# Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin and Religion



## Electra (Oct 24, 2014)

Are these connected?
What is your honest opinion? Is it so that when someone asks you if you want to know God, and you start to speak about God, how God is allmighty and the answer to all your dreams, etc. and after a while talking like this, you want to know more and more, your dopamine level rises, and when someone fks. put a hand on your head and pray, the oxytocin and serotonin level rises as well, creating ecstacy, which is experienced as salvation?
If you would like to say that religion is not related to chemicals, I would say that chocklate tastes good, despite being made up of chemicals...I allready learned that religion is connected to serotonin. But I think the other two (dopamine and oxytocin) may also be involved. What do you think? These are powerfull things.Wouldn't it makes sence then that if these chemicals, which are the same chemical you experience so strong when you are in love, would influence a religious person in much the same way as someone who is love, and that if this religious person has severe problems with their religion, it could feel like a romantic break up?






Here is some information about this gathered from psychology today:


 
*Oxytocin*
Pair Bonding


Oxytocin is a powerful hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. It plays an important role in reproduction, initiating contractions before birth as well as milk release. And it is thought to be involved in broader social cognition and behavior, potentially ranging from mother-infant bonding and romantic connection to group-related attitudes and prejudice. The hormone is produced in the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream by the pituitary gland.

* Why Is Oxytocin Called the "Love Hormone?" *








Oxytocin has been called "the cuddle hormone" or "the love hormone" due to its association with pair bonding. It appears to help reinforce the early attachment between mothers and their infants, as well as the bonds between romantic partners. Animal research has connected oxytocin (along with another hormone, vasopressin) with the lifelong pair-bonding of prairie voles, and scientists have reported increases in oxytocin levels following orgasm in humans. There is also evidence that increases in oxytocin may encourage prosocial behavior, though not all studies have found these positive results, and some experts have undercut the idea that the hormone is a “trust molecule.”

* Of Serotonin and Spirituality *
* Scientists see a biological underpinning for religiosity, and it is related to the neurotransmitter serotonin. *

By PT Staff published November 1, 2003 - last reviewed on June 9, 2016



Serotonin, the brain chemical crucial to mood and motivation, also shapes personality to make you susceptible to spiritual experiences. A team of Swedish researchers has found that the presence of a receptor that regulates general serotonin activity in the brain correlates with people's capacity for transcendence, the ability to apprehend phenomena that cannot be explained objectively. Scientists have long suspected that serotonin influences spirituality because drugs known to alter serotonin such as LSD also induce mystical experiences. But now they have proof from brain scans linking the capacity for spirituality with a major biological element.

The concentration of serotonin receptors normally varies markedly among individuals. Those whose brain scans showed the most receptor activity proved on personality tests to have the strongest proclivity to spiritual acceptance.
Reporting in the _American Journal of Psychiatry_ , the researchers see the evidence as contradicting the common belief that religious behavior is determined strictly by environmental and cultural factors. They see a biological underpinning for religiosity, and it is related to the neurotransmitter serotonin.


Here is a video on what happens when people fall in love.












Verified by Psychology Today


*Dopamine*


Dopamine is known as the feel-good neurotransmitter—a chemical that ferries information between neurons. The brain releases it when we eat food that we crave or while we have sex, contributing to feelings of pleasure and satisfaction as part of the reward system. This important neurochemical boosts mood, motivation, and attention, and helps regulate movement, learning, and emotional responses.

*Contents*

 Dopamine and Behavior 
 Dopamine and the Brain 
 How to Increase Dopamine 
 

* How Dopamine Influences Behavior *








In lab experiments, dopamine prompts a rat to press a lever for food again and again. This is no different in humans, it’s the reason why we partake in more than one helping of cake. This press-the-lever action applies to addiction as well. People with low levels of dopamine may be more prone to addiction; a person seeking pleasure via drugs or alcohol or food needs higher and higher levels of dopamine.

* How does dopamine make you feel? *


Dopamine causes you to want, desire, seek out, and search. It increases your general level of arousal and your goal-directed behavior. Dopamine makes you curious about ideas and fuels your searching for information.Dopamine creates reward-seeking loops in the sense that people will repeat pleasurable behavior, from checking Instagram to taking drugs.

