p. 4: The "it"— the transformation we seek— is what most people refer to as Enlightenment, with a big "E". Eastern philosophy makes a big deal ut of big "E" Enlightenment, but in the West, philosophers talk about another form of enlightenment, a small "e" mini-experience that provides us with new insights about ourselves and the world.

p. 5: The third tool we'll use is the series of brain-scan studies we've conducted on people who engage in very powerful and unusual forms of spiritual practice involving healing, chanting, channeling, and radical forms of meditation that profoundly alter the normal functioning of the brain.

p. 12: My teacher said that finding Enlightenment— catching that ineffable glimmer of a transcendental truth— required a combination of striving and not striving. Instead of trying to find the "answer", let the answer come to you.

p. 13: All I had ever wanted to do was eradicate doubt and I ended up finding out that the only certainty is Doubt. All I could do was to surrender myself to it and fully accept and immerse myself in that Infinite Sea in which everything— me, my thoughts, other people, the universe— was unified and connected.

p. 14: I shared my personal experience with my coauthor Mark. When I got to the description of Infinite Doubt, he posed one of the most interesting questions I had ever been asked: "Wasn't that experience terrifying? I would imagine it would be for me?" I paused for a second, and realized that it was actually the most comfortable and blissful experience I had ever had. I understood Mark's confusion; after all, I myself hated the years I had spent questioning and doubting everything. Ad now that same doubt was everywhere I looked. But perhaps he couldn't realize my bliss because he hadn't experienced it for himself. For me, it felt like the weight of the world had been permanently lifted from my shoulders. How strange to feel that! Where had all of my troubles and worries gone? Somehow the doubt was no longer something to be feared but rather something to be embraced. That was the key. Instead of fighting the doubt, I became united with it. And that Infinite Sea had it all. It was incredibly intense, profoundly clear, entirely uplifting, deeply emotional, and extraordinarily pleasurable.

p. 16: In fact, here in the West, most people don't talk about Enlightenment very much. We all seek happiness and success, friendship and intimacy. While people want to change their life in dramatic ways, there is a great fear about really shaking up their fundamental beliefs about the world.

pp. 17-18: For those who do experience Enlightenment, we discovered that they— like me— often struggled to find the right words to capture the event in a meaningful way. Here is a sampling— (1) I can only tell you the general parts of the experience because some details are impossible to describe. (2) I was totally filled with an essence of love, but I can't find the right words to describe it. It felf like the air around us was made out of love. (3) It is impossible for me to communicate with you— because this communication is false, and I am false for trying to communicate it.

pp. 19-20: Our research has identified many qualities of the small "e" experience— (1) It can instantly illuminate a difficult problem. (2) It immediately interrupts worries, fears, and doubts. (3) You'll often feel deeper kindness, compassion, and empathy. (4) You'll become more open-minded and tolerant of others. (5) You'll feel a deep sense of peace.
    But the experiences ar often transient, whereas Enlightenment brings an instantaneous and permanent change to one's personality or worldview— they actually go from the experience of Enlightenment to the state of Enlightenment. The Enlightened person has a new sense of meaning and purpose in is life, feels differently about his job and relationships,
and no longer fears failure or even death.

p. 21: The evidence suggests that the path toward Enlightenment is not only real, but that we are biologically predisposed
to seek it. Whether or not we achieve it is another matter. Science can neither prove nor disprove God's existence or nonexistence, and the same is true for Enlightenment. If the idea and the experience of Enlightenment feel meaningful and valuable, then by all means pursue it!

p. 25: Enlightenment appears to involve a rapid and radical decrease in frontal lobe activity, something that a person can consciously manipulate with his thoughts, intentions, and the use of movement, sound, and breathing. Based on our scientific evidence, I now believe that the stories found in sacred texts describing Enlightenment are real in that they are related to specific neurological events that can permanently change the structure and functioning of the brain. People may or may not actually be connecting to God or the supernatural, but ultimately there is something very powerful going on inside the brain.

p. 27: Plato offered an elegant metaphor for both big "E" and small "e" enlightenment in his "Allegory of the Cave", in which a group of people have been imprisoned since childhood. The are chained in such a way that they can only see the wall, and behind them a fire burns, casting shadows of themselves on the walls of the cave.

p. 28: One day, one of the prisoners breaks free, and he turns aroung to see the fire and the other people who are casting the shadows. This represents the little "e" enlightenment, the initial "aha" experience that begins to change his worldview.
    Then Plato expands the story: With great trepidation, the man decides to step out of the darkness of the cave. As his eyes adjust to the sun, he sees the profound beauty of the real world: the colors, the shapes of the trees, and the village that lies in the distance. He now understands the difference between the small light of the campfire— the little "e"— and the profound light of the universe— the big "E" experience of Enlightenment. He realizes that he is witnessing a greater truth about the world. The metaphor is clear: We spend most of our lives experiencing only the shadows of reality. But if we can free ourselves from the assumptions and beliefs we hold in our mind— our cave of ignorance— we can become enlightened, first in small ways and hopefully in a life-transforming way. This, according to Plato, is wisdom, the highest form of awareness and self-realization we can reach.

