Ali Sina - Understanding Muhammad

Muhammad’s Ecstatic Experiences
deepening of the furrows artificially raises the emotional significance of some
categories of inputs. So instead of just finding lions and tigers and mothers
emotionally salient, he finds everything deeply salient. For example, a grain of sand,
a piece of driftwood, seaweed, all of this becomes imbued with deep significance.
Now, this tendency to ascribe cosmic significance to everything around you might
be akin to what we call a mystical experience or a religious experience.
There is no specific area in the temporal lobe concerned with God. But it's possible
there are parts of the temporal lobes whose activity is somehow conducive to
religious belief. Now this seems unlikely, but it might be true. Now, why might we
have neural machinery in the temporal lobes for belief in religion Well belief in
religion is widespread. Every tribe, every society has some form of religious
worship. And maybe the reason it evolved, if it did evolve, is that it is conducive to
the stability of society, and this may be easiest if you believe in some sort of
supreme being. And that may be one reason why religious sentiments evolved in the
brain. 228
History is full of charismatic religious figures. Psychologist William
James (1842 – 1910) believed the apostle Paul’s new found voice of conscience
on his way to Damascus may have been “a physiological nerve storm or
discharging lesion like that of epilepsy.” Paul saw lights and heard a voice
asking him “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me” 229 He was then temporarily
blinded and consequently converted. Paul talked about his visions in the
following words:
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great
revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to
torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he
said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness.’ 230
Another famous case concerns a16 th -century nun known as Santa Teresa
of Avila (1515 -1582). She experienced vivid visions, intense headaches and
fainting spells, followed by “such peace, calm, and good fruits in the soul, and ...
228 www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2812mind.html
229 Acts 9:1-9.
230 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
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