* What does it mean to say someone has high levels of dopamine? *


A person with high levels of dopamine, whether due to temperament or to a transient—perhaps chemically induced state—can be described as a sensation seeker. The upside of sensation seeking is that people see potential stressors as challenges to be overcome rather than threats that might crush them. This mindset is a buffer against the stress of life. It increases their hardiness and resilience in the long term.

* What is the dopamine reward circuit? *




* Psychiatric and Neurodegenerative Disorders *








Swedish pharmacologist and neuroscientist Arvid Carlsson won the Nobel prize in 2000 for his research on dopamine, showing its importance in brain function. He helped show that the neurotransmitter is heavily involved in the motor system. When the brain fails to produce enough dopamine, it can result in Parkinson’s disease. The primary treatment for Parkinson’s disease is a drug called L-dopa, which spurs the production of dopamine.
Dopamine has also been implicated in schizophrenia and ADHD; the brain systems underlying these conditions (as well as substance abuse disorder) are complex. The activity of the dopamine system depends on the state of one’s dopamine receptors, and in people with these conditions, the chemical interacts with other factors in ways that have yet to be explained.

* How does dopamine function in the brain? *


It is no exaggeration to say that dopamine makes us human. Beginning in infant development, dopamine levels are critical, and mental disabilities can arise if dopamine is not present in sufficient quantities. Dopamine is implicated in genetic conditions like congenital hypothyroidism. Dopamine deficiency is also implicated in other conditions such as Alzheimer's, depressive disorders, binge-eating, addiction, and gambling.

* What is the link between dopamine and conditions like ADHD? *


Drugs currently used to treat ADHD do indeed increase the effectiveness of dopamine. This helps patients with ADHD focus and pay better attention to one thing at a time. How exactly more dopamine translates into better concentration and focus is not yet understood.

* What is the link between dopamine and Parkinson’s? *





* How to Increase Dopamine *








Scientists who study neurological and psychiatric disorders have long been interested in how dopamine works and how relatively high or low levels of dopamine in the brain relate to behavioral challenges and disability.
There are ways to up one's dopamine levels naturally, and basic self-care is the place to start. A night of fitful sleep, for one, can reduce dopamine drastically. Here are some tips to boost levels:

Eat foods rich in tyrosine including cheese, meats, fish, dairy, soy, seeds, nuts, beans, lentils, among others. While tyrosine supplements are available, consuming foods is preferred.


Up magnesium intake with foods such as seeds, nuts, soy, beans, whole grains, among others.


Avoid processed foods, high-fats, sugar, caffeine.


Proper sleep hygiene is mandatory, as it fuels dopamine production.


Exercise daily.


Avoid stress, apply techniques such as meditation, visualization, breathing exercises.


Consider the use of natural nootropics including L-Tyrosine and L-theanine.

Link:





Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist


View the latest from the world of psychology: from behavioral research to practical guidance on relationships, mental health and addiction. Find help from our directory of therapists, psychologists and counselors.




www.psychologytoday.com


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## dulcinea (Aug 22, 2011)

I'd say these traits are associated with spirituality, but not necessarily religiosity.
Some religions tend to be overly emotional in nature, such as those that rely on revival centers, but ideally, it should be based on both emotion and reason.
I believe Bible principles are, for the most part, written to be considered depending on the individual nuances of a particular situation. The idea is to consider decisions careful and behave responsibly, because our relationship with God, or whether one wants to have one at all, or even believes in him, is each individual person's responsibility.
Dedication is a life long responsibility, based on a decision that should be considered as carefully as any other. This, ideally, being both religious and spiritual should take a great deal of prudence.


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## ThisNameWorks (Mar 11, 2017)

People that base their spirituality, faith, religion on human emotions don’t know God. The Bible warns of the wickedness of the heart, of the flesh.

God’s expectations demand us to bare the emotions contrary to dopemine, serotonin, and ecstasy. We are literally forced to work against them for the glory of Christ.

The feel goods come and go normally, as you would expect of any lifestyle. Though it is arguable that leaders of large evangelical communities are happier than others.


