Feeling somewhat relaxed from a weekend of play I now begin to turn my attention toward the day with a look at my God gene. There is a frustration that comes with praying as well as a deep inner peace that has a unique ability to "slow" time. After a successful prayer, time seems to begin to catch up. It's a great feeling. The frustration lies in two aspects of prayer that never seem to completely fade. The first area of friction are the expectations that I bring to the prayer session. I always want to deeply connect with God. The day's sin, or what I think he's going to say to me, and even my own answers to questions that I have for him, brush away my ability to hear from the Lord--if, indeed, one can truly hear from the Lord. The second area is everything that I got wrong about the prayer time. Mishearing him, self-depreciation, wrong worldview, drifting off, impatience, irritation, not finding the right words to say, expressing myself "in the spirit" and then feeling somewhat silly afterwards, and falling into poor prayer cycles are the main pangs of prayer aches that I experience. Dean Hamer, in his book THE GOD GENE, points out that after intense study of the brain during extended meditation, there are certain areas of the brain that come to life more than others. All components of the cortex, that's where the brain does most of its planning and thinking, were very active during prayer. The thalamus and cingualte gyrus, the emotional limbic system, heat up as well. None of that was a surprise. What did raise a scientific eyebrow, or two, was the decreased activity of certain areas of the brain. In fact, it seems as if they literally shut down. The posterior superior parietal lobes, which are located in the back of our cranium, are responsible for playing a crucial role in defining self. Touch, vision, and hearing information is sent to this part of the brain and creates a three dimensional portrait of the body. (Imagine having that part of your brain damaged! You might only see yourself as a one dimensional creature. Which might explain fundamentalists). Prayer seems to shut down our self-centeredness. I wonder if a person who has a high perception of their self, in essence thinks that their poop does not stink, has a difficult time with prayer because they struggle letting go of their own self definition. The posterior superior parietal lobes may also aid in humility. Hmmm? No. I'm reading too much into this. I do not know enough about the brain except that altering it can be really fun. In retrospect, my God gene needs to be nourished more. Maybe I can achieve this through trying to figure out what God feels like. Hmmm.
