The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God [Paperback]

Matthew Alper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001

From the dawn of our species, every culture has maintained a belief in some form of a spiritual reality. Wouldn't this imply that human spirituality must represent an inherent characteristic of our species, that is, a genetically inherited trait? Are Humans "wired" to believe in the universal concepts of a god, a soul, and an afterlife? Are what we call spiritual/religious experiences strictly physiological in nature, the effects of our brain's chemistry? Does God really exist "out there," beyond and ondependent of us? Or is God merely the product of an inherited human perception, the manifestation of an evolutionary adaptation - a coping mechanism - one that emerged in our species to enable us to survive our unique and otherwise debilitating awareness of death?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

First published in 1996, this is a minimally revised new edition of Alper's manifesto against belief in God. Beginning with philosopher Kant's supposition that humans cannot know a reality beyond their perception of reality, Alper uses his vast research into scientific phenomenon to build a case that humanity's perception of a spiritual realm is, in fact, the biological result of thousands of years of evolution. Alper writes that this is "'nature's white lie', a coping mechanism selected into our species to help alleviate debilitating anxiety caused by our unique awareness of death." Alper's theory is elegantly drawn, and he shows an admirable grasp of a wide range of scientific disciplines. However, generalizations weaken his case: Alper's proof relies on readers' agreement that all humans are equally spiritual creatures, whose "cross-cultural proclivity toward spiritualism suggests that we must be neuro-physiologically hardwired this way." A harsh anti-religion tone (i.e. "How much longer will be slaves to destructive religious creeds... ?"), though not entirely inappropriate, provides the book's main flaw; aside from the fact that his anti-faith proclamations themselves demonstrate a certain kind of blind faith, he gives no credence to others' views, nor is he compassionate to the helpful role that spirituality plays in peoples' lives. Ultimately, Alper is preaching to the choir, but in a time of renewed interest in the clash between religion and science, this cult classic will appeal to those caught up in the debate.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A Cogent and Engaging Exploration into the Biological Foundations of Spirituality." -- David C. Noelle, Ph.D. -Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon

"Brilliant...Enormously important...Full of scientific and philosophical truths." -- Mark Waldman, Senior Editor of Transpersonal Review

"Brilliant...Provocative" -- Arnold Sadwin, M.D.; Chief of Neuropsychiatry at University of Pennsylvania's Grad. Hospital; Who's Who in Science, 1995; In Medicine, 1996

"Clear, Concise...Bold and Masterful" -- William Wright, Author of Born That Way

"Excellent Reading for every college student--The resultant residence-hall debates would be the best part of their education." -- Edward O. Wilson; Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner

"Matthew Alper is high maintenance. Not only is his intellect superior to most Ph.D. candidates that I know, but his intensity in displaying that intellect and arguing his world view is more compelling than many of my grad school courses. So, here I am, fiercely advocating for a self-published, self-educated, thoroughly unconventional first time author who, with one slim book, has thrown hundreds of years of human religious beliefs out the window and replaced them with a concise scientific view of spirituality that is impossible to argue with...The brain is the secret. In our brains lie nature's survival mechanisms in which god is nothing but a protective lens through which humanity is "programmed" to view the world. Matthew Alper has the chutzpah to remove that lens, to crush it under his heel, and then, as we cringe in the unfiltered light, he dares us all to look up into and stare into the pure scientific truth he has discovered...The "God" Part of the Brain is a challenge at first, but once you open your mind to the potentials of its theories, there is nothing to do but follow its arguments to their logical conclusions. And although he rips away our old stiff crutches, this audacious philosopher is kind enough to spoon feed us a new and positive way to approaching our existences." -- Rebecca Morris

"Thank you for finishing what Julian Jaynes and Joseph Campbell started." -- B.Brown

"The Atheist's Bible" -- Bob Worthington

"You have presented what amounts to a unified theory about the nature of mankind's concepts of God and an afterlife, their origins and evolutionary purposes. I have never seen a better-supported, more comprehensive theory on those questions. Until, or unless, I encounter evidence that meaningfully contradicts your conclusions, I'm going to adopt yours as my own working theory. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making it available to me." -- James Hazel

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Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: Rogue Pr; 5th edition (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966036700
• ISBN-13: 978-0966036701
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #760,820 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent in parts, but like 'religion', weak in others., June 15, 2002

By 

Roger McEvilly (the guilty bystander) (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God (Paperback)

The thesis here is that spiritual and religious experience is essentially something the brain *does*, not something that comes from 'God'/'external being'. The author argues that spirituality and religious impulses have emerged in the evolving brain by default amongst evolving social organisms- in this particular book relatively recently in hominid evolution. Key processes include the growing hominid awareness of death, which, when coupled with an innate anxiety function necessary for survival, ultimately led to spirituality, religious and mystical experience.

The author ties together his own spiritual journey with ideas strung together from the likes of Jung, Kant, Plato, Freud, Darwin and E.Wilson, but unfortunately, in my view, leaves out many ideas concerning group conflict-something with which 'groupish' primates are very much affected. One trouble with emphasising 'awareness of death' in the evolution of religious impulses, is just how relevant the 'fear of death' is to say, teenagers-and yet teenagers can have a quite developed 'spiritual impulse'. (eg The average age of 'religious conversion' quoted in the book is 15.2 years, from a study of 15,000). The association of prayer with healing is discussed, (ie essentially placebo, but also stress reduction), 'near death experiences' (neurochemistry evolved to reduce anxiety), 'speaking in tongues' (glossolalia-not explained here, but possibly, in my view, an infant/childhood mechanism overlapping into adulthood-like crying tears), and others such as guilt, morality, etc are discussed in the light of evolutionary theory as applied to human behaviour.

