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Copyright © 2014
Avello Publishing Journal
ISSN: 2049 - 498X
Issue 1 Volume 4:
The Paradox of Nietzschean Atheism
Jason Wakefield, University of Cambridge, England.
Review: The Believer's Brain (2014) R.S Donda & K.M Heilman. Psychology Press.
Heilman was raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the University of Virginia School
of Medicine in 1963 before studying neurology at the Harvard Medical School. His current clinical
activityis based at the University of Florida where is the Director of Behavioural Neurology. This
new book is co-authored with Donda; beginning with a preface acknowledging the Harvard Medical
School graduate William James as one of the first modern scientists 'to investigate religious
experience as a psychological phenomenon' (Donda & Heilman 2014: xii).
Thus in 146 pages Donda and Heilman examine the neuropsychology of religiousity in
atheologically neutral tone, as opposed to the atheistic architecture of Richard Dawkins we seen
written in The God Delusion (2006). In comparison to Dawkin's book, The Believer's Brain, is a
fifth of the size, citing Charles Darwin six times – whereas The God Delusion cites Charles
Darwin's name thirty four times. Donda and Heilman's introduction rejects Descartes idea that the
pineal part of our brains is where our souls originate from. This perhaps oversimplifies Descartes,
as his soul hypothesis is compatible with our current analysis of the structure of the pineal and how
it produces melatonin in our sleeping patterns. The firing rate of neurons might be as rapid as 100
times per second. High glucose levels in neurons fuel quicker firing rates, thus The Believer's Brain
could be improved by comparing colour photographs of neurons firing in real-time with different
levels of sugar and oxygen in the blood. Instead the book's figures are monochrome diagrams of
sections such as the ventromedial portion of the frontal lobes that partially control mood. The brain
stem area that produces serotonin is the raphe nuclei (according to Donda and Heilman) during
nuns' prayers and the prayers of children. What might improve this book is th einclusion of
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graphsshowing EEG wave charts of electrical currents from active neurons firing.
Despite this limitation, this book has excellent and clear diagrams illustrating the basal ganglia –
which recieves 'dopamine from neurons in the substantia nigra which is found in the
mesencephalon' (Donda & Heilman 2014: 18). The central crux of this book is that understanding
how our brains function does not diminish spirituality, but increases our appreciation of the trillions
of links between neurons that mediates mental states. What is perhaps the biggest flaw in the
argument is that neurotransmitters can be wired together with artificial nano-bots to hack
specialized receptors. This allows the bio-hacker to manipulate the primary motor cortex which is
connected to th ebrain stem, spinal cord, and motor nerve. Thus the bio-hacker can remotely
destimulate the premotor cortex, for example, to prevent an arm or wrist make a simple movement.
Bio-nano-hackers can remotely activate now a few systems of motor neurons.
Specific premotor neurons often fire without the use of nanotech manipulation when the
environment is controled or simulated. This does not apply to controlling facial expressions which
is not controlled by mirror-neurons, but by coded electrochemical signals. This research is not new;
the contemporary of Friedrich Nietzsche, the German neurologist Heinrich Lissauer, studied the
retinas of eyes detail. Visual object agnosia and MRI scans have illuminated a paradox first
illuminated by Lissauer: moving hands and eyes to focus on (or touch) objects when blindfolded is
often easier than when doing the same tasks without a blindfold. German thinkers had friendly
competition from French physicians in 1868, such as Paul Broca, who was an expert in left-brain
logic. Left hemisphere primarily mediates analytic-deductive thinking in our brains, thus readers of
this book will be stimulated accordingly in that part of the brain.
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