pp. 28-29: Archimedes, the ancient Greek mathematician, exclaimed "Eureka!"— "I have found it!"— when he discovered a profound scientific principle. I would consider this a small "e" experience: it provided great insight but did not fundamentally change his life. For Buddha, his search for a way to end the suffering of others was a long and arduous path. When he finally reached a point of complete inner clarity— his big "E" experience— he gave up all selfish deisre, declaring "I am awake."
    We suggest that there is a spectrum of enlightenment ranging from little "e" to big "E" experiences. For many philosophers and spiritual leaders, Enlightenment is perceived as the highest experience an individual can attain. Enlightenment also seems to be a universal phenomenon, with exemplars found in many cultures around the world.

pp. 29-30: The big Enlightenment is typically associated with a permanent shift of perception, awareness, and knowledge. For some, the separation between God and one's self completely dissolves. For others, they feel a sense of absolute oneness with life, nature, or the universe. And for nearly everyone, the experience often feels moe real than anything else in the world. "Truth" has been discovered, "God" has been touched, and insight has been granted.

p. 31: Many Eastern philosophies define Enlightenment as the highest level of consciousness a person can attain. In Hinduism, consciousness itself is seen as the essence from which the universe emerged, and Enlightenment means that you have become one with this fundamental reality. In Taoism, you achieve Enlightenment by being in harmony with the principles of nature— with the "flow" of life. The Taoist sage Lao Tzu wrote, "Try to change something and you will ruin it; try to hold on to something and you will lose it." In Japanese Zen Buddhist tradition, students reach Enlightenment only when they realize the radical truth that everything is an illusion of the mind. Such an understanding is often accomplished by focusing on Zen koans (paradoxical stories or statements), which are used to interrupt the student's normal way of thinking. Students may be asked "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "What is your original face?" Any logical answer could bring a blow from the master's stick!

p. 32: These seekers embraced a never-ending stream of gurus imported from Asia. Many people experimented with mind-altering drugs and unusual rituals borrowed from various spiritual or mystical traditions such as South American shamanic journeys, Sikh chanting, Sufi dancing, or Native American vision quests. Spiritual disciplines like meditation andd yoga were transformed into highly effective stress-reduction strategies that are now taught at universities and hospitals throughout America, a trend that Time magazine recently dubbed "The Mindfulness Revolution". Eastern perspectives of Enlightenment have become an integral part of mainstream America.

p. 33: There is no mention of a union with God in the Hebrew Bible, and the notion of becoming one with Jesus would probably be viewed as heresy. In these traditions, the "otherness" of God was emphasized. More emphasis was placed on faith and following the laws or commandments of the biblical texts. Gnosticism, however, was an exception. Here the emphasis shifted from the knowledge of God to the experience— or mystical union— with the spiritual forces of the universe. The early Christians used the term "Gnosis" to mean "knowledge by experience".*
* S. Hoeller, Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing (Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 2002)

p. 34: In the Middle Ages, between the 12th and 16th centuries, practices that encouraged the mystical union with God began to flourish in the esoteric traditions of Jewish Kabbalah and Islamic Sufism. In mystical Christianity, the concept of being in the presence of God was favored over the notion of becoming one with God. An anonymous text The Cloud of Unknowing was written in the mid-1300s as a guide to seekers who truly wanted to know God, and as the title states, you have to surrender your intellect if you want to experience the transcendent presence of God.

p. 35: As the Renaissance spread across Europe, a bevy of esoteric practices filtered in from various Eastern, Middle Eastern, and Russian traditions. The markets were filled with purveyors of alchemy, astrology, numerology, mediumship, and Tarot divination, and a large assortment of mystical teachers claiming to unveil the mysteries of the universe. Each group promised its own brand of "Enlightenment". The Catholic Church reacted to these "heretical" movements with persecution and over 100,000 people purportedly died as a result. What brought this slaughter of humanity to an end? The emergence of a new philosophical movement called the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. It was an ideological war against the popes and against the politics of the time. It gave birth to some of the greatest intellectuals, artists, and religious reformers in Western history: Bacon, Spinoza, Locke, Hume, Descartes, Newton, Voltaire, Rousseaus, and in America, Franklin and Jefferson

pp. 36-37: The attempt to eliminate supernatural beliefs did not succeed. Instead it gave birth to romanticism, from which a new form of enlightenment was created: transcendentalism. One became enlightened by immersing one's self in the joys of the human spirit, epitomized by a love of nature, sensuality, and the arts. 19th century Transcendentalism was quickly absorbed by divinity schools like Harvard and could be found in Unitarianism, Christian Science, and a variety of charismatic and New Thought movements that enouraged congregants to become one with God, universal consciousness and the Holy Spirit.

