JGL57
06-15-2007, 11:05 AM
"A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness" by V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., Ph.D. - if one defines "religion" in the broadest sense of the word (i.e., to rejoin with the origin of reality) then this is certainly a religious text. In fact, Ramachandran expresses the view that the esoteric ontology of his native Hinduism tracts much of the latest findings in western scientific cognitive research.
This book is written for the educated layperson and is quite an eye-opening read. If one thinks that human "consciousness" or the concept of "self" is beyond scientific inquiry, then read this book and think again.
Ramachandran is a research neurologist and works with various types of brain-damaged patients - stroke victims, trauma victims, schizophrenics, etc. - those who have a disruption in some particular brain area. By assessing the symptoms that arise from damage to a specific brain area, and then comparing this to a "normal" brain, neurological researchers are slowly but surely discovering the physical basis to our various "mind" states and experiences.
I will only mention the one case described in this book that I found the most provocative. It concerns one of Ramachandran's split-brain patients (the corpus callosum fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres were severed).
When separately asked if "it" believed in god, the right hemisphere replied "no" and the left hemisphere replied "yes"! (If you can't figure out how this experiment was conducted, read the book.)
Ramachandran, who has a very good sense of humor, then posed the amusing question that, upon death, does the left hemisphere go to heaven, while the right one goes to hell? The theological problem here, of course, is that a person only has one brain and, allegedly, only one "self" and/or one "soul" or "spirit".
Too bad Thomas Aquinas isn't alive today – imagine him attempting to give the definitive christian answer here that would put all of our, uh, minds to rest.
This book is written for the educated layperson and is quite an eye-opening read. If one thinks that human "consciousness" or the concept of "self" is beyond scientific inquiry, then read this book and think again.
Ramachandran is a research neurologist and works with various types of brain-damaged patients - stroke victims, trauma victims, schizophrenics, etc. - those who have a disruption in some particular brain area. By assessing the symptoms that arise from damage to a specific brain area, and then comparing this to a "normal" brain, neurological researchers are slowly but surely discovering the physical basis to our various "mind" states and experiences.
I will only mention the one case described in this book that I found the most provocative. It concerns one of Ramachandran's split-brain patients (the corpus callosum fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres were severed).
When separately asked if "it" believed in god, the right hemisphere replied "no" and the left hemisphere replied "yes"! (If you can't figure out how this experiment was conducted, read the book.)
Ramachandran, who has a very good sense of humor, then posed the amusing question that, upon death, does the left hemisphere go to heaven, while the right one goes to hell? The theological problem here, of course, is that a person only has one brain and, allegedly, only one "self" and/or one "soul" or "spirit".
Too bad Thomas Aquinas isn't alive today – imagine him attempting to give the definitive christian answer here that would put all of our, uh, minds to rest.