Where is God? A comparison of the neural correlates of mystical and religious praying

Summary

The study compares the neural activity of Christians and practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation during prayer. It finds that the thalamus is deactivated in meditators, indicating a focus on internal perceptions of an immanent God, while it is activated in Christians, suggesting engagement with an externally perceived transcendent God. This suggests that different perceptions of God correspond to distinct neural correlates.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The perception of God can be as a transcendent entity that is infinite and outside of human beings, typical for religious traditions, or as an immanent entity that is outside and inside of human beings, typical for mystical traditions. These different perceptions of God may be associated with different neural correlates depending on which God we pray to. To elucidate the neural correlates of these different perceptions of the divine, we compared fMRI activation during praying between 18 Christians and 16 practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation, characterised by transcendent and immanent perceptions of God, respectively. The thalamus was deactivated during praying in Meditators relative to Christians. Due to the sensory relay function of thalamus, the thalamic deactivation in meditators presumably reflects a reduction in the perception of external stimuli in order to focus on the internal perception of an immanent God, while the activation of the thalamus in Christian prayers could be associated with the dialogue with an externally perceived transcendent God.