pp. 37-39: William James, one of the founders of American psychology, collected stories of spiritual awakening. In his The Varieties of Religious Experience, he quotes Tolstoy's memoir describing his struggle with depression and his sudden Enlightenment. Tolstoy had what William James called a "conversion" experience*: a gradual epiphany that led him to first question and then reject institutionalized religion, which he believed corrupted the message of Jesus. And yet God, the infinite, is what he eventually found, a presence that if correctly understood would "let us love one another in unity".** After his Enlightenment, Tolstoy would devote the next year of his life to rewriting the doctrines of Christianity.
* W. James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, Lecture 7 (London: Longmans Green and Co., 1902);
** L. Tolstoy, My Confession, My Religion: The Gospel in Brief (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1899), 63

pp. 39-40: A distinguished Canadian psychiatrist Richard Bucke published in 1901 Cosmic Consciousness on his own Enlightenment experience which gave him a new vision of reality— "All at once, without warning of any kind, I found myself wrapped around as it were by a flame-colored cloud. I knew that the light was within myself. Directly afterwards came a sense of exultation, of immense joyousness immediately followed by an intellectual illumination quite impossible to describe. Into my brain streamed one momentary lightning-flash of the Splendor which has ever sice lightened my life; upon my heart fell one drop of Bliss, leaving thenceforward an aftertaste of heaven... The illumination itself continued not more than a few moments, but its effects proved ineffaceable: it was impossible for me ever to... doubt the truth of what was then presented to my mind."* Due to this experience, Bucke devoted the rest of his life to helping mentally ill patients.
* R. Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness (Philadelphia: Innes & Sons, 1901). (Note: Bucke wrote about his experience in third person; I took the liberty to put it into first person to improve its readability. — Mark Waldman)

pp. 40-41: William James summarized the value of Enlightenment in this famous quote: "There are two lives, the natural and the spiritual, and we must lose the one before we can participate in the other." James was also the first person to insist that these altered states of mind "are neurally conditioned", an intuition that our brain-scan studies confirm. Bucke, like James, attempted to identify the common elements of the "cosmic consciousness" process— (1) a subjective experience of "inner light" (2) a deepening of moral or spiritual values (3) an increased sense of intellectual illumination (4) a feeling of immortality or eternity (5) a loss of the fear of death (6) a loss of the sense of sin or guilt (7) an instantaneousness awakening (8) a lasting transformation of personality. The last concept specifically refers to the big "E" experience of Enlightenment: You are no longer the person you used to be. You are transformed. Your character has changed. Your values have changed. The way you see yourself in relationship to everything has changed, and this often leads to a new direction and purpose in life.
    Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy of human needs, culminating with a level of enlightened consciousness he called "self-realization". He, like James and Bucke, argued that Enlightenment is a natural developmental and biological state of mind. Other researchers have expanded on James's and Maslow's definitions to include feelings of oneness with nature, loss of space or time, dissolution of self-identity, and a sacred sense of life.

pp. 42-43: We have gathered evidence showing that the quest for enlightenment— large or small— causes long-term changes that affect the emotional and cognitive centers of the brain. That is why a person feels and thinks differently when they experience a dramatic shift in consciousness. We know that gentle contemplative practices like mindfulness meditation predict an improvement in one's mood, empathy, and self-awareness. But Enlightenment is something else, marked by a sudden and intense shift in consciousness. Even if you deliberately seek it, you may or may not find it. For one person, it happens overnight, but for another, years or decades may pass. The more you try to become enlightened, the more it may elude you, which is exactly what happened to me. I had to give up my "outer" quest for truth and trust some inner or higher process to take over, which led me to my experience of Infinite Doubt. It's like trying to see in the dark: the harder you stare, the less you see. But if you surrender yourself to the unknown— if you stop trying to use your eyes and open up you other senses— you may be able to see the situation in a new "light", free from your memories and old beliefs.

pp. 44-45: Our online survey by a 51-year-old nonreligious physician. He was driving a moving van to help a friend:
“As the truck was crossing a long bridge, I suddenly noticed some kind of shift in my awareness. The boundaries between the bridge, my truck, and myself began to blur, and the thought that came to mind was this: It's all the same, no different than you. As I continued down the road, every single object that I viewed became "the Same". Everythine had a Sameness. (I use capital letters because the experience had a profound and sacred quality). I was filled with an aura of delight, and the feeling kept rising and rising. I thought to myself, "There was never any problem in the first place." I was just lost, and now I'm found. I am All of It, this sacred Sameness. A few minutes later, the Understanding began to fade. And yet this experience permanently changed my life. It felt more real than what I usually think of as real. Truth was unveiled, and I realized how futile it was to seek happiness in the old reality that I used to live.” This is an outstanding example of a spontaneous experience filled with powerful emotions and a sense of unity and permanence. The experience came out of nowhere and caused this person to have a dramatic new persepective on the world. Enlightenment, as this example shows, often brings about a new sense of clarity that can change the entire belief system of the individual.

