Download or read book Brain Belief written by John J. McGraw and published by AEGIS PRESS. This book was released on 2004 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its beginnings in prehistoric religion to its central importance in Western faith traditions, the soul has been a constant source of fascination and speculation. Brain & Belief seeks to understand mankind's obsession with life, death, and the afterlife. Exploring the latest insights from neuroscience, psychopharmacology, and existential psychology, McGraw exhaustively researches the various takes on the human soul and considers the meaning of the soul in a postmodern world. The ambitious scope of the book is balanced by a deeply personal voice whose sympathy for both science and religion is resonant.
Download or read book The Human Mind and Belief 3 Reloaded written by Eugene G. Breen and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2014-08-21 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mans search for meaning is a perennial quest. The workings and desires and hopes and frustrations of the mind, tell us many things about it, and why it is the way it is. The awesome capacity of the entire person to become addicted to almost anything, throws a light on our strength and also our weakness. The human face is a shadow cast by the mind, and more often than not, it functions as a one-way mirror rather than a true reflection of what is going on beneath the surface. We become attached to people and things, and we actually love. The exhilaration of true joy crafted onto a robust scaffold of pain and disappointment and suffering and sorrow is counter intuitive yet very real. Joy in the possession of the beloved is as good as it gets down here, but our minds pine for this bliss always. This longing for joy is not a vestigial structure in a once functional lobe of our primordial brains that has become atrophied due to disuse. It is the flicker of light at the end of our tunnel showing us the way to go. The human mind is truly a blueprint of our destiny.
Download or read book The Believing Brain written by Michael Shermer and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-05-24 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Believing Brain is bestselling author Michael Shermer's comprehensive and provocative theory on how beliefs are born, formed, reinforced, challenged, changed, and extinguished. In this work synthesizing thirty years of research, psychologist, historian of science, and the world's best-known skeptic Michael Shermer upends the traditional thinking about how humans form beliefs about the world. Simply put, beliefs come first and explanations for beliefs follow. The brain, Shermer argues, is a belief engine. From sensory data flowing in through the senses, the brain naturally begins to look for and find patterns, and then infuses those patterns with meaning. Our brains connect the dots of our world into meaningful patterns that explain why things happen, and these patterns become beliefs. Once beliefs are formed the brain begins to look for and find confirmatory evidence in support of those beliefs, which accelerates the process of reinforcing them, and round and round the process goes in a positive-feedback loop of belief confirmation. Shermer outlines the numerous cognitive tools our brains engage to reinforce our beliefs as truths. Interlaced with his theory of belief, Shermer provides countless real-world examples of how this process operates, from politics, economics, and religion to conspiracy theories, the supernatural, and the paranormal. Ultimately, he demonstrates why science is the best tool ever devised to determine whether or not a belief matches reality.
Download or read book Mind and Belief V written by Eugene Breen and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2015-08-12 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the latest in the series The Human Mind and Belief. It is akin to an impressionist painting with ideas scattered all over the text, much like the artist daubs brushes of varying colors on the canvas. The image comes to light from a distance and forms a deep impression. The basic theme is that in order to get a life, you gotta believe. It discusses work and music and the human mind, among other topics, and peers at the deeper meaning of these realities. It is a playful teasing of man, much like a cat plays with a mouse before devouring him! By leading man on a merry dance through some of his interests, and by distracting him with his own things, the clinical eye of the writer and reader observe man when he thinks no one is looking and so reveals himself in his true colors. What you see is in the eye of the beholder and many poor uneducated blind people see the truth of life when thus confronted by man in his underwear, whereas many educated intelligent clear-sighted people do not.
Download or read book Why We Believe written by Agustin Fuentes and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wide-ranging argument by a renowned anthropologist that the capacity to believe is what makes us human Why are so many humans religious? Why do we daydream, imagine, and hope? Philosophers, theologians, social scientists, and historians have offered explanations for centuries, but their accounts often ignore or even avoid human evolution. Evolutionary scientists answer with proposals for why ritual, religion, and faith make sense as adaptations to past challenges or as by-products of our hyper-complex cognitive capacities. But what if the focus on religion is too narrow? Renowned anthropologist Agustín Fuentes argues that the capacity to be religious is actually a small part of a larger and deeper human capacity to believe. Why believe in religion, economies, love? A fascinating intervention into some of the most common misconceptions about human nature, this book employs evolutionary, neurobiological, and anthropological evidence to argue that belief—the ability to commit passionately and wholeheartedly to an idea—is central to the human way of being in the world.