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## Electra (Oct 24, 2014)

These are interesting viewpoints 😇


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## HAL (May 10, 2014)

> *Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin and Religion*
> Are these connected?


No. Those hormones exist whether there's religion involved or not. Sure, some people might derive happiness from religious ideals, but it isn't unique to religion in any way whatsoever.


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## Abraxas (May 28, 2011)

Electra said:


> Are these connected?
> What is your honest opinion? Is it so that when someone asks you if you want to know God, and you start to speak about God, how God is allmighty and the answer to all your dreams, etc. and after a while talking like this, you want to know more and more, your dopamine level rises, and when someone fks. put a hand on your head and pray, the oxytocin and serotonin level rises as well, creating ecstacy, which is experienced as salvation?
> If you would like to say that religion is not related to chemicals, I would say that chocklate tastes good, despite being made up of chemicals...I allready learned that religion is connected to serotonin. But I think the other two (dopamine and oxytocin) may also be involved. What do you think? These are powerfull things.Wouldn't it makes sence then that if these chemicals, which are the same chemical you experience so strong when you are in love, would influence a religious person in much the same way as someone who is love, and that if this religious person has severe problems with their religion, it could feel like a romantic break up?
> 
> ...


I have two responses to this.

First of all, yes as you have demonstrated and those videos illustrate, there is a correlation. Causation however? No, I don't think you can ever narrowly define what causes **** sapiens to organize into religious doctrines, or at best, you can have a theory about it that takes into account many many factors that would have to go beyond just chemical reactions.

This leads to my second response; I do not consider the behavior of humans to be something that can be _reduced_ to merely the laws of physics, or the laws of chemistry, or any other scientific natural process that occurs at the level of physical substrate. The one and most verifiable thing in your life is your own consciousness, and it simply _cannot_ be reduced to the firing of neurons in pre-determined sequences. See also, the "Hard Problem of Consciousness". Where is the "appleness" of an apple to be found? It isn't in the atoms, it isn't even in the arrangement of atoms, or the properties of atoms, or the properties of chemicals, etc. It's an _emergent_ definition that can only be understood as a conscious experience. This gets into the whole free-will vs determinism argument, in fact, and why most physicists would argue that there is still room for free-will.

While this video is slightly off-topic, the message it carries, that our human experiences are not bound by deterministic arguments, is an important one that I feel pertains to the underlying theme of this discussion; i.e., that our human behaviors are "merely" chemical interactions, or something of that nature.






But, I want to close on the notion that, you bring up very important points. As much as I've taken a contrarian position trying to argue that we have some degree of control and have to take responsibility for it, I'm also not saying that you're entirely wrong. Chemicals and biology and the laws of nature absolutely define certain boundaries and limits and ways that we have to adapt. And how _much_ of a role all of that plays is where it really goes down the rabbit hole, because you have this whooooooole really interesting part of yourself called...

*THE UNCONSCIOUS*

And by that I mean _you really don't know, how *much* you don't know_. You can get an inkling, an intuition, you see? That's what intuition is. "Something missing" or "maybe it's this" trying to tell you there's "more" out there you need to be aware of.

But it goes beyond just what you don't know. There's also the *COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS*, the blind spots of our _entire species_, that scientists and philosophers and wise people have struggled with since the dawn of time. That's the whole origin of this "objective world" you see, that our intuition as **** sapiens tells us "there must be something out there _causing_ me to exist, _causing_ these experiences I am having, that is not just me, but something _separate_ from me." It saves us from "solipsism" and believing only the self is real and nothing else exists.

So basically, it's important to keep looking at things like the OP presents, but don't take them too seriously. Remain doubtful, skeptical, because the truth could be so profound and so beyond anything that we understand or anything that currently makes any sense... again, nobody really knows how _much_ they don't know, and they never can.


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## Plusless (Aug 19, 2020)

You can form relationships to religious communities and practises, so I would say it is possible. The strength of the hormonal response would depend on the genes and perspective of the individual.

Religion is one of the few things in life that is generous with hope. If the hope can save them from despair, there will be people who embrace it with affection.