p. 47: Part 1, Chapter 3: What Enlightenment Feels Like—
"In mystic states we both become one with the Absolute and we become aware of our oneness. This is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition, hardly altered by differences of clime or creed. In Hinduism, in Neoplatonism, in Sufism, in Christian mysticism, in Whitmanism, we find the same recurring note." — William James, The Varietiies of Religious Experience. I created an online survey and encouraged people to write about their most powerful spiritual or transformational experiences. By using this strategy, I gathered nearly 2000 remarkable stories.

p. 49: I designed a website where we could ask the kind of questions that other researchers had not done. "How did you feel before and after the event?", "What emotions did you have?", "What behaviors were changed as a result of your encounter with this rare state of consciousness?" "Was it relaxing or stimulating, peaceful or disturbing?" And most important, I asked them how "real" the experience felt to them... I collected information about their childhood and family beliefs to see if those beliefs were altered after they had their epiphanies. I also inquired if the experience happened under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug or during a near-death experience, a religious conversion, or intense meditation or prayer.

p. 51: My analysis led to the conclusiion that there are five basic elements that lead to an Enlightenment experience, and they are generally the same for everyone— (1) A sense of unity or connectedness. (2) An incredible intensity of experience.
(3) A sense of clarity and new understanding in a fundamental way. (4) A sense of surrender or loss of voluntary control.
(5) A sense that something— one's beliefs, one's life, one's purpose— has suddenly and permanently changed.

pp. 53-54: I had the same feeling [no "I"] during my experienc of Infinite Doubt. After all, even my own self was doubted. I felt like I lost all connection to my own identity as I became profoundly connected to everything else. It's the same kind of feeling reported by the Buddhists and Franciscan nuns who participated in our brain-scan studies. At the moment they experienced a sense of oneness or a loss of self, we observed a sudden drop of activity in the parietal lobe, the area that creates an arbitrary distinction between "self" and "other". The parietal lobe helps us to orient ourselves to external objects, so a decrease of activity coincides with a decreased sense of self. Boundaries are blurred, giving us a sense of connectedness with everything— God, nature, the universe, etc. The second element of the Enlightenment experience, intensity is often related to the sense of oneness but might be related to suddenly feeling of profound joy or love, or one might see an intense bright light or hear a sound that seems extraordinarily beautiful. A 43-year-old man wrote "I, as an un-namable but individual being, was traveling down an infinite roller coaster like waves of pure white ecstatic light. The ecstasy was overwhelming and rose and fell in intensity with the waves of light. The light path seemed infinitely long in both directions. The sense of the being and the light was INFINITELY MORE REAL than anything I had ever experienced."

pp. 57-58: Even the most profoundly life-changing events often left the respondent feeling rather humble. Remember that even Buddha did not claim to be Enlightened, only that he was now awake. But he did experience oneness, clarity, intensity, and surrender. And yes, his life was permanently changed... Most of our respondents were religious, but only 18% of all the narratives mentioned God, and less than 4% mentioned Jesus, even though half of the religious respondents were Christians. Barely 10% mentioned love, and less than 5% referred to consciousness or truth. Men's experiences were focused more on the world, the universe, and consciousness, while women focused more on God, love, relationships, and children.

p. 61: Enlightenment is different. None of our survey participants said, "It was a neat experience, but it was nothing more than a fantasy." Just as our everyday reality feels more real than a dream, Enlightenment feels more real than everyday reality!

p. 62: We have noted tht spiritual practices and intense experiences have a powerful effect on the thalamus, a central brain structure that processes sensory information and helps different parts of the brain communicate with one another. The significant changes we see in the thalamus during profound spiritual states may explain why Enlightenment feels so extraordinarily real. Unlike a dream, which suddenly seems unreal after you wake up, an Enlightenment experience still seems more real than everyday reality, even when you look back on it years later. It's like saying that the dream you had last year continues to feel more real that the rest of your life. How strange and incredible, and yet over 90% of our survey respondents reported that their experience continued to feel as real or more real than the reality they normally experience every day.

pp. 72-73: The atheists, like the rest of the survey participants, generally reported that Enlightenment left them with a greater sense of meaning and purpose in life, better interpersonal relationships, and a more optimistic view of life in general. The results suggest that Enlightenment has the following universal effects: (1) They feel more open-minded. (2) They don't ruminate on past mistakes. (3) They are not as worried or nervous about facing and solving problems. (4) They find themselves to be happier, more peaceful, and more contented with their life.

p. 75: Religious beliefs are often language-based, shaped by the cultures and societies in which we are raised. But Enlightenment transcends words, so it's not surprising that many atheists will also struggle with their old theological concepts. But that's what Enlightenment is about: discovering that the world— and one's belief— is different than what you thought it was. Enlightenment doesn't promise bliss, it offers a deeper truth, and if those truths conflict with older beliefs, internal conflict can result. For an atheist who is married to logic, this can be a problem because Enlightenment defies logic, even though it gives the person an intense sense of clarity.

