Religious and nonreligious thinking activate different broad brain regions, but the neural difference between believing and disbelieving a statement is the same regardless of whether the content is religious or ordinary. This suggests that the brain's acceptance of statements as true or false operates through a content-independent mechanism, which may help explain how people come to accept any kind of statement as a valid description of the world.
A guided loving kindness meditation combined with chills-inducing music enhances mood, self-transcendence, emotional breakthrough, and psychological insight more than meditation alone. In a randomized online study with 398 participants, loving kindness meditation increased connectedness to others compared to a mindfulness-based control, while adding chills-inducing music to either meditation boosted self-transcendence, mood, emotional breakthrough, and psychological insight. The experience of aesthetic chills during meditation predicted these positive effects. Individual traits like absorption, interoceptive awareness, and vividness of internal imagery also independently contributed to specific outcomes such as ego-dissolution and connectedness. Chills augmentation appears a viable method for deepening contemplative practices.