items of interest

with contributions from Luis D. Leon, Michael Meehan

Dr. Michael Persinger , a neuropsychologist at Canada's Laurentain University in Sudbury, Ontario, believes that religious experiences have their basis in the brain. As Jack Hitt, the author of an article on the research, explains the study's conclusions, "When the right hemisphere of the brain, the seat of emotion, is stimulated in the cerebral region presumed to control notions of self, and then the left hemisphere, the seat of language, is called upon to make sense of this nonexistent entity, the mind generates a 'sensed presence.' "

According to the people Persinger has studied—more than nine hundred so far—this presence may be identified as Elijah, Jesus, an alien, one's grandfather. In short, people interpret this feeling of presence according to their experiences, personal beliefs, and culture.

Was Jack Hitt, who participated in the study, convinced by the experience? Saying that, for some, the study may confirm humanity's feeling of being solitary in the universe, he goes further and says, "We're itching to get out of here, to escape this tired old environment .... Time to move on and discover true divinity all over again."

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