A few years ago, a close friend of my sister (who was the wife of her stake president) was talking with my sister about an antidepressant that she had been taking for a while. She was very pleased with the medication, except for one thing: she said that almost impossible for her to feel the Holy Ghost since she started taking the prescription.

This begs the question-did she ever feel divine guidance, or was it just (possibly unbalanced) chemicals in her brain?

Excellent question.

A parallel one: is it some form of emotional illness that inclines some people to religion or to particular forms of religion.

Recall also Bruce McConkie describing psychotherapy as the church of the devil because it offered meaningful solutions independent of the LDS faith.

Seems pretty clear to me what all this means.

The evidence is not yet deep. It is suggestive of physical processes as the total extent of things. But as is often debated here, mostly by Henry Beemis, Human, and Spiritist, the dualist position is not eliminated.

Primarily, we have only preliminary models of how the brain and consciousness relate to each other. Indeed, consciousness itself remains poorly defined and is a difficult hurdle currently.

Unless you subscribe to panpsychism.

satan uses drugs ~


to separate us from god ~


it is so simple ~


▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬


except ganja tho ~


genesis 1:29 ~


plz read the bible ~



☮

Let's take the HG out of this for a minute, and just talk about the effect of pharmaceuticals on a person's mental states; i.e. their conscious experiences, whether ordinary experiences or "spiritual."

Now, it is quite obvious to everyone--believers and disbelievers--that the taking of drugs, prescription or recreational, can affect one's conscious experiences; for better or worse. Such drugs are chemicals that affect the brain, many of which are specifically designed to bring about such effects. No one can rationally deny this; and few, if any, do.

So, the problem is NOT whether drugs can affect the brain, and thus conscious experience. That is just a fact. The problem is in explaining the reverse causal relationship; i.e. how one's conscious mental states (thoughts, etc.) can also affect the brain; particularly in the absence of drugs, or other physical influences!

As one of many examples, cognitive behavioral therapy is a thriving industry in clinical psychology. Here, the therapist tries to assist the patient in changing her thinking in order to bring about a change in behavior, or just to produce a better sense of well-being. Studies have shown that such willed changes in thinking can produce physical changes in the brain; probably through the involvement of natural chemicals, like neurotransmitters and hormones. In short, it is just as obvious that the mind can control the brain as it is that the brain can control the mind, and that chemicals are involved in both effects. After all, nothing is more obvious than the fact that we have thoughts and make decisions every day which we act upon; again for better or worse.

Now, because the mind can affect the brain, it follows that the mind has causal powers in its own right; and thus must be in some sense independent from the brain, even though it also can be affected by the brain. In short, there is a two-way causal relationship between the mind and brain.

Now, with that independence of the mind, we are forced to ask the following questions: 'What is this independent Thing that is separate from the brain and has such causal powers?' And, "What else in reality might affect this Thing, besides brain mechanisms?' A religious person might say that this Thing is the Soul, and that God or the HG might also affect this Thing in the form of revelations. Or maybe this Thing is such that it can influence itself through conscious will.

The point is that however one might feel about religion, God, or the HG (and I am not a believer in any of these), the above discussion makes it clear that the effect of drugs on conscious experience does NOTHING whatsoever to diminish the theistic view of God, the HG, or revelation. After all, Mormonism teaches that reception of the HG is affected by the physical environment. Presumably this might include brain states induced by drugs.

>Studies have shown that such willed changes in thinking can produce physical changes >in the brain; probably through the involvement of natural chemicals, like >neurotransmitters and hormones. In short, it is just as obvious that the mind can control >the brain as it is that the brain can control the mind, and that chemicals are involved in >both effects.

That's not causal demonstration of mind brain separation at all. With guided practice the brains plasticity can develop connections that with guided use can produce new habits. It does not exhibit a will separate from the brain. Nor does it preclude it.

dogblogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> That's not causal demonstration of mind brain
> separation at all. With guided practice the brains
> plasticity can develop connections that with
> guided use can produce new habits. It does not
> exhibit a will separate from the brain. Nor does
> it preclude it.

The brain's plasticity is entirely a physical phenomenon. My point is that at least in some very clear cases, the mind causes such changes, and thus is the causal agent for such plasticity. Brain plasticity is in these cases evidence of mental causation, and not a substitute for it. In any event, the mere existence of brain plasticity does not explain in any way how changes in the brain can be caused by the mind.

If you want to make this argument you will need a theory as to how the brain, or brain plasticity, originates conscious thought AND explains the two way causal nexus between the mind and brain. So far, no such theory exists.

Is that you, Henry?

Stimulating certain parts of the brain creates spiritual experiences.

https://www.gaia.com/article/god-on-the-brain-the-god-helmet-and-how-we-experience-the-divine