One major point I think the author misses though, is that like consciouness itself, 'spirituality' is likely a holisitic and/or emergant brain function, there may in many cases therefore be no specific 'part' as such. Another problem I had is that he vastly under-rates 'thinking' in other biological organisms. For example, in describing pantheistic mysticism "one feels that totality of the world is the greatest power and one can see themselves as part of that totality. During this experience a person has a sense that he is part of all that is around him" (p111). Why couldn't this be a kind of territorial instinct?-it could therefore be in other animals. In describing monastic mysticism-"a person experiences a surrendering of personal identity to a singular or central point of consciousness" (p110)-again why can't this be present amongst other social, hirearcheal organisms? Also, theistic mysticism-"seeng or feeling the presence of a personification or a named force which intones a higher power" (p110). There is no discussion of the possiblility of any of these experiences having biological origins more ancient than recent hominid evolution. There may be a difference between the ability to be 'spiritual', and to ability to formulate abstract concepts. (How does a bat really 'think'?). His argument against spirituality in other animals is wholly the lack of religious rites (p84), but 'religious rites' do not necessarily constitute spirituality-as anyone disillusioned with conventional religion will happily tell you (He alludes to this on p149). Another example of his gross under-rating of thinking in other animals is on p117, where chimps are given foot-noted recognition that they can see themselves in the mirror only because they have "evolutionary proximity to our species".

The association of schizophrenia and (some) religious belief is also not mentioned, although the association is obvious and has been pointed out by others (eg Jaynes). In his discussion on 'religious conversion', for example, he suggests "when the ego is so riddled with anxiety that it ruptures, natural selection has installed our species with a physiologically based "religious spare"of "cognitive transformation", which often leads to "rapturous contentment". The cost of carrying this spare (in the gene pool) is "the small price of personal identity". However, there may also be more adaptive 'cost' than this-such a descriptive transformation is surprisingly similar to those who suffer schizophrenic breakdown through stress-there may *possibly* be a relationship, which is important. It is also possible that schizophrenia itself has biological precursors in other organisms-dissociating/splitting under stress may be adaptive.

These points aside, his journey from religious skepticism to scientific explanation is tinged with individual strength and understanding, (notwithstanding what I would call his human arrogance). I liked his distinction between 'spirituality' and 'religion' (p149)-this is not widely recognised. I also think his points about different kinds of spirituality/mysticism are good- it seems our words for 'religion'/spirituality are woefully inadequate-which of course reflects our lack of understanding of the functioning of our own brains.

Sociobiological in outlook-p156 quotes E.Wilson-"scientists and humanists should consider together the possiblity that the time has come for ethics to be removed temporarily from the philosophers and biologized." I happen to agree, but with much caution-frameworks which have stood socially for thousands of years need to be challenged/complimented very carefully, with verifiable science and open discussion.

The book is a strong attempt to understand human nature. Very good, very controversial, with gaps and weaknesses likely to be strengthened in future years through ongoing brain research. Other books recommended in this general genre of 'sociobiology' are "Consilience" (broader philosophy of science, religion, sociobiology), and "Why God won't Go away" (neurological basis of spirituality).

55 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Spiritual Journey, January 30, 2000

By 

Casey Dunn (Chicago, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God (Paperback)

Just as I did, as a teenager Matthew Alper asked the big questions: Who is "God" and what is my relation to him? Which, if any, of the hundreds of religions and sub-religions is correct? Why do religions change so much over time? How come every person's religious view is different from everybody else's? Just as I did, Alper began a personal search for the answers to these questions. He looked everywhere. Like me, he found that the answers to the big questions of "faith" lie not "out there" but within us. He then continued his search far beyond mine, came to many well-reasoned conclusions, then documented and explained his findings in 'The "God" Part of the Brain'. This work draws on many scientific disciplines, including evolution, psychology, anthropology and history, to put into clear perspective the origin of the human need to seek a higher power and, more important, the effect this need has on humanity and its cultures. I found the book to be a "revelation" of sorts in that it finally makes sense out of the din of competing religious views. In this book Matthew Alper shows an enviable commitment to truth, exacting logic and scholarly research as well as a vast intelligence as he explains his search and the answers he found. I did not want the book to end! It explains a very important part of what it means to be human. 'The "God" Part of the Brain' has already made a very great, very positive impact on my life.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Undoubtedly, the best in its field!, November 26, 2003

By 

Victor Wood (Scranton, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God (Paperback)

I first came across this new science being coined "neurotheology" or what the author more aptly refers to as "bio-theology" when I read Newsweek's cover story several years ago titled "God and the Brain: Are we 'wired' for spirituality?" Finding this subject fascinating, I did a search on all books related to this field and worked my way through a great deal of them. From the works of Newberg, Albright and several others, I found their writings bland and incomplete. They were all apparently onto something, but they didn't seem to know what this was. Then I found Matthew Alper's The God Part of the Brain and found what I was looking for. Here, the author in a relatively small (though amazingly dense) work has pulled together every aspect of the scientific study of religion. Not only that, but he advances the most convincing explanation I've yet to come across as to why we evolved such a trait as spiritual consciousness. The book is then capped with a philosophical commentary as to how we, as a species, need to address this new research in order to advance mankind. Bio-theology, the evolutionary science of spirituality and religion, I predict will be the most relevant sociological and philosophical study of this coming century. While the world is engaged in religious war, this author provides answers and explanations that may be pivotal in resolving our modern conflict, something I agree with the author that if we don't come to terms with, we may very well destroy ourselves. Let me also note that those who might feel intimidated by the topics of cognitive and evolutionary science will find the book easy to read and brilliant in its lucidity and logic.