Poster for the Brain and the Self Workshop; Elsinore, Denmark; August 21-24,1997

(My work has advanced considerably since this 1997 poster. My web homepage gives a summary of my most recent insights, including insights on mental imagery, how to mathematically model mental imagery, insights on the neural correlates of consciousness, and my method of analysis: Feedback Phenomenology.)

Poster Title: Science of Religion (Including a possible solution to Chalmers' hard problem)

Introduction:

No matter how successful we are, we are all dimly aware that something is missing in our lives. Perhaps you have noticed that something is driving you to more love or more freedom or more trueness or more integrity or more peace or more joy: To Life, to Oneness.

During a period of perhaps 4 to 7 seconds, I was in a state in which all these unconscious goals were fully realized. That state is central to all cultures. It is known, variously, as mystical union, samadhi, satori, devekut, fana, wu wei, etc. Only when one knows that blessed state of realization is one in a position to know one's Self fully; to know one's birthright. Then the search for God or the Ground of one's Being or the essence of the Self is over.

The next step is to build a life on the rock of that timeless and unconditioned Ground: To integrate that experience into one's life and philosophy and to build a God-centered life. This is the most fundamental task of religion. The science of religion, outlined below, begins as a method for recalling a religious experience and integrating it into one's life and philosophy. Then wider, but not more important, applications are revealed.

Five-year, 14-stage crisis leading to mystical union:

The Table above indicates a general theory of religion. For brevity, the analysis that follows focuses on stage 11, the Dark Night.

System Dynamics Model of the Dark Night.

The model architecture of stage 11, shown below, incorporates a quickly operating (milleseconds to seconds) parallel processing cognitive mechanism, imbedded within a relatively slow system (seconds to months) that is more body centered. The former, called the computational mind, originates in the thalamocortical system; the latter, called the phenomenological mind, originates in the limbic-brain stem system.

My representation for that part of the mind arising from the limbic-brain stem system is shown in the lower half of the model, roughly below the semicircle that includes variables NormalOpeningPressure, FearDeathDueToKnot, and KnotsInHeart. The cognitive mechanism is located in the upper part of the model, above the semicircle that includes KnotOriginInsight, RetentionTime, and CognitiveAbilityFactor. Communication between these two sectors of the model is provided by transducers or transition variables like Prayer, TruenessOfMind, ForgivenessResponse, Attention, and PsychicEnergyFactor. Tentative definitions of each of these elements are given by the 38 equation mathematical model shown in the handouts accompanying this poster. The constants in these equations have been tuned to produce an accurate simulation of my experience of the Dark Night or purgative stage just preceding the culmination in mystical union.

Simulating Consciousness during the Dark Night:

The figure above shows a simulation of an intense two minute period of the 16-hour long Dark Night of the Soul during which the 5th, 4th, and 3rd knots in the heart are purged.

The 4th knot is removed at the 607.84 minute mark as shown by curve 1. Then begins the 3rd knot period, a 47 second period from the 607.84 to the 608.63 minute mark, during which curve 4, FearDeathDueToKnot, rises accompanied by what Kierkegaard called 'fear and trembling.' This fear and trembling leads to intense and insightful prayer. The intensity is that of a drowning man crying out for help; the insightfulness is a gradual recognition that the source of the particular knot is a particular sin, hatred or guilt.

The end of this 47 second period, just before the removal of the 3rd knot at the 608.63 minute mark, is the culminating point of the 3rd knot removal period when, in fear and trembling, the mystic-to-be accepts in the depths of his heart the deep insight into his sin, hatred, or guilt. This is what is needed to bring PrayerQuality (curve 2) to 100%, the forgiveness threshold, and produce the ForgivenessResponse and removal of the 3rd knot at the 608.63 minute mark.

Then FearDeathDueToKnot drops suddenly from 87.2% of maximum all the way down to around 1% of maximum. At that point there is extreme thankfulness to the Lord, accompanied by rapture. This extreme thankfulness comes about because the blessed Lord has answered his prayer, granted Forgiveness, and saved him from death. 'My face I reclined on the Beloved. ... Leaving my cares forgotten among the lilies.' (from the 8th stanza of the Dark Night by John of the Cross).

Then the 2nd knot period begins, as the cycle repeats itself. Meanwhile, TruenessOfMind (curve 3) is rising inexorably as the knots are purged, leading eventually to mystical union at the 618 minute mark (around 1:30am).

The Brain and the Self:

God or Allah or Brahman or the Ultimate or the Ground of one's Being or the Self is experienced in mystical union. The science of religion approaches a comprehension of the Self by the "via negative:" In this process one eliminates as a candidate for the Self all that which is dynamic, that is, all that which is capable of being modeled and simulated. The mystic's focus during this - 'via negative' meditation on the Ultimate - is on the question: What ceases to function at the moment when the purgative period makes its sudden transition to the state of mystical union? From my experience it was the changing horizon of my inward perceptual field, including thought, imagination, immediate recall, and the inner sense of time. Then, I am conjecturing that these obviously dynamic entities are solely associated with the primary processor (see model) and that the primary processor ceases operation in mystical union.

The background processor operates in parallel with the primary processor. It is sometimes called nous (Greeks) or purusha/saksin (Hindus) or 'that part of the mind that is Eternal' (Spinoza) or awareness/self (Deikman) or watcher. It is eliminated as a candidate for the Ultimate or the Self because it is dynamic: In my model it is conjectured that it continues to operate unconsciously during mystical union, recording the experience into long term memory for later recall. Therefore, both the primary and background processors are eliminated as candidates for the Self. Both consist of neurons. These conjectures may be falsifiable using neuroimaging on a subject in trance.

Summary:

The science of religion is a method for distinguishing between the Brain and the Self, for integrating a religious experience into one's life and philosophy, and for harmonizing science and religion. It should be noted that the latter is the central cultural problem facing the World. In developing the method, I may have also solved Chalmers' hard problem.

Papers Available:

1) Solution to Chalmers' hard problem.
2) Elsinore poster handout paper.
3) Tucson II poster handout paper, revised edition.
4) An Engineer's Story: Narrative of a religious crisis that culminated in mystical union.
5) Web site: General Theory of Religion.

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