Our brains are wired for liturgy

I suspect that if our brains are wired for liturgy that there must be power shortage or surge in the persons inhabiting the Vatican.

Thought you'd be interested.

It would seem to me that perhaps the drive toward a more conservative (and I use that term carefully, not pejoritively)liturgy may be happening because the second or third generation after Vatican II dropped out of church, per se, didn't participate in the liturgy and left a vacuum of the necessary generational change needed (as suggested above) to create a new balance in the rhythm and content. Because of that vacuum, those who have stayed in the church need to fill that gap. Yet, those who have lingered around the church and who were excited by Vatican II but have felt its lack of next generational emergence and new growth are now reacting to the return to a consevative approach. Those generations that dropped out, however, do not have an appreciation or a sense for the rhythm and content needed for such ritual as a new technological world emerged that created a "now" generation with no ties to the past, no ties to the roots. Technology created an instant timeframe that is always new, always right now, always next such that a generation has no remebrance of what was. A simplistic example maybe the cultural forgetting of the Clinton years and even the Bush years in the White House as if none of those years mattered. In the context of ritual, then, without a sense of what was and how the ritual emerged and changed, there is no sense of balance, no sense of building upon, no sense of connectivity. Today's generation has little care over the liturgy wars because it seems archaic and trivial. Spirituality has emerged in a myriad of ways that is far removed from the Catholic rituals, and far removed from an authority structure that sought to control how people thought and prayed. A new ritual must be formed that can serve as a beginning point again. A new ritual that can restore a sense of meaning through a blend of rhythm and content, with content needing to be articulated and a rhythm that is global in concept; the new rhythm and content must emerge from our human experiences and love of God and not imposed from the preservations of an old order of things.

Dr. Newberg also highly praises a new work Patrick McNamara, M.D., "The Neuroscience of Religious Experience," New York:Cambridge University Press, 2010. Dr McNamara is Associate Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine and editor of the three-volume series "Where God and Science Meet: How Brain and Evolutionary Studies alter Our Understanding of Religion.

Hope that NCR does an expanded piece on this topic in the future.

I wonder what effect this has on people who don't participate in religion. What happens to their hardwiring? It seems like those folks would be less satisfied with life or need to find other things. I would be fascinated by a follow up on this article!

"The researchers are not saying brain physiology alone creates ritual and liturgy, only that biology, over the hundreds of thousands of years of our development, has created and shaped the neural pathways to render these aspects of experience useful and effective. The general structure of religion and theology necessarily arise from the functioning of our brains."

As successfully argued and defended in my own M.A. thesis in Liturgy at Notre Dame, way back in 1980:
LEFT (verbal) BRAIN = Liturgy of the Word
RIGHT (nonverbal) BRAIN = Liturgy of the Sacrament
The CRUX of the matter lies in effective development of the "liturgical" CORPUS CALLOSUM.

I do not challenge the validity of the scientific research, but here is where I am empathetic to the concerns of those reject the superficial, manipulative, saccharine, feel-good design and content in much of what passes for liturgy today. The contemporary practice of rituals, including the Eucharist, are empty, even offensive, because the assembly lacks any understanding of liturgy's purpose and the meaning of its symbolic actions, gestures, words and other signs. A careful reading of Sacrosanctum Concilium clearly lays out the nature and purpose of liturgy, along with the appropriate roles of its ministers and the characteristics of its music and movement and gestures. Too few understand this; very few celebrate liturgy with full, active and conscious participation. Most of the faithful are uncatechized about liturgy and simply go through the motions as if the rituals were magic or the dictates of superstition.

I have experienced and studied the reform of the rites for overy forty years. I am still waiting for the conversion and catechesis of the hearts and minds of the faithful.

Is there really any need for this? We already knew we are hard wired for such things. People like a show and always did.

"It would be an interesting research study to determine exactly what kind of effect -- and with what strength -- appears to arise from liturgy that is focused on the priest versus one focused on the assembly."

They should also look as liturgy that is focused on God.

Thank you, I'm not a theologian. I am a catholic, who enjoys and relies on the ritual of the rosary.

I am an artist, and as such, have always been both fascinated and humbled by my mind's wiring. Recently, I have come across several books on neuroscience written for lay people. I feel very optimistic about the future as I see a new effort to integrate the many disciplines with renewed respect.

Thank you again for this article.

Alexsondra

In addition to primitive cultures using "gods" or religion to explain things that had, at least at the time, no explanation, such as the sun's arising or setting in the sky...Our brains have evolved wiring to depend upon religion, ritual, liturgy, prayer, and derives pleasure from it, along with other addictive behaviors that give pleasure.

Does this mean that there is no God outside of that wiring in our brains that invents God, chanting/prayer, and ritual?

Thought so. Once you ask the first question, you have to ask them all.

Does this shed light on the lived experience of the Liturgy of the Mass? So many of us are in the pews because we accept as a natter if intellect that the liturgy transforms us - but we experience very little except a feeling of satisfaction in having 'done our duty'. This research perhaps sheds light for iiturgists on our need to participate more fully, not just in our heads or in our intentions - but with physical gesture, powerful and beautiful verbal expressions etc etc. The Mass is a mystery we need to do, not just attend or hear! In fact I'm sure liturgists do know all this - it's the leaders of the church who need to take it on board.

For the many decades that I have known my wonderful Dad, I can say with scientific certainty that the Liturgy of the Homily always has the effect on his brain of giving him a nice, restful nap.

I wouldn't worry too much folks about the semantics of the Catholic religion and what does Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk really think etc, because the Catholic church is about to implode - all because of the ignoring the hundreds if not thousands of children abused by the Catholic priests. And not just ignored, but hiding, shunting around, losing documents oops! The devastation these men have caused is insurmountable - and the Catholic church from Pope down - have ignored it, while problem got bigger and BIGGER. Not just isolated cases - but all over the world. Why is this - it is the training of priests - which starts around puberty. These men have never grown up - and are just the shell of a human being - and this is the way they are still trained. Just ask a priest - no amount of excuses or sorry's will fix this because the hierarchy will still continue to cover up, no matter what. In the meantime, men aren't going into the priesthood, because they know it is malignant. So you all just keep on arguing semantics and protocols -
and in the meantime - Catholic church - Kaboooom!

Reading this unique I think it's time quite informative

Well, the liturgy could not have had a positive effect on all the priests who molested children.... In my opinion, a person must first have a true spiritual life before the liturgy would be of any value. Priests who have harmed children or in some cases, adults, by inappropriate sexual behaviour, simply do not have a relationship with Christ and thus, the liturgy would be of not postitve use to them.