p. 77: But there's a problem with MDMA (a designer drug commonly called Ecstasy): a recent overview of 25 years of empirical research shows serious impairments to memory, sleep, cognition, problem solving, emotional balance, and social intelligence.* Other hallucinogens like LSD**, DMT, psilocybin, peyote, and ayahuasca*** can also dramatically alter consciousness and trigger intense mystical experiences leading to positive changes in personality, but they can also have negative side effects that can deeply disturb a person's emotional balance.
* Parrott AC., "Human psychobiology of MDMA or "Ecstasy": an overview of 25 years of empirical research", Hum. Psychopharmacol. 2013; 28(4):289-307; ** Smith, DE, et.al. "From Hofmann to the Haight Ashbury, and into the future: the past and potential of lysergic acid diethyamide", J. Psychoactive Drugs, 2014;46(1):3-10; *** Barbosa, PC, et. all, "Health status of ayahuasca users", Drug Test Anal. 2012;4(7-8):601-9

pp. 80-81: When you get right down to it. Enlightenment is the implicit goal of every mystical tradition in the world: to fully surrender oneself to the unity of God, consciousness, truth, or whatever principle is core to the religious or spiritual philosophy... Perhaps that's why we like to read about enlightened individuals: they give us hope that there is something more wonderful than we currently see or believe. Of course, when it come to reality, our personal experiences become the ultimate judge. It is the belief in Enlightenment that can start us on the path, and if we recogniz its hallmarks— intensity, clarity, unity, and surrendering to a life-changing perspective— then we can consciously engage in activities that will trigger these powerful events.

p. 83: Part 1, Chapter 5: The Spectrum of Human Awareness—
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience."
— Pierre Teilhad de Chardin
Physically, your brain is constantly changing as billions of neurons slowly rearrange their connections in a vast "sop" of neurochemical and neuroelectrical activity. Different electrolytes migrate through the envelope of each neuron, telling it when to rest or take action, and as the activity changes, so do our thoughts and feelings.

pp. 85-86: We have identified five key elements of Enlightenment: a sense of intensity, unity, clarity, and surrender and a permanent large-scale change in our awareness, behavior, of belief system. The little "e" experiences can include any of the first four elements... This is what we've seen in our brain-scan studies. Sometimes when a person is deeply immersed in an intense prayer, meditation, or spiritual practice, there will be a sudden and dramatic decrease in neural activity in the frontal and parietal lobes. This is when our subjects are most likely to describe incredible shifts of perception and experiences of unity consciousness, which are essential parts of the Enlightenment experience... The larger the decrease in frontal and parietal activity, especially when they had an initial increase, the more likely the participants were to describe experiences that reflect most of the five elements of Enlightenment.

p. 89: Mainstream religions in the West were also suspicious of anyone who claimed to experience unity with God, and most mystics were persecuted as heretics. However, the Pentecostal movement that began in the early 1900s, along with the Charismatic movement that followed in the 1960s, changed the course of Christianity. Today over 500 million people—
a quarter of the Christian world— deliberately surrender themselves to become one with the Holy Spirit.

p. 90: We studied a group of Pentecostals who engaged in a practice called "speaking in tongues". First, they began to sing and dance as gospel music was played. This was associated with increased frontal lobe activity, but when they began to speak in tongues, activity suddenly dropped in the frontal lobe. They immediately felt an intense sense of unity with something beyond themselves— the Holy Spirit— and as they surrendered themselves to the ecstatic experience, they felt transformed and healed... We also found a drop in frontal lobe activity when we examined Sufi practioners who engaged in a powerful chanting and movement meditation known as Dhikr. One of our Sufi subjects described the experience of leaving his own body and observing himself from the outside, not unlike the descriptions from people who have near-death experiences.

p. 91: Decreases in the parietal lobe activity can also allow a person to have intense feelings of unity consciousness. We saw this in our studies of advanced meditators and people who engaged in various forms of contemplative prayer. But it usually took about 50-60 minutes before they felt merged with the object of their contemplation. Our Buddhist subjects described the sensation as becoming one with pure consciounsess. The Franciscan nuns in our study felt a sense of unity and connectedness with Jesus or God. These are two entirely different practices, but the unity experience affected the same areas in everyone's brains. This decrease appears to occur even during small moments of insight* but is strongest during spiritual practices and powerful Enlightenment experiences.
* Qiu, J. et. al., "Neural correlates of the "Aha" experience: evidence from an fMRI study of insight problem solving", Cortex, 2010;46(30:397-403

pp. 95-96: We are suggesting that awareness is the bigger picture, one that encapsulates many different forms of conscious and unconscious behaviors... At some point, the brain develops the capacity to become aware of its own cognitive processes, and that is what we are calling "consciousness", a neurological process that is dependent on— and may be limited to— small areas in the frontal and parietal lobes... Simply put, you can have awareness without consciousness, but you cannot have consciousness without awareness. Most animals have some awareness of their self and are able to distinguish that self from other animals and the rest of the world. This is why they won't eat their own leg but rather the leg of another animal. This too is a rudimentary form of self-consciousness... We also find no evidence showing that animals can consciously alter any structures in the brain associated with the elements of Enlightenment. However, particular animal mating rituals, alter the animal's awareness of its own self so that it can connect with another animal. And a similar process occurs in human beings.

