How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation Paperback – June 6, 2017

First off, I will say, I had probably heard the term enlightenment before but I didn't really understand what it meant and, therefore, had no interest in it. I didn't know much about other religions or mediation, etc. I associated with the Christian faith in a nondenominational way; however, I haven't stepped foot in a church for at least 20 years. I did, however, pray every day before bed. So what I'm trying to relay is I knew absolutely nothing about any of this stuff.I had always felt very blessed in my life, was very successful in my career, had great health, etc. Life was great. However, five years ago I hit a very turbulent time...end of a 17-year relationship, rape/beating, and then a terrible boating accident that left me with a broken forehead, smashed nose, broken cheek, broken upper jaw that was driven into my nasal cavity, an upper lip that was hanging on by a thread, and a big chunk out of my lower lip. I was knocked out. Somebody got a life jacket on me. I learned later the boat sank in three minutes.As an aside, there was a brief mention in the book something about the power of the mind in healing. I will say, my friends were all concerned with me looking in the mirror during my healing and thought they should cover up the mirrors so as not to upset me. I can honestly say, I always thought Why? I knew in my mind and heart wholeheartedly that I would heal and be perfectly fine. I never doubted it for a second. Less than three years have passed since the accident and nobody is the wiser. Between the bottom of my nose and the bottom of my lip, I had three hours worth of stitches. I heart countless times during my recovery from my various doctors, Wow, you are an awesome healer and no doubt, you have a guardian angel.After healing, when I should have been extremely happy, I hit a period where I didn't feel like I looked at the world the same...to be honest, bitterness and cynicism of the world had crept in. My "heart" didn't feel comfortable with that. I had always been a lover of my fellow man and I knew I needed to bring that part of me back as I honestly didn't feel like myself.So I started reading books on forgiveness and healing after trauma and healing your heart. And I spent countless hours just contemplating life, contemplating why am I here, what gifts was I given that needed to be nurtured and shared with the world. It was a long period of self-discovery, I guess you could say. I also pondered my weaknesses as a human being. It was grueling. There were a lot of tears shed. I didn't meditate or practice any form of ritual...again, I didn't know anything about those things. But after reading this book, it is clear I was in the daydreaming state and just tossing things around in my head and and contemplating and reflecting on things very deeply. This lasted for about two years and I felt great at the end of it and back to my true nature.A few months later, I experienced another traumatic incident. I felt utterly defeated and abandoned by God. One day I googled something along the lines of "Bible verses when you feel abandoned by God" trying to see if I could get some solace and relief by reading some scripture. The google search lead me to realize what I was experienceing was known as an existential crisis or Dark Knight of the Soul. Yes, the end of a long-term marriage, the rape/beating, and the accident were bad, but that all paled in comparison to what I was experiencing with the existential crisis. It was the most horrifying feeling I had ever felt.The worst of it lasted about two and a half, three months. It was almost debilitating. I was still able to do my job, but I was just existing, not really participating in life. By this time, I had read some articles online about spiritual awakening and knew that is what I was experiencing. the articles talked about it being life-changing, but at that point I didn't understand and couldn't see how this dark period could be so transformational. Heck, I felt utterly miserable.One day I woke up and felt such a peace, joy, serenity, gratitude, love permeating my body. It was an amazing feeling, indescribable. I remember calling a close friend who had been watching this all unfold over the last couple years and tried to describe what I was feeling. I told him I thought I was coming out of the crisis. I was absolutely elated. Unfortunately, it only lasted four, five hours. But over the next few months, I would experience it again a handful of times. About two months ago, my friend who has been watching this unfold and who I am confiding honestly about everything I was experiencing, called me on his way to work to see how I was feeling. Well, I was still awake. I hadn't gone to sleep yet. I was in the euphoric state. No words for it. I was sitting on the porch just what I would call daydreaming when he called. I had been sitting out there since 9:00 the night before not really doing anything, just enjoying what I was feeling. It was so otherworldly.So three weeks ago, I wake up and I'm in the euphoric state but there is a very strong what I would call energy in my body. It is very strong. Although I had never experimented with drugs, I kept thinking I am on the best drug ever imaginable. I felt connected with God. This lasted for three days. Amazing doesn't even describe it. The weird thing was, by the end of the three days, my physical body felt utterly exhausted, but what I call the energy was off the charts. By the end, it was almost unbearable. It was too much. The book had one sentence about people being diagnosed as manic during this time. I wasn't hearing voices or seeing light or anything, but I imagine I could have been diagnosed as manic.There is something really freaky that happened when I was in the unbearably high energy level. Something that is so unreal. I guessed three things out of 22 that I absolutely would never have known. It was boom, boom, boom, one right after another. I called my friend and explained what happened, and we were both absolutely shocked. Honestly, I would need a statistician to figure out the odds of what happened. It was absolutely unreal. Was it because I was in a higher state of consciousness or what? Was it coincidence? I have absolutely no idea.So three weeks later, I feel very peaceful and content. I don't get rattled much. I will say, though, there's been a few times I have trouble relating to people. As an example, I was out to dinner with a friend at a very nice restaurant. She started complaining about her baked potato and how grainy it was. She had me taste it and it tasted fine to me. She knew many of the waitstaff, and everybody who would come by, she would stop them and go on and on about this potato. They even sent the chef out. Good grief. This lasted for about 45 minutes. By this time, I say, Can we just stop with the potato? I think the homeless man we passed coming in would be absolutely thrilled with this potato. So I have trouble with pettiness and things that I consider menial things to be complaining about.So I found an article written about Dr. Newberg's studies and purchased this book last night. I read three-quarters of it last night and finished it up early this morning. Now it is fully clear what I experienced. Definitely the Big E!I did find a liscensed counselor who has a depth of understanding of these experiences and met with him last week. Since I didn't know much about any of this stuff, after those three days, I was trying to make sense of everything. Was something wrong with me? There's no doubt in my mind what I experienced was absolutely real, but what did it all mean? After devouring this book, I have a much better understanding of what happened. I've been blessed.

This volume is a much needed update to a earlier volume that I read decades ago by William Johnston, “Silent Music” (1979, HarperCollins) - which also used the best technology of the day, the 1970’s, to study the brain waves (EEG was as good as it got back then!) of monks and meditators, primarily from the Catholic and Zen Buddhist traditions. How far medical imaging technology has come in the 40 years since then! While SPECT scans aren’t as clear as fMRI they still indicate areas of the brain involved in the various mental states associated with “enlightenment” phenomenon, and the authors make a good case for why the most common elements of those experiences are encountered based on the their observations of functional scans of subjects’ brains. I commend them for their efforts. Since I am both an Episcopal priest and a clinical psychologist, the volume blends my two areas of professional experience and I found it intriguing. Coincidentally, I read the current book immediately after reading and leading a study group discussion of another book by the same publisher, “The Book of Joy” ( The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as recorded by Doug Abrams, 2016). I was struck by the convergence of themes in the two volumes - for example the Dalai Lama’s repeated references to himself as “just one of seven billion human beings on the planet,” and Newberg and Waldron’s recounting of subjects’ description of a sense of “unity or connectedness” (the first of the 5 elements of enlightenment, p. 51).Towards the end of the particularly, but also throughout, I found myself noting convergence with another development psychological scheme which neither ‘The Book of Joy” nor “How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain” make reference to, but which I felt would significantly depend the discussion, particularly toward then end of Newberg and Waldron in final chapter, “Enlightenment for All.” They note that, “If you seek Enlightenment, expect some resistance because your ever-changing brain doesn’t always like to change! … Any change in our environment, or in our brain, also stimulates the amygdala, causing us to react with uncertainty or fear. … This explains why … we found that most people are only partially open to new or different ideas. In fact, the stronger your belief system, the less likely you are to be open to other people who espouse different beliefs. But sometimes life’s stressors are so strong that your belief system fails to relieve your suffering. In that deep despair, you may realize that it is time to try something new.” (p246-247) This is precisely the process that James Fowler (“Stages of Faith”, 1981, rev ed. 1995, Harper) describes as the catalyst from a “lower” developmental stage to a higher one. He also is very clear that the developmental pyramid he describes is exactly that - a pyramid. As one ascends higher on the scale of consciousness, fewer and fewer people actually attain those higher stages. The conflict in our country at the moment is a prime example of how this plays out on a large, societal and national scale. Newberg and Waldron also (and I believe correctly) see a correlation between education and openness to change - those with higher education, who have been exposed to broader ideas and different cultures are more accepting of other’s ideas and beliefs. (p. 175) While Enlightenment may be available to all, not that many are interested in achieving it, as this would require a radical departure in deeply held, and some of us would describe them as dysfunctional, primitive or backwards, beliefs. The resurgence in hate crimes since last year’s campaign and election is a stark reminder of this fact. Yet, despite this, the good news is that Enlightenment IS available to anyone with the desire, drive and self-discipline to seek it. Both Newborn and Waldron, as well as the “Book of Joy” include appendices of structure exercises intended to assist people in discovering their own enlightenment experience. Perhaps, if more are successful, we can heal the hurt, pain and divisions now fracturing our country.

I don't feel that only one set of traditional practices (Sufi) should be the only one touted toward the end of this book. Although I have a lot of respect for the Sufis, I am a Buddhist, and so their practices are not conducive to helping me on my spiritual journey.

I'm very interested in the field of Neuro theology and this book explores the different levels of "enlightenment" and that no established or specific practice is necessary to experience enlightenment.I recommend this book to any one interested in begining some sort of meditation/spiritual practice or a current practitioner.This book clarified many of my questions and provides many useful and practica and usefull tips so I give it 5 stars.

I LOVE this book. I am not just reading it, I am doing the exercises Dr. Newberg recommends. It's a fantastic read if you have ever wondered about Enlightenment. I have long thought that it's a certain 'state' in the brain, and that there should be a way to stimulate that state. This book answers those questions in spades.Thanks, Andy! x o

I was very interested in reading a book about brain function before, during, after "enlightenment" activities.While there was some of that, certainly more than in most such books, I was disappointed.There was much more about the enlightenment and what it means to the authors than about brain function when people are having spiritual kind of experiences.For my objectives I would give it 2 stars, but I am giving it 3 because for most people it might be interesting