Dr. Michael Persinger's Koren Helmet - The God Experience

Posted by: Laurie Fish on September 21, 2010 at 12:45PM
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Experiencing the Presence of God in a Laboratory

Dr. Michael Persinger studies the relationship between brain structure, function and experience. He has developed a study attempting to understand one of the most compelling and contentious of the human mind - the God experience.

Neuroscience Meets Spirituality

Dr. Persinger is a neurotheologist. Neurotheology, or spiritual neuroscience, attempts to explain the correlations between neural stimulation and spiritual experience - a near death experience, visions, meetings with God, etc. Proponents of neurotheology claim that there is a neurological and evolutionary basis for experiences considered spiritual or religious.
According to Dr. Persinger, our definition of self - of who we are - is tied to the left hemisphere processes of the human brain. He feels there is a right hemisphere process that also influences this sense of self. Dr. Persinger believes that it is those right hemisphere processes that trigger feelings of a presence beyond ourselves. The combination of the left and right hemisphere processes combine to create our singular reality.

The Yin and Yang of the Human Brain

The right and left hemispheres of the brain form a beautiful symmetry. They make up the most powerful CPU we know. The human brain is 100,000 times more powerful than current day computers. How these hemispheres work together to formulate our reality is still a mystery. Dr. Persinger has dedicated his life to understanding the human brain and how it may shape our spiritual nature.

The Koren Helmet experiment (dubbed the God Helmet), is an experiment attempting to simulate the God experience. It is is called the "Koren Helmet", after Stanley Koren of Laurentian University's Neuroscience Department who built it according to specifications provided by Dr. Persinger. Although a very small percentage of Persinger subjects encountered what they would describe as meeting God, most of the sessions resulted in other experiences. Out-of-body, visions of an infinite'Void', light patterns, the sensation of weightlessness, rising up, and a range of other phenomena were recorded by the subjects.

The Koren Helmet Experiments Stimulate Out of Body Experiences

The Koren helmet appears to be a modified snow mobile helmet. The test subject is sealed in a comfortable chamber with no other stimulation - no light, sound or any other distraction. Built into the helmet is a magnetic coil that is positioned to sit over the right temporal lobe. Persinger activates the magnetic coil centered over right side of the brain. It is designed to focus energy on a small set of brain cells in the right temporal lobe. According to Dr. Persinger's findings, when that magnetic coil stimulated those brain cells, 80% of the test subjects experienced remarkable visions and some sensed the presence of something else in the chamber.

An Extraordinary Lightness of Being

One subject recalls feeling the presence of apparitions floating around her. This test subject saw five faceless entities and recalled intense visual sensations. She saw them rising above her natural eye level which is an indication that the right hemisphere was stimulated. She descibes having an out of body experience and witnessed vivid images. In another session she experienced the troubling vision of fire circling around her.

The Ultimate Coping Mechanism

Dr. Persinger speculates that the human brain evolved to contain a method of alleviating the anxiety of death? The ability to feel something infinite and forever. Could the experience he simulates in his lab mirror the effort the human brain has developed to deal with it's own demise? Death becomes a non-event; our brain allows us to experience something beyond death - beyond ourselves. He considers it, a kind of psychological inoculation.

'Have You Ever Been Experienced, Well I Have...'

That's not to say we can't experience this 'greater then ourselves' feeling naturally. Many can, and do. What if the Koren helmet is tapping into a part of that magnificient CPU of ours that connects us to the 'everything'? Is Persinger activating a switch that has been stimulated organically since the beginning of time? - through prayer - through meditation. It's fascinating to consider these 'what if's' albeit a bit dangerous. Humans from the beginning of time have constructed powerful, sometimes dangerous, ideals around these experiences. I do not tread there for a reason. I respectfully offer this post for your consideration and attempt to draw no further signifigance to Persinger's findings.

Dr. Persinger's work was featured on Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. You can also find information about The God Helmet and Dr. Persinger on Wikipedia