A book may have been mentioned in the film the Exorcism of Emily Rose that deals with this. Any books that reveal brain operations and religion also would be appreciated.
207350
There are a number of good books, but I think which one you will enjoy is largely dependent on your background in neurobiology.  There are, however, some books that deal with the problem of a more understandable level, in case you have no training in the field.  Of those I would recommend Oliver Sacks' "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat".  Sacks is a neurologists who describes some of his most interesting cases.  Aside from the insight you will get into mental diseases and brain functions, what is more Sacks writes with real compassion for his patients.  There are also the books by Joseph LeDoux ("The Emotional Brain"; "Synaptic Self") and Antonio Damasio ("Descartes' Error"; "The Feeling of What Happens").  LeDoux and Damasio address such important questions as emotions, feelings, and self-consciousness.  All of these books are a fun read even if you are not a biologist.  \n\nHope that helps.
638824
Always with the trick questions.\nNietzsche would deny his emotions and claim that faith is a poor substitute for reason.\nA wealthy televangelist would play your emotions to ply money from you "for the good of the Kingdom."\nA shrink might tell you that your faith or lack of faith is not connected to your ego driven seeking of Divinity.\nAn atheistic neurobiochemist will tell you that emotions are just synaptic chemicals effecting your brain cells.\n\nIf one seeks Divinity then Hate, Anger, Greed, Lust, Sloth, Gluttony and similar emotions can do little to help.  On the other hand, how can one claim to have Faith or Know Divinity without knowing Love?  These have nothing to do with cause and effect, but they do have a high degree of correlation.
125546
I've heard about this theory before and it makes complete sense if you've read the bible.Some of the stuff that they say happened, especially in the old testament, could easily be explained by a hallucinogenic trip.It would also explain the metaphorical prose in the book of revelations.
61621
I love it. Have over 20 books on the subject, and still want more! Do you have any good book suggestions ?
188065
At the age of nine, with a magic show gone horribly wrong (in my case) at a local Baptist church.  I had the numinous belief in the supernatural that all kids have through contact with such beliefs from the society they live in.  Then I saw a guy mystifying children with simple sleight of hand tricks and extrapolated from there, which I am sure wasn't what the pastor of the church intended at all.  It was a life changing moment, though I did not really know it.  I had decided to throw off the shackles of the mind that are required by religion and embraced logic, reason, and science as my "holy" trinity.
618948
I am always looking for a "johnny blaze" question.  They are always unique and thought provoking.  I highly recommend that you read "Memnoch The Devil", by Anne Rice.  While I would never suggest that such an important question as this be answered by a popular novel, this book does explore your inquiry.  Like Anne Rice, I had a young child die.  During the intitial phases of my devastation, I read this book.  To me, Ms. Rice completely explained the whole God-Devil relationship and even how God can let someone's kid die...after he saw his own child's death.  Keep up the questions...they are awesome.
200789
i have no dought that this will one day happen...people have found on freak events, a brain cell that reacts to a picture in lab animals...i would imagation after a while they will have much better brain mapping to a cellear level...then from there they could figure out how to make a computer to read the information...but i think that is as far as it will go...i do not think that the computer will think for us or anything like that...i think it would be read only in a sense
560375
If the links between myths and religion are of interest to you the  PBS interview series "The Power of Myth" (with Bill Moyers) based on the writings of Joseph Campbell is a must.  There is a book by the same title, and my public library in a town, pop. 5000, has both the series on VCR and his books.  \n\nCampbell has many other writings from a lifetime of fascination with myth.  He taught for many years at Sarah Lawrence\n\nI taught religion for several years, and was ignorant of the common threads between what is now called mythology and today's religions until I explored his writings.  It was truly a life altering experience and one of the finest elements of my education.  \n\nYour  perception of  "Mythology" will evolve and 'write-off' won't be meaningful if you delve into this subject, so I can't answer the question you posed except to say that the peoples of the world have had religion forever.\n\nBe prepared to be addicted, and transformed.\n\nPS \nCharlie Rose  interviewed Bill Moyers and his wife last night.\nThey will present about 13 persons of all religious persuasions on a new program about religion tonight on PBS
145476
I have always been fascinated by the way that processing in the brain leads to the experience of the mind. An understanding of this relationship has eluded science throughout the ages and i wanted to be involved in trying to advance our understanding of the brain-mind relationship. I should add that some people believe there is no such thing as the mind and that all we should be trying to study is the physical processing performed by the brain.
487475
The desire of ages, and the great controversy by ellen white. Also Believing God by Beth Moore. A trip into the supernatural by Roger Morneau, and The purpose driven life by some guy I can't recall.
91476
There are at least 200 pages on mind (including animals) in THE URANTIA BOOK.  At least part of the handle for which you are searching will be found there.\n\nI was once a great believer in behavioral phenotypes which I imagined to arise purely from chemical constituents such as DNA....\n\nBut with many more years of investigation, I have found that just as the behavior of our computers is attributable to programmers, so also the behavior of the animals is attributable to their creators.  In this instance living organisms are a substrate of sorts (carefully organized that way) in which higher realities -- mind and spirit -- can have an effect.\n\nNot to the same degree as one finds in humans, nevertheless quite parallel.\n\nWe have animal bodies ourselves, and our development reflects our phylogenetic heritage.  At various stages we share many of the same aspects of mind ministry as the animals have.\n\nBut we can also become philosophical and plan for the future of our children.  Animals are far less self-conscious and lack the potentials necessary for high wisdom or finding God.\n\nAlthough you may think this unscientific, I am a scientist, just an older one.\n\nAnd I am not the first scientist to bring higher concepts into the commentary.\n\nEinstein and Alfred North Whitehead are two others.\n\nThere are quite a few biologists and medical doctors in this category also.\n\nBut again, the best explanation is in the book mentioned.\n\nOne must be humble to enable great learning.
18874
I would highly suggest the book "Without A Hint" by Joshua Harris.  It talks about lust especially, but any kind of addiction/obsession in our lives.  The book has been renamed to "Sex Is Not The Problem (Lust Is)"  Below is a sight that will tell you some on it.  My friends and I read it, its a great book.
322315
There are a few books that I can recommend.\n\nPsychic protection by William Bloom - This one is nice and simple and is claer to read.\n\nMoon over Water by Jessica Macbeth - this is a little more dense and is more about meditation but being able to meditate will help you focus your mind and in turn develop your psychic ability.\n\nIf you want any more help please feel free to message me :o)\n\nTO REFUTE STATEMENT BELOW:\nplease tell me where in the answer above I mentioned satan? \nThe ability to percieve beyond the mundane, call it psychic abilty, prophecy, sixth sense, or intuition is a gift that we all posses should we choose to use it, and it has nothing to do with whatever, you - or anyone else for that matter, believes to be satan. Please refrain from preaching propagnda fuelled nonsense at people who have genuine questions.  \nBlessings :o)
422401
See my article, Computers, Artificial Intelligence, Brains, and Souls.\n\nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/catholiccommunity/message/39009\n\n\n\n\n---
529451
Well it's true, a person's belief is stronger than medicine sometimes, faith can heal or injure. A person who wants to be sick will never be cured no matter how much time and money is spent, unless they get the cure they desire. After all it's literally "in your mind" and no one can get in there. They can use drugs to blur your mind, or electro-shock therapy to try "re-wiring"  it drastically, literally forcing you to think differently, the same as people recovering from strokes or major brain injuries learn to. Much of dementia is caused simply by letting our minds go. Do I believe in satanic possessions? I'm not sure, but I believe there is potential for great good or great evil in every person, it's a battle waged within us every moment, and sometimes people feel the best way to face temptation is to yield to it and then claim they are a victim, "temporary insanity", or even demonic "possession." I don't know, but I believe evil requires a human body, a physical presence, in order to have power. And it's too easy to have a cop out like saying "I can't help myself". If a person is possessed I doubt any "exorcism" could work unless they want it to. But I'd like to know if any study was ever done to see if people with no religous beliefs ever get "possessed"?
397702
I don't really know what you are asking, but I recently read that David Lynch is a big supporter of Transcendental Meditation and practises it frequently and says that it helps him in his current primary occupation of conflict resolution. He recently was going to start a conflict resolution program in some high school but the parents objected because they said that TM was a kind of religion and they didn't want their kids exposed to that.
262932
Why is "The DaVinci Code" not fiction anymore? I missed that announcement...Anyhoo, if you want to hear solid evidence for Christ, I suggest reading The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel. I am reading it right now, so I can't tell you too much about it, but he talks to all sorts of scholars, some Christian Bible Scholars, some atheists like himself. He presents the evidence (eyewitness, documentary, corroborating, rebuttal, scientific, psychological, circumstantial, and fingerprint evidence). I'm still in the chapter about eyewitness evidence, but it is really, really good. Reading this is a great way to get multiple views, so you can choose.