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## MrBigStickAndSoccerBalls (Nov 2, 2020)

No. Personally, I mostly believe in God because I thought to myself one evening that unless God gives me a sign he's real I will not believe. I figured he or she either didn't care or isn't real so it was sort of the inverse of pascal's wager. That evening I received a letter someone must have accidentally mailed me as it was addressed to another, but I opened it anyways since it had my address on the envelope. In it was a hand written note from a lady named Jannie to someone named Serendipity and it said, "I know you are losing faith but he is always watching." on the first line. I read this literally as I was making the wager with God in my mind.

After that day the veil thinned and the synchronicity multiplied and exponentiated in density. I am a pretty sensible person but this along with the appirition I and several others witnessed is what gives me faith in a spiritual truth and religiosity. My view here doesn't change regardless of what mood enhancers I am consuming.


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## Agent0069 (Nov 15, 2020)

Electra said:


> Are these connected?
> What is your honest opinion? Is it so that when someone asks you if you want to know God, and you start to speak about God, how God is allmighty and the answer to all your dreams, etc. and after a while talking like this, you want to know more and more, your dopamine level rises, and when someone fks. put a hand on your head and pray, the oxytocin and serotonin level rises as well, creating ecstacy, which is experienced as salvation?
> If you would like to say that religion is not related to chemicals, I would say that chocklate tastes good, despite being made up of chemicals...I allready learned that religion is connected to serotonin. But I think the other two (dopamine and oxytocin) may also be involved. What do you think? These are powerfull things.Wouldn't it makes sence then that if these chemicals, which are the same chemical you experience so strong when you are in love, would influence a religious person in much the same way as someone who is love, and that if this religious person has severe problems with their religion, it could feel like a romantic break up?
> 
> ...


INTJ Here. I've studied computational neuroscience long enough to know that the brain is the most complex system we as humans know of. It's a delicate balance of hormones, and neurotransmitters and electricity that when activated self-organize into "conciousness' Conciousness is an emergent property of a self-organizing complex system, constantly changing its configuration because of plastcity, forming new memories and re-arranging pathways a million times per second. 

We can indcuce life changing spiritual expierences, for exacmply DMT (dimethly-tryptamine) is one of the many psychoactive neurotranmissers we already have, but when taken exogenously (by say, licking the right kind of toad that secretes it or eating a certain treebark that is rich in it) alters 5HT (seratonin) reuptake in ways like LSD or naturally occuring LSA. Inducing psychadelic and religious themed visions. Evangelical Christians relate that expiernece to the stories and dogma they beleive in, just as Native Americans had vision quests and spoke with their anscestors and the millons of Hindu's, Buddhists and Muslims will have themes and thoughts connected to whatever religion their into. As a scientiest I can't delare that there is a connection, but as a concious person who was once an atheist and like Dr. Timothy Leary before me had multiple expierences and connected with a "higher cosmic force" (the only langunage I can think of to describe such a thing) I firmly beleive we are all interconected, and super connected to something much bigger than our tiny brains can comprehend by simply studying electrical activity. I don't believe there is any "right" religion or that the universe is so poorly organized that there is a "Hell" we are supposed to fear to keep us "good" That's dogma. But there is a force which can be accessed.

Here I leave a quote by Dr. Alexander Shulgin that seems relevant:

There is a wealth of information built into us ... tucked away in the genetic material in every one of our cells ... without some means of access, there is no way even to begin to guess at the extent and quality of what is there. The psychedelic drugs allow exploration of this interior world, and insights into its nature.


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## WickerDeer (Aug 1, 2012)

I imagine your thoughts can evoke certain biochemical responses that include oxytocin, dopamine, and seratonin.

So thinking about God could end up making you feel good. Also--there was a whole type of ecclesiastical writers who focused on their relationship with God, and felt it to be very intimate. Your oxytocin comment reminded me of that. I think this was maybe more common of female ecclesiastical writers?

I don't think it's necessarily physically from the religion though. I don't experience that when hearing or talking about Christianity. If a man were to put his hand on me and pray, I probably wouldn't experience the same biochemical response as you since I don't feel the same about it.

But I do believe religion and spirituality can be very powerful, and I don't doubt that there are people who feel a very strong response to those types of experiences.

I'm trying to think of if I've ever felt a strong biochemical response to spirituality--I have at times felt a strong response from thinking of intimacy--like being under the moon and feeling that I am connected to nature and the celestial bodies--and the ocean. I've felt very strong emotions which probably did affect my dopamine and serotonin, and maybe ven oxytocin--like just being near the beautiful ocean at night, under the moon--in the darkness, alone. It's been a long time since then though, since I don't feel that safe b/c of other people. 

And by intimate, I mean that the moon is my mother and the ocean is my sister. So that does remind me of oxytocin...but also...the moon and the ocean are just amazing--just like you might feel God and your religion are amazing!


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## Abraxas (May 28, 2011)

MrBigStickAndSoccerBalls said:


> No. Personally, I mostly believe in God because I thought to myself one evening that unless God gives me a sign he's real I will not believe. I figured he or she either didn't care or isn't real so it was sort of the inverse of pascal's wager. That evening I received a letter someone must have accidentally mailed me as it was addressed to another, but I opened it anyways since it had my address on the envelope. In it was a hand written note from a lady named Jannie to someone named Serendipity and it said, "I know you are losing faith but he is always watching." on the first line. I read this literally as I was making the wager with God in my mind.
> 
> After that day the veil thinned and the synchronicity multiplied and exponentiated in density. I am a pretty sensible person but this along with the appirition I and several others witnessed is what gives me faith in a spiritual truth and religiosity. My view here doesn't change regardless of what mood enhancers I am consuming.


I had a similar experience actually. My whole life I was atheist and hated organized world religions, anything "supernatural", mystical, pseudo scientific, subjective, etc, because I was raised Christian and never had a choice about going to church every Sunday, and my family was so strict about it they wouldn't even let me own Magic: The Gathering cards or play Dungeons & Dragons because they thought it was satanic. I studied such things, but mainly so I could discredit them in discussions and get my facts straight. I figured, if anything divine or profound really exists, there's no way I wouldn't encounter it at some point. I was right.

One day in my late 20s, for literally no reason, out of the blue, I felt a powerful and intense _anxiety_ wash over me while I was cleaning my apartment, which was not attached to anything I was thinking about at that moment or anything going on in my life. I wasn't stressed, I wasn't sick, everything was fine at the time. I thought I was having a panic attack or a heart attack or something. As my eyes darted around, I glanced at a book that was sitting on the floor near my wall; it was the Tao Te Ching, by Laozi. I felt compelled to pick it up and open it, and initially the thought was "maybe this will take my mind off whatever is happening and it'll go away". Again, I was right. I opened it to chapter 11: "Valuing Absence", and it said this:

_Thirty spokes join one hub,
The cart's use lies where they are absent.
Throwing clay to make a vessel;
The vessel's use lies where the clay is absent.
Sculpting windows and doors to make a room;
The room's use lies where they are absent.
So we treat having something as beneficial and treat lacking something as usable._

Instantly, all the anxiety washed away, and something else replaced it, so intense, like, such a profoundly deep _emptiness_, I cannot describe it. I have never felt anything like it before, and I have never felt anything like it since. Total clarity. Total void. No mind. No feeling. Just silence. Just being.

I sat there like that just staring into space for about an hour, I had no sense of time, no sense of my own body, no sense of anything except just the passive ambiance of the little sounds in my apartment, and I was just totally still. When I finally snapped out of it, I couldn't put the book down, I read the entire thing from cover to cover, and unlike before, when I had read it in a cynical way, I read it in a receptive way, I opened myself up to it, and the epiphanies kept flowing and wouldn't stop.

I took it so seriously, I started meditating, I started practicing yoga, I started taking tai chi classes, and I stopped drinking alcohol. I started listening to Alan Watts lectures and researching eastern philosophy more and more, and it changed my life, changed how I understood myself, changed how I felt about other people, and about nature, and about society. I felt like a massive burden had been lifted from me, I recognized how important inner peace and harmony is, and now I am deeply aware of my internal state of being at all times, and I try to remain self-aware like that at all times so that I do not lash out or act rashly. I still do sometimes, but I forgive myself and remind myself that it's okay, I'm learning, I'm growing, and I always will be.

