Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 336 pages
• Published by: Free Press September 12, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0743274970
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0743274975
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Weighs: 1 pounds

From Booklist
When Newberg, a professor of radiology, psychiatry, and religious studies, ponders the nature of reality, it makes fascinating, mind-bending reading. What is reality, he asks, but a combination of the subjective vividness of an experience (strengthened by the continuity and duration of that experience) and the consensus of others that it is so? Expanding on a thread picked up before in Why God will not Go Away (2001), he and Waldman examine the Liar's Paradox, assert the likes of "Truth cannot be entirely known, for no matter how much evidence you collect, your knowledge will always be incomplete," and maintain that individual reality is exclusively guided by a combination of sensory perceptions (which are prey to any number of distorting influences) and beliefs. Heady stuff, but with extensive research and credible scientific resources to support it, enough to make a human being rethink concepts of truth, reality, and belief. So rich a book that it begs to be read in small bites over a long time. Donna Chavez
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Product Review
"Our beliefs are the most precious things we possess. But how do we get them? Newberg and Waldman propose a thoughtful, well-documented, biological hypothesis on how our brains process sensory information into our own unique visions of reality. Fascinating for believers and nonbelievers alike."-- Dean Hamer, PhD, geneticist and author of Living with Our Genes and The God Gene

"I love this book. As cultures collide in our newly connected global existence, I can think of nothing more important than helping people understand the origin, nature, and sheer danger of their beliefs. Why We Believe What We Believe should be required reading for every person, young and old, who has the courage to open his or her mind and explore the biological basis of belief."-- Sandra Blakeslee, award-winning science writer and co-author of On Intelligence and Phantoms in the Brain

"Here is a book that seeks not to dismiss or ignore our will to believe, but instead explores why believing -- even secular beliefs -- is such a necessary and 'hardwired' aspect of being human. Newberg and Waldman bring an immense scientific learning to this compelling work of immense clarity. Why We Believe What We Believe is certainly the best scientific statement yet on the will to believe."-- Stephen G. Post, PhD, professor of Bioethics, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, author of Unlimited Love and president, Institute for Research on Unlimited Love

"Why believe what you read -- or hear, or think? This intriguing book offers insights into how we can constructively question our beliefs in a way that expands our minds with deeper insights into others, and ourselves. Offering a wide-ranging discussion of beliefs -- from the insights gleaned from brain studies of transcendent experiences to explorations of perceptual distortions -- the authors walk us through an adventure in thinking that is sure to raise as many questions as it answers in its illuminating discussions."-- Daniel J. Siegel, MD, author of Mindsight, Our Seventh Sense and The Developing Mind, and faculty, The Center for Culture, Brain, and Development, UCLA

"You cannot escape the power and influence of your beliefs. Pay attention to them, because they can make the difference between life and death, health and illness. Why We Believe What We Believe brings great clarity to the emerging science of consciousness and explains how these findings about the brain mesh with certain spiritual traditions. Every thoughtful human being will want to be aware of the crucial ideas discussed in this book."-- Larry Dossey, MD, author of The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things

Reader Reviews
Andrew Newberg, professor of Radiology and Psychiatry, has written (along with Mark Robert Waldman) a sequel to his book, Why God Won't Go Away. The new book has strengths and weaknesses, but, should be of some interest to those who have an interest in spiritual matters and human behavior. The book is primarily written to address the question of how the brain works so that we arrive at what we believe to be true. The authors write from a spiritual perspective, but take numerous jabs at Christians and Christianity throughout the book. In contrast, New Age and Far Eastern religions seem to receive little or no criticism (co-author, Mr. Waldman seems to be into New Age type spirituality), and are actually endorsed. Likewise, atheists may not be entirely comfortable with the content, since it clearly challenges their cherished belief that that have no beliefs. Even with this viewpoint bias, the first two parts of the book ("How the brain makes our reality" and "Childhood development and morality") are nothing less than fascinating. The topics are broad, so a lot of details are not included (especially supporting studies), although doing so would have increased the length considerably. Even so, I would have preferred more details and citations and a little of the controversy, which must be present in such a complex field. One gets the distinct impression that the results are not quite as neat and tidy as presented, and one wonders if studies that do not support the authors' premises are omitted as a form of viewpoint bias or just to save space. A particularly interesting chapter entitle, "Ordinary Criminals Like You and Me," presents numerous experiments (many of which would be considered unethical today) that demonstrate that the vast majority of individuals will do extremely immoral acts, given the right conditions. For example, if enough people (planted experimental confederates) go along with a lie, test subjects will do likewise. In another study, participants "electrocuted" a "student" who was a "poor learner." Studies simulating prison conditions showed that the "officers" (experimental subjects) routinely mistreated the "prisoners" (also experimental subjects). In other experiments, subjects would usually act in selfish ways, rather than take the moral high ground. Newberg suggests that barring interception by our frontal lobes of our brain, all our actions would be immoral and selfish. The book's third section, spiritual beliefs and the brain, presents Newberg's latest (and earlier) functional brain scan results on religious people. Previously, Newberg had studied the brain activity of Buddhists practicing meditation and Franciscan nuns practicing "centering prayer," a Roman Catholic method of meditating deeply on a specific biblical passage or concept. These results had shown similar patterns of brain activity for those meditating on "becoming one with the universe" or "inner peace" (Buddhists) and those meditating on God or the Bible. Both groups showed increased activity in the frontal lobes (primarily the prefrontal cortex), which represents the "attention area" and decreased activity in the parietal lobes (the "orientation area"). Each group interpreted their experience on the basis of their beliefs (e.g., inner peace for the Buddhists or God's presence for the nuns). In this book, Newberg added a third group - Pentecostal Christians who "speak in tongues." When analyzed, the brain scans showed increased activity in the thalamus (as in Buddhists and nuns). Speaking in tongues also resulted in high activity in the temporal lobes (involved in making emotions) and in the midbrain (probably resulting from the activities of speech and dance). Like Buddhists and nuns, Pentecostals represent a small percentage of the American population (probably only about 1% of Americans claim to speak in tongues). Newberg presented one case (not exactly a scientific sampling) of a spiritual atheist. Like the Buddhists, he practiced meditation, and presented with a brain scan similar to the Buddhists and nuns (though the actual scans were not shown in the book). Also noteworthy was the finding of asymmetric thalamic activity in the Buddhists, nuns, Pentecostals, and even the one "spiritual" atheist, which is not found in the vast majority of people. The question arises whether these people are born with this asymmetry, resulting in the ability to play these mind games or whether the continual practice of the games themselves lead to the asymmetry. None of Newberg's studies were able to address these questions. An even more fundamental question concerns the rest of us, who lack the asymmetry, but still have religious beliefs. Maybe none of these studies really tell us anything about the kind of religious belief that most of us exhibit, since all the groups chosen for study represent extremely small minorities. In conclusion, the book is well-written and compelling, although the obvious biases of the writers will probably annoy most Christian readers. The topic is complex and experimental design is difficult at best. Future studies will likely shed more light on this subject.