The implications of this study, if the results are indeed accurate, extend far beyond just the scope of medicine and biology, into the realm of philosophy and sprirituality. The fact that the state of mind, and the willful controlling of the state of mind, can physically change the brain reveals that the mind-body relationship is not a one way projection. The mind itself can physically change the brain, which goes against the common belief that the mind is not very plastic and that the structure of the brain is determined merely by genetics and development.
If indeed only a short time of the day spent meditating for only 8 weeks can result in changes in brain structure raises the question of how much the balance of other states of mind feedback into the overall structure and function of the brain.
The saying “we are what we think about” takes on a whole new meaning.
This opens the door to spirituality being a scientifically recognized phenomena. Spirituality is not just a projection of physical, mechanistic function of neurons, but consciousness itself can physically rearrange the machine that projects it. Does this not open up new doors to how we attack the problem of free-will?
The idea of studying spirituality as some sort of discipline parallel to other actual sciences seems to be regressing to a kind of Cartesian way of thinking! I’ve always been of the opinion that the mind and brain are the same thing. If somebody can change the structure of their brain through a drastic change of means of thought, I would expect it can change bt only minorly. Most philosophers who study the mind adhere to a kind of physicalism too.
I’m not necessarily saying spirituality, but consciousness. It seems, looking from a scientific standpoint, the brain is a state machine, one in which the physical states of the brain are much more plastic than previously thought, and that those physical states of the brain are dependent on the state of mind controlled by the mind itself; it may not be as certain to be solely based on deterministic-reductionist biological, physical phenomena as previously thought.
There seems to be room for control of physical matter by the mind itself, even if that matter is only the brain. I hope you can kind of see where I am going with this. Or if you see where I am going wrong in my logic, please show me.
I’m not sure where I said that consciousness is spirituality. I’m sorry for using such a locked-away word.
So then, what I meant to say then, is that the overall function of the brain- that which determines the state of the mind and of consciousness- has a greater influence on the actual physical structure of the brain than previously thought.
Thirty minutes of meditation per day for 8 weeks resulting in signficant brain changes is kind of remarkable if you really think about it. It would be nice to discuss the implications and/or explanation for this rather than semantics and my word choice.
cough brain plasticity isn’t new, this has been known for ages: Everything you do changes the structure of your brain.
Nope not really.
Edit:
Here is where you’re going wrong, causation is not control, especially as, if you approach this having already dumped Cartesian dualism then this becomes pointlessly tautological. The mind / brain effects the mind / brain. It gives us no new information.
Edit:
(emphasis mine)
No, it says it results in brain changes, not significant brain changes. For all we know the changes are virtually insubstantial as we have (arguably) yet to get to a point where we can measure ‘brain changes’ on their own ground - we always have to refer to behaviour to ground their significance.
No, it says it results in brain changes, not significant brain changes. For all we know the changes are virtually insubstantial as we have (arguably) yet to get to a point where we can measure ‘brain changes’ on their own ground - we always have to refer to behaviour to ground their significance.
[/quote]
That’s where I disagree. For the first time we don’t have to refer to behaviour to ground their significance. The new research shows physical and functional changes in the brain itself, using MRI and EEG recordings. This is not that new, although some of the research has been around a while regarding functional changes in the brain via EEG (Did you watch the video i posted). The article I posted was published this January, and it does indicate that significant changes in the brain were found (significant in a statistical sense, not whether or not you feel its important or not). What I wanted to discuss was the implications of these finding that the changes are significant if they are indeed accurate (pending more studies).
I may have gotten carried away bringing up spirituality, but what I meant by it was the mind-over-matter may be a source of explaining what spirituality is in a consciousness sense. The feeling of ‘oneness’ that many refer to is maybe a different type of intelligence and brain function that occurs with increased synchronicity and communcation between brain regions (as is found during meditation), and ultimately, a slightly different state of mind.