The neural circuitry of Belief
Neuroscience is an emerging field. With data analytics and quantum computing on the verge of cracking the singularity, we are at the precipice of complete neural localization of the brain – something similar to the art of finding out which specific area in the frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for the beliefs of an individual. We are talking about human beings – The most complex creatures on earth. Functional MRI (fMRI)scans of the brain reveal exact areas on the brain which are aroused when a person is frightened, anxious, happy, or while performing simple tasks like talking and eating. So if we can deduce a very complex emotion unique to Homo sapiens – their beliefs, what can we do with the end product? What if it can be applied to generations henceforth with science, producing the same empirical evidence across the globe?
Beliefs of an individual affect his/her consciousness. It is quite obvious that a belief system of a group of individuals holds the key to an effective society. Circa 2019, we all collectively believe that having a house, a job and proper food to eat is normal. We ascribe some purpose to our lives and educate our children.
Imagine a time, where we had just evolved from our closest ancestors, the Neanderthals. They (the older ‘us’) would have had quite different thinking patterns. Their beliefs would have resembled animal behaviour. They hunted, collected food, mated with the opposite sex and produced offspring. Survival was their only ascribed purpose. Yuval Noah Harare, in the book Sapiens, would have beautifully described how we have collectively evolved from being barbaric, to living in a modern society. A group of chimpanzees can survive in harmony, only if the number is around 50. Beyond that, they go crazy. Common belief systems cease to exist in primates and animals. It is only humans that exhibit belief in a common prospect and can co-exist as billions. Though we seem like viruses hogging on to planet earth, we are achieving feats in science like no other civilisation in the past. (The pyramids are still built by ‘us’ – Homo sapiens).
So how far does one’s beliefs go? There is a fundamental reality which a person is part of. A person has to essentially believe that either he creates his reality or is part of an already existing one. Either way, it is his subjective belief systems that shape his/her thought. Patients who are schizophrenic may complain of bizarre symptoms like ants running over their body, or voices shouting at them, though we know that there aren’t any. But it gives him agony and fright, drives him insane to the point where only sedatives would calm him down. Is it just an imbalance of chemicals in his brain? Or is it that the circuit of his belief system has gone haywire?
Across cultures and throughout history, belief in God and religion has played a huge role in shaping civilizations. The more recently evolved part of the brain – the neocortex, holds the area where a person’s fundamental beliefs such as this, originate. Time and again, we have scriptures from religions which reinstate the belief in an omnipotent and benevolent “source” – God, who is nothing but Yourself, realized for a higher purpose. To live with such a belief is to live with God in you. Religion paved a way for collective consciousness to act in unison, for a higher purpose.
It is only through collective beliefs, we are able to live and interact as humans. The day when belief can be simply dealt with like particles of matter, is the day when the Collective raises its consciousness. Will death be just an age old belief and nothing more than an illusion? Will our human form be nothing more than a belief while we are on earth, and we realise greater truths once we leave our body?
How literal would the phrase – you are what you believe, be?
And what if, I believe I am just a thought?
