Devotion

IS SPIRITUAL DEVOTION A PRIMAL INSTINCT HARDWIRED INTO OUR BRAINS?
**(This post came out of a conversation with Adya the other day)

Religion and spirituality has always posited the existence of a spirit world, "heaven", a divine dimension of reality that we can perhaps awaken to and experience for ourselves. All of us are fascinated with this possibility. But we also wonder whether perhaps there are no such things as spiritual or celestial beings at all. Maybe such primitive ideas are merely a mythic, subjective hallucination or an emergence of psychological archetypes that reside deep within the human psyche.
Could there be parallel planes of existence or higher dimensions that are inhabited by an independently existing, "God-ish" intelligent entity or entities? We all want to know.

But before we explore that question a little further, lets take a quick and simplified look at some neuroscience and some of the theories that have developed about the development of the human brain and nervous system. These two topics of the spirit world and the human brain may seem unrelated at first glance. But I believe that ultimately, they are actually very related indeed.

There are different parts of our brain that put us in touch with different aspects of what we perceive as reality.
Probably the best known model for understanding the structure of the human brain in relation to its evolutionary history is the famous "triune brain theory", which was developed by Paul MacLean in the 1950s and then became very influential in the brain studies of the 1960s and beyond.

This model distinguished three "different brains" that appeared successively during the course of human evolution :

The "reptilian brain", the oldest, most primal of the three, controls the body's vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and chemical balance. Our reptilian brain includes the main structures found in a reptile's primitive brain: the brainstem and the cerebellum. This reptilian brain is deeply instinctual, rigid and somewhat compulsive in its seeking for comfort, safety and security.

The "limbic brain" the second aspect of the triune brain, emerged in the first mammals. It can record memories of pleasant or unpleasnt experiences and feelings, so it is responsible for what are called emotions in human beings. The limbic brain is also the seat of the value judgments, of good/bad, /pleasant/unleasnt, right/wrong, which we make, often quite unconsciously, and that have such a strong influence on our behaviour as individuals and a society.

The neocortex, the 3rd aspect of the triune brain, is responsible for the development of human language, abstract thought, imagination, and consciousness. The neocortex is flexible and has amazing learning abilities. The neocortex is also what has enabled human culture to develop in such a rich way through literature, the arts, philosophy abstract thought and religion..

These three parts of the human brain do not operate independently of one another. They have established numerous interconnections through which they influence each another. They have an "ongoing conversation" going on with each other, so to speak.

Now, returning to our original consideration, we know that human beings have claimed to have had experiences with the world of the Spirit for untold millennia. Many mystics, shamans and saints of all the spiritual Traditions have had ongoing conversations with spirit entities of various kinds down through the ages. We seem to quite naturally converse, relate to and feel in relationship with, something or someone beyond our ordinary, mundane, space-and-time-bound 'me', made up of a body, mind, and personality. We seem to feel a deep need for such relationship as a species.

And this ongoing conversation we seem to need to have with something bigger than ourselves is the means by which we believe we contact the creator(s)/the divine/God/the Source.

For many, this has involved (whether real or imagined) access to the afterlife/world of the dead, the souls, or personalities, of departed loved ones or numinous spirit entities of various kinds like angels, gods or goddesses, .

But is this access to the world of the spirit real or imagined? Are there actual beings that exist in celestial realms and dimensions or are they the product of a kind of collective or individual fantasy or hallucination?

On one level, what does it really matter which it is? Maybe such entities are not even limited to the categories of "real" or unreal". Often those of us on a deep spiritual search, especially in the spiritual subculture of "non dual spirituality" have come to the conclusion that Reality is one undivided whole, whether through direct experience or on the level of abstract ideas and beliefs. We may eventually give up the idea altogether that we can be in relationship with a "higher power" or powers and we may end up stopping the conversation with the gods or "God".

I myself, after a lifetime of intense religious devotion, conscious relationship and ongoing conversation with the Divine, one day simply stopped the conversation. Even after decades of finding meaning in such an intimate and personal relationship with God, it all, began to feel to me something  like childish conversations with an imaginary friend.

But as time went on, I began to notice that the conversation with God and Jesus that I had enjoyed all my life since early childhood was slowly returning. Even though a deep insight had arisen that made it clear to me that divinity did not exist somehow "outside of myself" as some separate entity, I still found myself conversing with someone 'greater than myself' as if it did.

More and more I feel that this "loving conversation with God" is perhaps simply different aspects of the triune brain "speaking" to each other. As human beings, we all seem to have an instinctual yearning and need for intimacy, for relationship, for connection. Perhaps the primitive reptile part of us has been reaching out to the aesthetic, archetypal aspect and wants to connect to it. There is perhaps a scared little reptile creature within us that wants and needs warmth, comfort, security and love from our source...... like a baby bird looking for warmth under the wings of the mama bird.

Maybe rather than being stuck in an arrogant, superior and complacent attitude or idea that we are somehow "above" such primitive experiences as devotion and prayer, we could simply acknowledge the primal feeling of wanting warmth and security. Can we acknowledge the place deep in our heart that yearns for the unconditional loving embrace of the divine mother?

Maybe we are ready again to begin the i/Thou conversation and humbly whisper our loving sweet murmurings into the ear of the divine mother. Maybe such a need for divine intimacy is completely beyond all "non dual philosophy" that we may have taken on. Maybe it is deep and instinctual and as primal as our need for food and safety, warmth and water.

If it is, there is no need for us to fight or deny it any longer. The embrace of the divine mother is waiting for us with open, loving arms! Why do we hesitate when that is what we yearn and long for with all our hearts?