p. 97: We have identified six "levels" of awareness; Level 1: Instinctual Awareness, Level 2: Habitual Responsiveness, Level 3: Intentional Decision Making, Level 4: Creative Imagination, Level 5: Self-Reflective Awareness, Level 6: Transformational Awareness. Each level is associated with activity in different regions of the brain.

p. 100: Increased awareness is a key path to Enlightenment. Enlightenment requires that we take time to access our intuitive centers of creativity and awareness and to deeply reflect on those things that give our lives meaning, purpose, and value.

pp. 104-105: As you observe your creative mind, you will become aware that "you" are not your thoughts. This for many people is a profound insight and is directly related to the Zen Buddhist concept of Enlightenment. Negative feelings lose their power as a sense of inner serenity engulfs you... How can you document that you've actually been Enlightened, and that it's not just another fantasy generated by your imagination? It's a difficult task, which is why we recommend that you keep an open mind when experiencing moments of profound, life-changing insight... The moment a person first experiences transformational awareness, he or she might feel that Enlightenment has occurred. It can last for seconds, minutes, hours, or even days. But at some point, the brain will return to its habitual way of functioning and decision making. However, it is not the same brain!

p. 109: When frontal lobe activity decreases, however, normal states of consciousness and communication are disrupted. And when activity in the parietal lobe decreases, a person's sense of self seems to disappear, creating a neurological sense of "unity". Practioners of more unusual or esoteric practices (including channeling, chanting, conveying divine wisdom to another, etc.) often feel that there is no separation between themselves and God or the forces that shape the universe. Everything seems interconnected as one's sense of self begins to dissolve.
(Left: Brain Scans with lower frontal lobe activity during meditation)

p. 110: Members of a Pentecostal church will begin to sing and sway as they listen to a sermon or Gospel music. Then they invite the Holy Spirit to enter their consciousness. Our research showed that when this occurs, practioners enter a trance state— usually in just a couple of minutes— and many begin to speak in a manner that sounds like a strange foreign language.

p. 111: People who speak in tongues find the experienc incredibly powerful and transformative. They gain many new insights into how to lead their life— a little "e" enlightenment— and sometimes their experiences bring them to their knees with tears streaming down their face. At these moments, most people will experience a radical shift in their emotions and thoughts— a big Enlightenment... Similar shifts of consciousness, and brain activity, occur during other forms of trance states, such as when mediums try to contact the dead or when Shamanic healers enter the spirit realm We believe that these dramatic neurological changes are important paths that can lead to Enlightenment experiences.*
* Qiu, J. et. al., "Neural correlates of the "Aha" experience: evidence from an fMRI study of insight problem solving", Cortex, 2010;46(30:397-403

p. 113: A Brazilian friend of mine, Julio Peres, who is a researcher in psychology, began studying a group of highly educated mediums who practice a technique called psychography. To perform psychography, the medium enters into a trance state and connects to the spirits of the dead. The spirits provide information, which the medium automatically writes down. During these sessions, the mediums do not feel like they are guiding their own hands. Rather, it is the spirits who are causing their hands to move. The mediums then share their information with friends and family members of the deceased. Interestingly, a triple-blind study conducted at the University of Arizona showed that the mediums they tested were more likely to give accurate information about the deceased than those relatives who were not mediums.*
* Beischel J. Schwartz GE., "Anamalous information reception by research mediums demonstrated using a novel triple-blind protocol", Explore (NY). 2007;3(1):23-7

p. 114: The psychographers reminded me of the famous psychic Edgar Cayce, who by 1912 was world renowned for his ability to enter trance states to gain knowledge about a person's illness and what remedies could be used. People called him the "sleeping prophet", and when Cayce would awaken from his trances, he'd have no memory of what he said. But while he was in trance, a strange voice would emanate from him, which his assistants would record.

