Happy Atheist Forum

QuoteAnimals (not just people) likely have spiritual experiences, according to a prominent neurologist who has analyzed the processes of spiritual sensation for over three decades.

Research suggests that spiritual experiences originate deep within primitive areas of the human brain -- areas shared by other animals with brain structures like our own.

The trick, of course, lies in proving animals' experiences.

Full article here:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/anima ... brain.html (http://news.discovery.com/animals/animals-spiritual-brain.html)

... only a matter of time until the ape messiah appears...

Why not..? Animals are capable of superstition, so why not spiritual experiences..?

It's ok as long as people don't impose properties upon named experiences which it has not been demonstrated that they have. Keep it IN the brain, is my message  

Oh this is so true.
My goldfish was so in tune with the cosmic plane.
All you had to do is look in his eye and you'd know it was true.
That was until my wife, a follower of traditional faith overfilled his tank.
The site of his lifeless body on the kitchen floor haunts me still.

My cat worships me.  He sleeps on my throne when I am away from the computer and he brings me sacrificial rodents which he leaves on my welcome altar before the door of my temple.

Quote from: "PoopShoot"My cat worships me.  He sleeps on my throne when I am away from the computer and he brings me sacrificial rodents which he leaves on my welcome altar before the door of my temple.

Ye maybe, but what if these rodent remains are the feline equivalent of a horse head, portending your doom.

Nah, the one who wanted to kill me ran under my tire while I was backing out.  I had to break his neck to put him out of his misery.  His sister was bitten by a copperhead a couple of months later.  The two that are left love it here, they can come and go as they please, they have acres of open hunting grounds and if their hunt is unsuccessful they can come get free food here.

Ye I've got it all wrong.
Sleep well, sleep easy, sleep long.

I will.  The cat doesn't have the thumbs to do anything major to me.

my cats died, but they wouldn't have got to heaven though because they were lesbians.

My dogs like to suck each other's dicks.

And my precious rats are sleeping peacefully apart. Apparently, it's warm inside here today  

Quote from: "PoopShoot"My dogs like to suck each other's dicks.

for the ladies it wasn't just sexual, they really loved each other.

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fc1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com%2Fimages02%2F13%2Fm_7a24dd6589fd40839a1d6dfd29a23608.jpg&hash=82aeb6c00bd1c3882d60627e98a0a8f4615b31c0)
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Quote from: "PoopShoot"My dogs like to suck each other's dicks.

Can dogs suck?
I know they are champion lickers.
Are their teeth a problem?
Do they do this simultaneously?
I hope they do it outside.

Quote from: "The Magic Pudding"

Quote from: "PoopShoot"My dogs like to suck each other's dicks.

Can dogs suck?
I know they are champion lickers.
Are their teeth a problem?

I don't know.

QuoteDo they do this simultaneously?

Sometimes.

QuoteI hope they do it outside.

Outside, inside, upside-down...

Quote from: "joeactor"

QuoteAnimals (not just people) likely have spiritual experiences, according to a prominent neurologist who has analyzed the processes of spiritual sensation for over three decades.

Research suggests that spiritual experiences originate deep within primitive areas of the human brain -- areas shared by other animals with brain structures like our own.

The trick, of course, lies in proving animals' experiences.

Full article here:
http://news.discovery.com/animals/anima ... brain.html (http://news.discovery.com/animals/animals-spiritual-brain.html)

... only a matter of time until the ape messiah appears...

Any bets on how long it takes before this starts regularly appearing as proof for the existence of  {insert name of deity here}?  

Aren't "spiritual experiences" just intense emotions?  So why are we so surprised that some other animals also have intense emotions?  Our emotions had to have evolved from somewhere.

Quote from: "Kylyssa"Aren't "spiritual experiences" just intense emotions?  

Yes and no.  They are based on the same chemicals interacting in certain areas of the brain and they are an overdose of "happy chemicals", but the experience itself is more than merely an intense emotion, it is a hallucination.

QuoteSo why are we so surprised that some other animals also have intense emotions?  Our emotions had to have evolved from somewhere.

I'm not, but I do think it's interesting.  Knowing our "lessers" helps us to understand ourselves.

So when are they going to study whether or not humans really have spiritual experiences?

Quote from: "elliebean"So when are they going to study whether or not humans really have spiritual experiences?

http://www.amazon.com/God-Gene-Faith-Ha ... 236&sr=1-1 (http://www.amazon.com/God-Gene-Faith-Hardwired-Genes/dp/0385720319/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286726236&sr=1-1)

Quote from: "elliebean"So when are they going to study whether or not humans really have spiritual experiences?

I found this interesting when I heard it -
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/ ... 100529.mp3 (http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2010/05/aim_20100529.mp3)

QuoteIs neuroscience the new philosophy? Danish science writer and neurobiologist Lone Frank thinks the radical self-knowledge it offers us will help us transcend human nature. From the stage of the Sydney Writers' Festival, she dons The God Helmet, encounters her chemical self, and hesitates before having a brain scan.

But it has it's critics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet)