Many ex-BKs mention that despite leaving the Brahma Kumari religion, and not believing in either their god, teachings or leadership, they continue to have "religious" or even physical experiences, e.g. pressures on the forehead, feelings of lightness, "touchings" or the feelings of a closeness of "god", visions of "sparks of light" or even headaches when in the presence of BKs, in one case I remember. Active BKs might claim these are "proofs" of the veracity of the religion.
There has been plenty of discussion arising from scientific researchers looking into the brain functions of religious adherents, noting that the particular research was not intended to prove or disprove the existence of any god. As they say, "Regardless of whether God exists or not, religious beliefs do exist and can be experimentally studied, as shown in [their] study." Commentators talk of the need of a "proper theory of the psychology of religion". Perhaps one day we will be able to "scientifically" prove whether a religion or experience is true or false ... (although it still wont stop people believing in false ones!!!).
For me, the open questions are; did a supernatural god stimulate the brain or did stimulating the brain with religious ideas and practise create the imagined feeling of some supernatural being"? Are we taught and trained to believe that certain brain activity is "Godly" when all it is, is brain activity? And if there are the two, how to tell the difference between them? How far do we fool ourselves ... and how far are religious practices designed to help us fool ourselves, e.g. denying love and affection from human beings to induce states of mind which are then assigned to a supernatural god?
Having seen some of the most extraordinary things done by hypnotists, and looking at the highly obvious tendency towards emotional manias in human beings that any from religion to popstars and nationalism to furry animals, I'd say that we are hardly out of the Dark Ages understanding all this.
I always thought one of the weakness of the Brahma Kumari religion (and it may be the same with others, I don't know) was that there was little to no universality of experiences. That is to say, do this and this and this and you will ALL get that. There is no way to tell if everyone is having the same experience ... and, of course, what we also find when people leave the flock that they finally admit up to the fact that they were basically having no experiences at all.
The BKs, over the decades, have constructed excuses and explanations for these ("your karma", "your fruits of previous devotion", "Baba testing the soul", the "Honeymoon Period wearing off", "Maya") all of which really amount to the same thing ... which is "stick around, don't leave and keep doing more Yoga, service and donating" ... even beyond the point where the individual has given up the faith.
Just possibly, much of that "Yoga" is probably just uncontrolled self-hypnosis intended to induce a deeper state of commitment to the religion and organization.
The other thing I notice is how the leadership has become more liberal in its acceptance of a diversion of meditations to the point where they are largely unrecognisable to the original ... but yet are suppose to be producing exactly the same experiences or god connection. How would that work?
My guess this liberality is really just based on their financial security and confidence in the hold they have over a significant number of adherents. The "enslaved" being allowed to tell their own fairy stories to keep themselves entertained as long as they do not reach a point where they challenge or breakaway from the establishment.
There has been plenty of discussion arising from scientific researchers looking into the brain functions of religious adherents, noting that the particular research was not intended to prove or disprove the existence of any god. As they say, "Regardless of whether God exists or not, religious beliefs do exist and can be experimentally studied, as shown in [their] study." Commentators talk of the need of a "proper theory of the psychology of religion". Perhaps one day we will be able to "scientifically" prove whether a religion or experience is true or false ... (although it still wont stop people believing in false ones!!!).
For me, the open questions are; did a supernatural god stimulate the brain or did stimulating the brain with religious ideas and practise create the imagined feeling of some supernatural being"? Are we taught and trained to believe that certain brain activity is "Godly" when all it is, is brain activity? And if there are the two, how to tell the difference between them? How far do we fool ourselves ... and how far are religious practices designed to help us fool ourselves, e.g. denying love and affection from human beings to induce states of mind which are then assigned to a supernatural god?
Having seen some of the most extraordinary things done by hypnotists, and looking at the highly obvious tendency towards emotional manias in human beings that any from religion to popstars and nationalism to furry animals, I'd say that we are hardly out of the Dark Ages understanding all this.
I always thought one of the weakness of the Brahma Kumari religion (and it may be the same with others, I don't know) was that there was little to no universality of experiences. That is to say, do this and this and this and you will ALL get that. There is no way to tell if everyone is having the same experience ... and, of course, what we also find when people leave the flock that they finally admit up to the fact that they were basically having no experiences at all.
The BKs, over the decades, have constructed excuses and explanations for these ("your karma", "your fruits of previous devotion", "Baba testing the soul", the "Honeymoon Period wearing off", "Maya") all of which really amount to the same thing ... which is "stick around, don't leave and keep doing more Yoga, service and donating" ... even beyond the point where the individual has given up the faith.
Just possibly, much of that "Yoga" is probably just uncontrolled self-hypnosis intended to induce a deeper state of commitment to the religion and organization.
The other thing I notice is how the leadership has become more liberal in its acceptance of a diversion of meditations to the point where they are largely unrecognisable to the original ... but yet are suppose to be producing exactly the same experiences or god connection. How would that work?
My guess this liberality is really just based on their financial security and confidence in the hold they have over a significant number of adherents. The "enslaved" being allowed to tell their own fairy stories to keep themselves entertained as long as they do not reach a point where they challenge or breakaway from the establishment.
'God spot' researchers see the light in MRI study by Ian Sample, science correspondent, The Guardian
Brain scans of nuns have revealed intricate neural circuits that flicker into life when they feel the presence of God. The images suggest that feelings of profound joy and union with a higher being that accompany religious experiences are the culmination of ramped-up electrical activity in parts of the brain.
The scans were taken as nuns relived intense religious experiences. They showed a surge in neural activity in regions of the brain that govern feelings of peace, happiness and self-awareness. Psychologists at the University of Montreal say the research, which appears in the journal Neuroscience Letters, was not intended to confirm or deny the existence of God, but set out to examine how the brain behaves during profound religious experiences.
Mario Beauregard and Vincent Paquette used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of 15 Carmelite nuns who were asked to remember the most intense mystical experience they had ever had.
When the scans were compared with others taken beforehand, the scientists found electrical activity and blood oxygen levels had surged in at least 12 regions of the brain. Some regions, such as the medial orbitofrontal cortex, are strongly associated with emotions, while activity in the right middle temporal cortex is believed to be responsible for the impression of contacting a spiritual entity. The scans showed different brain activity from those taken when the nuns were asked to remember intense emotional experiences that involved another person.
The findings contradict previous suggestions that human brains may have evolved with a "God spot" - a single region that lights up in response to deeply religious thoughts. "Rather than there being one spot that relates to mystical experiences, we've found a number of brain regions are involved," said Dr Beauregard.