pp. 120-121: In our study, some of the mediums were beginners, and we did not see a decrease in the frontal lobe. This suggests that it takes time and practice to dramatically change neral functioning in a way to deliberately trigger an experience resembling Enlightenment. As with anything we wish to excel at, there's a learning curve... Concert pianists, through years of practice, reach a level of skill where something else takes over in the brain— when concentration is replaced by intuition, improvisation, and finally inspiration. At that moment, they alter the normal functioning in their frontal lobe*, shifting from the everyday consciousness of Level 3 to either a more instinctual form of playing or a more creative form of expression. When that occurs— when old habits and intentional decision making is interrupted, the music transforms itself from excellence to euphoria, or what Michaly Csikszentmihalyi calls a state of "flow"**, a well-documented pyschological state where you fully immerse yourself in an activity. You lose awareness of everything else, even feelings of hunger or tiredness, as your sense of self dissolves and you become filled with a sense of unity and happiness.
* Liu, S. et. al., "Neural correlates of lyrical improvisations: an fMRI study of freestyle rap", Sci. Rep. 2012;2:834;
** Abuhamdeh S. & Csikszentmihalyi M. "The importance of challenge for the enjoyment of intrinsically motivated,
goal-directed activities", Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2012;38(3)317-30

p. 122: state of mind into your life*
* Kirchner JM. "Incorporating flow into practice and performance", Work. 2011;40(3):289-96;
** Seligman ME & Csikszentmihalyi M. "Positive psychology: An introduction" Am Psychol. 2000;55(1):5-14

p. 123: While psychography alters consciousness and affects the brain in unique ways, we would not say that automatic writing, in and of itself, was a form of enlightenment, especially since the practice did not change the mediums' belief system... Whether such experiences (psychography or speaking in tongues) are purely created by brain activity or actually come from a spiritual dimension, science cannot say. But the research is definitive: any experience, if it brings enough clarity to change our behavior or beliefs, can lead to a little "e" or big "E" moment of insight.

p. 127: Even in Plato's allegory of the cave, the message is clear: if you have seen the "light"— if you have ventured from the darkness of ignorance and now see reality for what it really is— you must return to your companions in the cave and pass your knowledge to them...

pp. 128-129: When it came to spiritual enlightenment, most Western religions believed that God was the only bestower of such wisdom... If you wanted someone to be healed, you had to go through God, or the head of the religious organization. All of that changed in the late 1800s, that to Mary Baker Eddy and her Christian Science movement. Eddy had been a patient of Phineas Quimby, a man who believed that all illness was caused by the mind, and she began to integrate a wide variety of metaphysical healing strategies with biblical passages. The result: many people came to believe that they could directly tap into God's divine power to heal others who were suffering or ill... Eastern and Western notions of Enlightenment were finally united, and the belief that thoughts could heal other people at a distance now has hundreds of millions of believers throughout the world.

pp. 131-132: Research on a healer's ability to influence a person's brain when she was in an adjoining room. Nothing happened. There were changes in the healer's brain, but not for the person being prayed for. This strongly suggests you must deliberately seek Enlightenment for yourself by actively engaging in processes that will interrupt your normal way of thinking and experiencing reality... Research on people affecting other objects at a distance showed less that 1% success rate.

p. 133: As Einstein once said: "The intellect has little to do on the road to discovery. There comes a leap in consciousness, call it intuition or what you will, and the solution comes to you and you do not know how or why. All great discoveries are made in this way."*... This is where transformation occurs, whether it is a tiny insight or an "aha" experience, or a grand shift of awareness brought about through the experience of Enlightenment.
* Ralph Oesper, The Human Side of Scientists (Cincinnati, OH: Univerisity Publications, 1975).

pp. 134-135: The well-known motivational speaker Tony Robbins practiced the Oneness Blessing, a derivation of a Hindu spiritual tradition known as shaktipat, where wisdom and energy are directly transmitted from an enlightened teacher into the consciousness of a student. Once enlightened, you are then empowered to bestow the blessing on others. Tony invited me to the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, where a suite was set up for 15 people to receive the blessing. After 15 minutes of meditation, "Givers" walked up to us and placed their hands over our heart and on our head. You could feel their hands vibrating as they "transmitted" the blessing to us, but not a word was uttered. This was done about 3-4 times during the ceremony, each time lasting about 60 seconds. When I was touched for the first time, a strong light came in through my eyelids... I wanted to do brain scans of the sender and the receiver in the Oneness Blessing, but need to set up a control situation where the receiver can't tell if a blessing is being given or not?

p. 137: Normally, mentally concentrating on another person would increase activity in the frontal lobe. But sending the Oneness Blessing actually decreased frontal activity in the the senders, a pattern very similar to the Brazilian mediums and Pentecostals who spoke in tongues. The givers described their experience not as concentrating directly on their receivers,
but as surrendering to the power behind the blessing, allowing that "energy" to flow through them to another individual.
    Unlike the Pentecostals and mediums, we also saw decreases in the parietal lobe. Thus, their sense of self would dissolve as the divine "energy" of Enlightenment flowed through tem. We saw similar parietal lobe decreases when people engaged in deep prayer for close to an hour. At that moment, the nuns felt as though they were in the presence of God or Jesus, and the Buddhists felt that they had merged with pure consciousness and their sense of self would disappear. Perhaps the same thing happens while giving the blessing: the practioner's self disappears and only the spiritual energy— shaktipat— remains.

