' and validation of the positive effects from meditation. And there's a flood of books being published on related themes, often by scientists who practise Buddhist meditation.

Brooks concludes his article with the observation "We're in the middle of a scientific revolution. It's going to have big cultural effects".

And I can feel them already.