Images of the brain reveal that transcendence, intense meditative concentration, produces actual changes in the brain. Vince Rause's description of Andrew Newberg's work in neuroscience is both fascinating and very readable.

On Sunday, July 15, the Los Angeles Times printed as the cover story on its Magazine: Is God All in Your Head? Rational Science, Mystical Reality and the first-Ever Snapshot of the Creator by Vince Rause. p. 10. Rause writes that:

"What Newberg and D'Aquili had captured, it seemed, were snapshots of the brain approaching a state of mystical transcendence, which every known religion has described, in various terms, as the most profound of all spiritual experiences. The Buddhists call it "oneness." It is the "mystical union" with God described by Catholic saints. For Hindus, it is the joining of the soul with the Ultimate, known as Brahman-Atman, and for Islamic mystics it is reflected in the concepts of annihilation and revival ('fana and baqa), which lead, through spiritual surrender, to an intimate union with Allah . . ."

This brings us once again to the issue of religion. Why do we speak of it? Why must we speak of it? How does the spiritual relate to science? Because large numbers of the world's population do practice some form of spiritual belief we do need to speak of religion. To fail to do so is to deny validity claims that impinge daily on our live and our interpersonal relationships, as well as our institutiional practices.

Vince Rause describes the work of Dr. Andrew Newberg, a noted neuroscientist.

More to come . . .

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