The "God" Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God - Hardcover

Alper, Matthew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1402207484 ISBN 13: 9781402207488

Publisher: Sourcebooks, 2006

Synopsis

"A lively manifesto...For the discipline's specific application to the matter at hand, I've seen nothing that matches the fury of The "God" Part of the Brain, which perhaps explains why it's earned something of a cult following." -Salon.com

In this revised cult classic, the author offers a systematic, scientific argument that shows why belief in God is an inherent evolutionary mechanism that enables us to cope with our greatest, universal terror-death.

Originally published in 1996, Matthew Alper's book is a personal journey that has been adopted by over 25 colleges and universities and has sparked commentary by world-renowned scientists such as E. O. Wilson and E. Fuller Torry.

Here for the first time is a reasoned, compassionate, spiritual journey into the world of science, where God is not so much an illusion as a hallmark of the very way in which we think.

"[E]xcellent reading."
-Edward O. Wilson, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner

About this title

From the Publisher

"Excellent Reading." -Edward O. Wilson

"This is an essential book for those in search of a scientific understanding of mans spiritual nature. Matthew Alper navigates the reader through a labyrinth of intriguing questions and then offers undoubtedly clear answers that lead to a better understanding of our objective reality." -Elena Rusyn, MD, Ph.D.; Gray Laboratory; Harvard Medical School

"A lively manifesto...For the discipline's specific application to the matter at hand, I've seen nothing that matches the fury of "The `God' Part of the Brain,"which perhaps explains why it's earned something of a cult following." -Salon.com

"Alper uses a Socratic technique to brilliantly and flawlessly argue that our concepts of spirit and God are derived from the mechanics of out brain...enormously important...full of scientific and philosophical truths." -Mark Waldman; senior editor, Transpersonal Review

From the Inside Flap

Is Man a spiritual being, immortal, created by a God, or is he strictly physical in nature, destined to eternal dust? So begins the personal odyssey that propels the author to an arduous investigation of the entire physical universe that leads him, full circle, back to his own DNA.

Asserting that itís no coincidence that every culture has believed in some form of a spiritual realm, Alper posits that the human animal must be genetically ìhard-wiredî to perceive reality this way. And why would the forces of evolution have selected such a trait? According to Alper, in order to assuage the crippling anxiety engendered by our speciesí unique awareness of death, we evolved a cognitive adaptationóa coping mechanismóthat compels us to believe that though our bodies will one day die, our ìspiritsî will live on forever. In our brains lie natureís survival mechanisms in which gods, souls and afterlives are nothing but protective lenses through which humanity is ìwiredî to view the world...an inherited predisposition Alper refers to as ìnatureís white lie.î

Building upon this ìBio-Theologicalî premise, Alper goes on to explore the physical nature of religious/spiritual beliefs and experiences, atheism, religious conversion, drug-induced transcendental states, self-conscious awareness, near-death experiences, speaking in tongues, moral consciousness and more.

In this expanded re-release of what has been referred to as a modern cult classic, Alper asks us to look beyond our inherent religious propensities that repeatedly incite discrimination and war with the hope that we might one day replace them with a more promising secular humanistic ideology.

ìAlper uses a Socratic technique to brilliantly and flawlessly argue that our concepts of spirit and God are derived from the mechanics of our brain...enormously important...full of scientific and philosophical truths.î
óMark Waldman, senior editor,
Transpersonal Review»

After receiving a BA in Philosophy, Matthew Alper has led an unconventional life working as everything from an elementary and high school history teacher in the projects of Brooklyn to a truck smuggler in Central Africa, a personal tutor in the Philippines, and a produced screenwriter in Germany, after which he went on to write his acclaimed work, The ìGodî Part of the Brain.

ìYour book was sensational. Your writing was clear and concise; your summation was bold and masterful.î
óWilliam Wright, author of Born That Way: Genes, Behavior, Personality

ìI greatly appreciated The ëGodí Part of the Brain as it so nicely summarized and integrated much of the work being done in this field.î
óAndrew Newberg, MD, PhD, and author of Why God Wonít Go Away

About this edition

• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1402207484
• ISBN 13: 9781402207488
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 274