Download or read book The Human Mind and Belief written by Eugene G Breen and published by Author House. This book was released on 2013 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The human mind is all we have got to understand anything. There is enormous variety in the capacity and the spectrum of human minds. Some think little, some invent, some have the genius factor, and most are the basic model. They all have common characteristics such as desire for knowledge, for love, for happiness, for understanding of suffering and grief. Some ponder the bigger questions like, the meaning of life, the immortality of the soul, the existence of God, and others don't or ignore them. The nature of knowledge and the capacity of the human mind to "know" are mysteries. The inexorible progress of humanity and striving toward more information and technical advancement begs the question the song asks "is that all there is?" What is the end game for man, the human mind and the world as we know it? These and other thought provoking issues have exercized the mind of man since forever. These pages, gleaned from the exposure to the mental suffering of thousands of patients, tries to make a user friendly guide to the human brain/mind, and what it means to be human.
Download or read book The Neural Basis of Human Belief Systems written by Frank Krueger and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2012-08-21 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the everyday understanding of belief susceptible to scientific investigation? Belief is one of the most commonly used, yet unexplained terms in neuroscience. Beliefs can be seen as forms of mental representations and one of the building blocks of our conscious thoughts. This book provides an interdisciplinary overview of what we currently know about the neural basis of human belief systems, and how different belief systems are implemented in the human brain. The chapters in this volume explain how the neural correlates of beliefs mediate a range of explicit and implicit behaviours ranging from moral decision making, to the practice of religion. Drawing inferences from philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, religion, and cognitive neuroscience, the book has important implications for understanding how different belief systems are implemented in the human brain, and outlines the directions which research on the cognitive neuroscience of beliefs should take in the future. The Neural Basis of Human Belief Systems will be of great interest to researchers in the fields of psychology, philosophy, psychiatry, and cognitive neuroscience.
Download or read book Memory Brain and Belief written by Daniel L. Schacter and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text will be stimulating to scholars in several academic fields. It ranges from cognitive, neurological and pathological perspectives on memory and belief, to memory and belief in autobiographical narratives.
Download or read book Belief and the Human Mind written by Imad M. Bayoun and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Righteous Mind written by Jonathan Haidt and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestseller that challenges conventional thinking about morality, politics, and religion in a way that speaks to conservatives and liberals alike—a “landmark contribution to humanity’s understanding of itself” (The New York Times Book Review). Drawing on his twenty-five years of groundbreaking research on moral psychology, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns. In this subtle yet accessible book, Haidt gives you the key to understanding the miracle of human cooperation, as well as the curse of our eternal divisions and conflicts. If you’re ready to trade in anger for understanding, read The Righteous Mind.
Download or read book How Minds Change written by David McRaney and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-06-21 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2022 Porchlight Marketing and Sales Book of the Year A brain-bending investigation of why some people never change their minds—and others do in an instant—by the bestselling author of You Are Not So Smart What made a prominent conspiracy-theorist YouTuber finally see that 9/11 was not a hoax? How do voter opinions shift from neutral to resolute? Can widespread social change only take place when a generation dies out? From one of our greatest thinkers on reasoning, HOW MINDS CHANGE is a book about the science, and the experience, of transformation. When self-delusion expert and psychology nerd David McRaney began a book about how to change someone’s mind in one conversation, he never expected to change his own. But then a diehard 9/11 Truther’s conversion blew up his theories—inspiring him to ask not just how to persuade, but why we believe, from the eye of the beholder. Delving into the latest research of psychologists and neuroscientists, HOW MINDS CHANGE explores the limits of reasoning, the power of groupthink, and the effects of deep canvassing. Told with McRaney’s trademark sense of humor, compassion, and scientific curiosity, it’s an eye-opening journey among cult members, conspiracy theorists, and political activists, from Westboro Baptist Church picketers to LGBTQ campaigners in California—that ultimately challenges us to question our own motives and beliefs. In an age of dangerous conspiratorial thinking, can we rise to the occasion with empathy? An expansive, big-hearted journalistic narrative, HOW MINDS CHANGE reaches surprising and thought-provoking conclusions, to demonstrate the rare but transformative circumstances under which minds can change.
Download or read book The Human Mind written by Eric J. Kolb and published by Authorhouse UK. This book was released on 2022-04-21 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In, The Human Mind: A Psychological View of Theological concepts, I compare and contrast the scientific understanding of the human mind with the teaching of the Bible. In some cases, these two perspectives are very similar, such as in various aspects of child development. However, where positive psychology claims that the power to induce change lies within the individual, the Bible teaches that we can do nothing apart from Christ. The book begins with the concept of belief, upon which the mind develops. Both Christian Theology and scientific psychology agree that one's beliefs serve as a lens through which reality is perceived; and that humans essentially choose what they want to believe. As such, an individuals' core beliefs serve as the foundation upon which their mind develops. This book then outlines the various developmental processes of the human mind. Beginning with what is commonly referred to as the blank slate, through sensory integration and learning, humans first develop a concept of self-awareness and then a theory of mind upon which an individual's identity is anchored. These developmental processes are discussed and form the framework of our understanding of consciousness. Finally, after establishing the relationship between mind and behavior, this book closes with the contemplation of the nature and development of the mind of Jesus of Nazareth.
Download or read book Why God Won t Go Away written by Andrew Newberg, M.D. and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2008-12-10 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves? Why does consciousness inevitably involve us in a spiritual quest? Why, in short, won't God go away? Theologians, philosophers, and psychologists have debated this question through the ages, arriving at a range of contradictory and ultimately unprovable answers. But in this brilliant, groundbreaking new book, researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili offer an explanation that is at once profoundly simple and scientifically precise: the religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the brain. Newberg and d'Aquili base this revolutionary conclusion on a long-term investigation of brain function and behavior as well as studies they conducted using high-tech imaging techniques to examine the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. What they discovered was that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads us to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid and tangibly real. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call "oneness with the universe" and the Franciscans attribute to the palpable presence of God is not a delusion or a manifestation of wishful thinking but rather a chain of neurological events that can be objectively observed, recorded, and actually photographed. The inescapable conclusion is that God is hard-wired into the human brain. In Why God Won't Go Away, Newberg and d'Aquili document their pioneering explorations in the field of neurotheology, an emerging discipline dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain. Along the way, they delve into such essential questions as whether humans are biologically compelled to make myths; what is the evolutionary connection between religious ecstasy and sexual orgasm; what do Near Death Experiences reveal about the nature of spiritual phenomena; and how does ritual create its own neurological environment. As their journey unfolds, Newberg and d'Aquili realize that a single, overarching question lies at the heart of their pursuit: Is religion merely a product of biology or has the human brain been mysteriously endowed with the unique capacity to reach and know God? Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights into the nature of consciousness and spirituality, Why God Won't Go Away bridges faith and reason, mysticism and empirical data. The neurological basis of how the brain identifies the "real" is nothing short of miraculous. This fascinating, eye-opening book dares to explore both the miracle and the biology of our enduring relationship with God.
Download or read book Belief Inference and the Self Conscious Mind written by Eric Marcus and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is impossible to hold patently contradictory beliefs in mind together at once. Why? Because we know that it is impossible for both to be true. This impossibility is a species of rational necessity, a phenomenon that uniquely characterizes the relation between one person's beliefs. Here, Eric Marcus argues that the unity of the rational mind--what makes it one mind--is what explains why, given what we already believe, we can't believe certain things and must believe certain others in this special sense. What explains this is that beliefs, and the inferences by which we acquire them, are constituted by a particular kind of endorsement of those very states and acts. This, in turn, entails that belief and inference are essentially self-conscious: to hold a belief or to make an inference is at the same time to know that one does. An examination of the nature of belief and inference, in light of the phenomenon of rational necessity, reveals how the unity of the rational mind is a function of our knowledge of ourselves as bound to believe the true. Rational self-consciousness is the form of mental togetherness.
Download or read book Am I Just My Brain written by Sharon Dirckx and published by The Good Book Company. This book was released on 2019-05-01 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking at the body, mind and soul to answer the question: What exactly is a human being? Modern research is uncovering more and more detail of what our brain is and how it works. We are living, thinking creatures who carry around with us an amazing organic supercomputer in our heads. But what is the relationship between our brains and our minds-and ultimately our sense of identity as a person? Are we more than machines? Is free-will an illusion? Do we have a soul? Brain Imaging Scientist Sharon Dirckx lays out the current understanding of who we are from biologists, philosophers, theologians and psychologists, and points towards a bigger picture that suggests answers to the fundamental questions of our existence. Not just "What am I?", but "Who am I?"-and "Why am I?" Read this book to gain valuable insight into what modern research is telling us about ourselves, or to give a sceptical friend to challenge the idea that we are merely material beings living in a material world.
Download or read book How God Changes Your Brain written by Andrew Newberg, M.D. and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2010-03-23 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God is great—for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies, a wide-reaching survey of people’s religious and spiritual experiences, and the authors’ analyses of adult drawings of God, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries: • Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just twelve minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process. • Contemplating a loving God rather than a punitive God reduces anxiety and depression and increases feelings of security, compassion, and love. • Fundamentalism, in and of itself, can be personally beneficial, but the prejudice generated by extreme beliefs can permanently damage your brain. • Intense prayer and meditation permanently change numerous structures and functions in the brain, altering your values and the way you perceive reality. Both a revelatory work of modern science and a practical guide for readers to enhance their physical and emotional health, How God Changes Your Brain is a first-of-a-kind book about faith that is as credible as it is inspiring.
Download or read book The Language of God written by Francis Collins and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, is one of the world's leading scientists, working at the cutting edge of the study of DNA, the code of life. Yet he is also a man of unshakable faith in God. How does he reconcile the seemingly unreconcilable? In THE LANGUAGE OF GOD he explains his own journey from atheism to faith, and then takes the reader on a stunning tour of modern science to show that physics, chemistry and biology -- indeed, reason itself -- are not incompatible with belief. His book is essential reading for anyone who wonders about the deepest questions of all: why are we here? How did we get here? And what does life mean?