I'm not religious, I don't practice Daoism religiously, I only try to understand the philosophy of it and apply it to my life. However, I do believe now that there could be some truth in the supernatural, there could be something valuable in mysticism, and subjectivity gets a bad rap. It helped me to better understand Jungian psychology as well. Understanding that the unconscious of the psyche isn't just what you personally don't know, but goes so much deeper, into the collective unconscious of what _nobody_ is conscious of, or only a few rare individuals in history ever made contact with, and how profoundly such contact changed them, in ways that the only _language_ available to them to explain their experiences was spiritual and religious.

I try to explain myself through psychology, but sometimes, now I go back to those occult systems and religious systems I used to study, looking for inspiration about what drives humanity, really deep down inside, what we really _are_, at the core of our being, all of us. Not just me, but all of us. Everywhere. At all times, past, present, and future. The universal _essence_ of this constructed reality we all interface with. And I find that those answers tend to come more from the occult, or from eastern and western spiritual systems, than they do from science and logic.


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## MrBigStickAndSoccerBalls (Nov 2, 2020)

Abraxas said:


> I had a similar experience actually. My whole life I was atheist and hated organized world religions, anything "supernatural", mystical, pseudo scientific, subjective, etc, because I was raised Christian and never had a choice about going to church every Sunday, and my family was so strict about it they wouldn't even let me own Magic: The Gathering cards or play Dungeons & Dragons because they thought it was satanic. I studied such things, but mainly so I could discredit them in discussions and get my facts straight. I figured, if anything divine or profound really exists, there's no way I wouldn't encounter it at some point. I was right.
> 
> One day in my late 20s, for literally no reason, out of the blue, I felt a powerful and intense _anxiety_ wash over me while I was cleaning my apartment, which was not attached to anything I was thinking about at that moment or anything going on in my life. I wasn't stressed, I wasn't sick, everything was fine at the time. I thought I was having a panic attack or a heart attack or something. As my eyes darted around, I glanced at a book that was sitting on the floor near my wall; it was the Tao Te Ching, by Laozi. I felt compelled to pick it up and open it, and initially the thought was "maybe this will take my mind off whatever is happening and it'll go away". Again, I was right. I opened it to chapter 11: "Valuing Absence", and it said this:
> 
> ...


Carl Jung refers to the border of the personal psyche and the collective as the psychoid...the connection between matter and spirit...thanks for sharing your story!

I am certain there is such a thing as the supernatural. I have had precognitive dreams as well. They are not something that happen frequently or that I can control, but I certainly on occasion dream about strange people. I usually write them in a journal and analyze them. More often than not, they are just dreams, but I have several dreams that I wrote that came true. I wrote the dreams several years before the events and went back and found the journal entries that corroborated the exact events in the exact order with the exact descriptions of the individuals.

I've had about 3-4 of them in my life.


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## [Kyrios]SunEatingBum (Jul 4, 2020)

Abraxas said:


> I opened it to chapter 11: "Valuing Absence", and it said this:
> 
> _Thirty spokes join one hub,
> The cart's use lies where they are absent.
> ...


The spoken language utilized when broaching such concepts has an essential role in conveying the weight, and nuances, to be expressed. I am grateful for the work of those whom take it upon their shoulders to translate texts, such as the one cited in your quote. 
Insightful.









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## Warp11 (Jul 13, 2016)

Interesting question and probably yes that there is a connection between the religious experience and psycho-physiological effects. There's also the question of whether it's a religious experience followed up by an influx of neurotransmitter activity or, neurotransmitter activity (preceded by a stimulus of what I'm not sure...), followed up by a religious experience.

I've often wondered what is going on with those people you see on, for example, the evangelical Christian t.v. shows, blubbering, wailing and writhing around like they have been enraptured, healed of their ailments and "saved." Are they truly experiencing a divine moment? Is this what happens to the human body when the demons are cast out? (trying not to smirk here ya know... . Is it authentic? Perhaps for some it is. Even with simple observation of people's behaviour, it's hard to say that the depth of emotion they're outwardly displaying can be (easily) faked on the mass level. These people look like they are possessed by _something_, if nothing more than a chemical reaction.

But, on a purely subjective, anecdotal level, I'll share one of a handful of "divine" moments I've experienced. This is not easy to express as I take these perceptual experiences with a degree of skepticism. I.e. is it all in my head? Am I drawing connections that don't really exist?

Last summer I was overcome with something that felt "greater than myself." 
It was early evening and I was outside watering the garden, mulling over the current negative aspects of my life, downward spiral kind of shit. I hadn't seen my daughters for weeks, and only intermittently for several months before that. There were so many things going on at once, including mounting financial problems. Everything was chaos and I just began sobbing, overwhelmed by the weight of my thoughts that were crushing me down into the ground. I literally felt this pressure in my body. My head was hanging, tears uncontrollable. Then after a few minutes, I heard the inner voice shout "Stop this. Look up now." I did.

And there he was, maybe it was a she - Haliaeetus leucocephalus - flying west toward my direction, along the path of this waterway next to which I live. My eyes were fixated on this sight, as while they are not exactly rare, bald eagles are extremely uncommon in this area. It was flying so low, less than 30 feet above where I stood and almost directly overhead. 
I could "feel" the displaced energy of its massive wingspan. Such a powerful and majestic creature! 

And then it was like all of sudden the pain of my thoughts had vanished. I was pulled out of this despair, no more crying, only pure awe inside that incredible moment. That weight was gone and instead it felt like something relieving a huge amount of pressure, uplifting. Surely there were a lot of neurotransmitters in action at that time. Probably all of them, Dopamine in full force 
I ask myself if that was just coincidence, right time and place? Or, is there true synchronicity as is becoming so popular these days? Whatever was the "cause" idk, I'm not sure how much it really matters. It's the result of your experience that matters. And if our neurochemical makeup is a slave to the experiences, why not pursue those experiences that produce the best chemical reactions? Anyway, it mostly made me realize that our problems and the physical torture we put ourselves through is a state of mind. 
Perhaps so insignificant that as soon as something better comes along we forget all about them.
I hope this made sense.


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## Electra (Oct 24, 2014)

Warp10 said:


> Interesting question and probably yes that there is a connection between the religious experience and psycho-physiological effects. There's also the question of whether it's a religious experience followed up by an influx of neurotransmitter activity or, neurotransmitter activity (preceded by a stimulus of what I'm not sure...), followed up by a religious experience.
> 
> I've often wondered what is going on with those people you see on, for example, the evangelical Christian t.v. shows, blubbering, wailing and writhing around like they have been enraptured, healed of their ailments and "saved." Are they truly experiencing a divine moment? Is this what happens to the human body when the demons are cast out? (trying not to smirk here ya know... . Is it authentic? Perhaps for some it is. Even with simple observation of people's behaviour, it's hard to say that the depth of emotion they're outwardly displaying can be (easily) faked on the mass level. These people look like they are possessed by _something_, if nothing more than a chemical reaction.
> 
> ...


I was once prayed for and nomatter what it might seem like I had an exstatic, undescribable fantastic huge feeling of extreme unconditional love and infinity. Oh ye - I bet there are lots of those who fake it!! It made completely sense and it sounds like a great experience!! Isn't it funny with these coincedental lucky experiences? I have also often felt that religion goes through feeling and is an experience 🙂


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## Behnam Agahi (Oct 27, 2020)

