For those who are interested in this sort of thing I commend to you:

http://www.dailygalaxy.com.my_weblog/2009/05/will-our-brains.html

An article on the Daily Galaxy web site discusses a phenomeon that several astronauts have experienced and which has been termed the 'Overview Effect.'

It has been described as a profound sense of connectedness, a feeling of deep bliss and for those who experience it, it changes their perception of life and creation. It comes over a person, lasts for a while and goes away leaving them with the changed perception of things.

This overview effect is very similar to mystical religious experiences which religious people have experienced down through the ages and which people who've posted on this board say they've had.

Religious people have tried to describe it but their interpretation of it is coloured with their religious beliefs. You can perceive how devout people have tried to describe the effect of it in the words of some hymns. I suspect that "Amazing Grace" would be a good example.

It could be simply something happening within the brain and generated by the brain itself. Something triggers a release of endorphins perhaps. Hallucinations are not uncommon and they are so realistic that the person who has them cannot distinguish between hallucination and reality. A number of chemical substance can also induce a similar effect.

However the possibility exists that the phenomon comes from outside the brain and is caused by some other reality. God if you will. Scientists think it may be an effect pertaining to quantum physics and propose to wire up a space traveller's brain so they can monitor an overview effect as it happens.

It would be nice if some hard facts could emerge from this experiment. It would be of great benefit to reduce the area for argument and advance the debate on God, science and mankind. However, if any scientifically verifiable facts do emerge from it they will no doubt raise more questions than they answer.

One thing is sure, there is still so much that we do not know.

Kortpeel

Kortpeel (imported) wrote: Thu May 14, 2009 11:35 pm For those who are interested in this sort of thing I commend to you:

[URL="http://www.dailygalaxy.com.my_weblog/2009/05/will-our-brains.html"]

An article on the Daily Galaxy web site discusses a phenomeon that several astronauts have experienced and which has been termed the 'Overview Effect.'

However the possibility exists that the phenomon comes from outside the brain and is caused by some other reality. God if you will. Scientists think it may be an effect pertaining to quantum physics and propose to wire up a space traveller's brain so they can monitor an overview effect as it happens.

Kortpeel

I think it is already established fact that some people get much much easily religious experiences like you describe. It is a part of human nature. I think I know what about the talk is. I think I have experienced such things not once. Only I never beleived that this is a touch of god. It is for me just another mental state among many others.

As it is said drugs can induce such mental states. We now that there is much higher radiation up there and that could be one reason for that. Perhaps.

I know that people who have been to space, they experience white flashes, which is a direct stimulation of brain by cosmic radiation.

I am interested, has anybody collected statistics of said religious experiences on our mother earth - in the years of quiet sun vs active sun.

Just to look for correlation between sun activity cycle and quantity of said experiences.

I would suspect that it has more to do with gravitational or electric fields of some sort. It could be anything that stimulates certain chemicals that our own body produces OR just the awe inspiring experience of looking at your planet from 2oo miles up.

Even the most profound feelings of love are just mixes of hormones and chemistry. Without them, a mother will have no interest in her newborn or children. Of course, it gets more complicated when all mixed with memories, experiences and such.

Drugs feel so good because they elicit a response from the body to produce dopamine, seratonin and other neurotransmiters that cause such a wonderfull feeling. It's not the drugs that make you feel good, it's the chemicals your body produces in response to them , that do the trick (unless the drug is a synthetic version of the body's own chemicals).

There was one neat quote from an astronaut. This is a paraphrase. He was on the moon looking at the earth. He described looking at that beautiful blue globe in the black nothingness and thought of the poetry, art, literature and discoveries, then of the hate, violence and bigotry and then he reached out his arm and covered it with his thumb.