Wow... I'm astonished by your idea 🙄😳
Greatly written. My opinion? Yes it sure is connected.
Dopamine is different from the two other hormones you mentioned. Dopamine is almost responsible for every transmit from a nerve cell across the synapse to a target cell in our body.
Unusual Dopamine level is more connected to physical reasons I guess. For example smoking cigarettes or having a bad food regiment might lead to unusual decrease in Dopamine levels after some time (Smoking cigarettes causes an unusual increase but after some time it will affect our body ability to produce Dopamine).
High levels of Dopamine causes physical enjoyment I think rather than a mental attitude.
But about Serotonin it sure is connected. Serotonin as researchers suggest is the main reason why we are feeling happy mentally.
Usual prescription for people who deal with depression includes SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) which function by increasing the level of Serotonin by limiting its reabsorption(reuptake) into the cells.
Fluoxetine is an SSRI for example.
So Serotonin is surely connected to our mental wellbeing which religion also is a factor that causes one's mental state to change greatly.
Oxytocin is the hormone which causes the emotion known as belonging. When this hormone is produced you will feel that you belong to your current environment, for example lovers will feel mutual belonging or mothers will feel responsibility for their newborn baby. It's also the hormone which causes you to think of a previous situation where you felt that you belonged there and that might be the reason why people can't get over break ups easily.
About religion it's also the same. When you feel that you belong to God or Jesus Christ, it's really hard to remove those feelings from you (It might be the same as getting over break ups).
By the way, how the hell did you came up with these ideas? 😂


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## Electra (Oct 24, 2014)

I have taken ritaline for 14 years and I was curious what it did to me. Ritaline helps the body produce dopamine. (I have adhd a low/slow metabolism (Hashimotos; which is treated with levaxine, and ptsd which used to be treated with anti depressent medication that produced serotonin, norephinphrine and dopamine and another one which produced calming gaba, in addition to sleeping meds and migrain medication.) I got curious and googled these too. I often felt in a better mood after taking ritalin, they stabilised my mood and made me go from p'ish to j'ish in mbti terms. Many years later I listen to Helen fisher (see the video above) who claimed that the neurotransmittors and hormones effected lots of aspects in our life such as love, addiction, political views, the place we live in, our language , ye; even down to how we decorate cakes 🙂


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## Behnam Agahi (Oct 27, 2020)

Electra said:


> I have taken ritaline for 14 years and I was curious what it did to me. Ritaline helps the body produce dopamine. (I have adhd a low/slow metabolism (Hashimotos; which is treated with levaxine, and ptsd which used to be treated with anti depressent medication that produced serotonin, norephinphrine and dopamine and another one which produced calming gaba, in addition to sleeping meds and migrain medication.) I got curious and googled these too. I often felt in a better mood after taking ritalin, they stabilised my mood and made me go from p'ish to j'ish in mbti terms. Many years later I listen to Helen fisher (see the video above) who claimed that the neurotransmittors and hormones effected lots of aspects in our life such as love, addiction, political views, the place we live in, our language , ye; even down to how we decorate cakes 🙂


😊 It's the same saying that there might exist no weaknesses.
Your mental state might be also the reason why you come up with so many brilliant ideas.
I've been taking antidepressants for a long time, since I graduated from elementary I guess. It helps me with my mood a lot. I might become too angry as the people around me say. I just can't bear the fact that I must not react hardly to some situations. I can't stand it when someone does an unjust thing and tries to justify it.
Ahh but what can I do? The world doesn't work with emotions that much.
I hope that you experience your life as best as you can. Sometimes your background is the best gift that life can give you even if people don't understand ☺
Wish you the best in your life, and I'm happy to see that you shared your experiences. You are extraordinary. And I won't forget the cake 😂 I used it as an example last time and saw that you used it too 😄


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## Electra (Oct 24, 2014)

Behnam Agahi said:


> 😊 It's the same saying that there might exist no weaknesses.
> Your mental state might be also the reason why you come up with so many brilliant ideas.
> I've been taking antidepressants for a long time, since I graduated from elementary I guess. It helps me with my mood a lot. I might become too angry as the people around me say. I just can't bear the fact that I must not react hardly to some situations. I can't stand it when someone does an unjust thing and tries to justify it.
> Ahh but what can I do? The world doesn't work with emotions that much.
> ...


😁😆
Thanks a bunch!! Luckily I don't use anti depressive, sleeping or calming medications anymore, and it has made me a lot more alert, sceptic and and aware then when I was on those meds and its easier to learn and be physically active 🙂 Yes experiences are a great teacher, sometimes words and stories just don't cut it to make you understand how life really is...


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## ThisNameWorks (Mar 11, 2017)

Oh the other hand, this guy could probably use less of the dope and X. There’s something so blatantly unnatural about this, like the polar opposite of faith.

Skip to 3:55


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