p. 140: What we've found, throughout all of our studies, is that most people feel that their spiritual practices add great meaning and purpose to their life. Without a sense of meaning and purpose in life, we are far more prone to anxiety and depression*. Psychologists at the University of South Florida found, a sense of purpose enhances "coping, generosity, optimism, humility, mature identity status, and more globl personality integration.
* Blazek, M., et. al. "Sense of purpose in life and escape from self as the predictors of quality of life in clinical samples",
J. Relig Health, 2015;54(2):517-23

pp. 143-144: A group of 25 people in Northern California coast is engaging in a Sufi ritual called Dhikr. Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam that focuses on divine love, unity, and enlightenment. The class divided into three groups. The first group sat with their backs against the wall of the room. They rhythmically clap their hands or tap on drums, while the second group formed a large circle chanting la 'ilaha 'illa-lah, which translates as, "There is no god but God." (YouTube) It's an invocation of the oneness of everything and an invitation to open one's heart to the direct experience of God's love. While chanting, they would also rock their heads from side to side. The third group gathered in the center of the circle to practice the dervish ritual of whirling, a ceremony created in 1273 by the Mevlvi Sufis located in Turkey. Those who would be whirling stood with one arm stretched upward and the other toward the ground, and they would begin to slowly turn in a circle as the outer group began to chant, clap, and drum. As the speed of the drums increased, the chanters raised their voices and deepened the rocking of their head and torso. Those in the center who were whirling went faster and faster. Such movements have powerful effects on the brain, and the rhythmic elements stimulate the autonomic nervous system, activating reward areas of the brain associated with strong positive emotions. (YouTube: Sufi Whirlin Dervishes Dance of Istanbul)

pp. 144-145: Kevin, a 48-year-old man sat with the drummers and felt as though his mind was floating in the clouds. When the ritual came to an end, he found himself in a state of bliss, with pleasurable sensations racing through his entire body. Later that night, he awoke from a dream in which he saw himself in a beautiful mosque illuminated by intense patterns of neon lights. But even though he had awakened and opened his eyes, the vision continued for another 30 minutes... "No, I don't think I was Enlightened," he told me, "but it showed me that I could reach such a state, and I've used that experience as a beacon to guide me to where I truly want to be."

p. 147: The word "god" first appeared in a 6th-century Christian book called the Codex Argenteus. Prior to that time, "theos" was used throughout most of the early Christian writings. It was a term used for any deity, and originally came from the Greek word "Zeus"... Most scholars agree that Allah is a variation of the Aramaic Elah and the Hebrew Eloah, or Elohim, a generic word that referred to the highest and most powerful of all the deities, two of whom— named El and Al— were written about in ancient Assyrian, Phoenician, and Babylonian texts.* God and Allah are interchangeable in the sense that both refer to a singular deity who created and oversaw humankind... God's name is sometimes referred to using the Hebrew letters yod, heh, vav, heh (YHVH), an unpronounceable word.
* M. Smith, The Origins of Biblical Monotheism: Israel's Polytheistic Background and the Ugaritic Texts (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2001)

p. 148: In both Jewish and Muslim mystical traditions, there were many names that were used for God: Infinite Knowledge, Perfect Goodness, All Powerful, Righteous, Supreme Being, Miracle Maker, Emancipator, Defender, All Wise, All Forgiving, Life-giver, and the Bringer of Death. In some contemporary mystical circles, Allah has been called the Source, the Breath, or the Oneness of everything.

p. 149: The early Sufis would delve into the Quran reciting key passages while remaining in a deep meditative state until they experienced a direct connection to the divine, the revelation of truth, and the ecstatic experience of pure love and peace, qualities very similar to the Hindu mystical practice of becoming one with pure consciousness... In the mid-20th century, Sufism became widely known through the English translations of Rumi, a 13th-century Sufi mystic whose poetry often reflected Eastern concepts of Enlightenment. Thus Western Sufism became a devotional practice based on the concept of enlightenment through universal love, acceptance, and becoming one with the divine names of God. As is true with most mystical traditions, there is no central orthodoxy or unified doctrine. [Coleman Barks did the Rumi translations]

p. 150: Sufis employ a variety of techniques, like Dhikr, to achieve mystical union with the divine. The purpose of Dhikr is to remember and embrace the spirit of God, and it involves a series of complex rituals. The explicit aim of Dhikr is to enter an ecstatic state (hal) that will purify the heart and open the practioner to spiritual intuition (qalb)... In another Dhikr ritual, the aim is to reach Enlightenment by moving through the stages of the heart as you experience te 99 names of God. As the 11th-century Islamic theologian Al-Ghazali* reflected in his book The Marvels of the Heart, "When God becomes the ruler of the heart... there shines in it the real nature of divine things." Connecting with God results in an awakening— an Enlightenment— in which the person comprehends the true nature of the world.
* W.M. Watt, The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazali (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1953)

p. 151: The Sufis showed dramatic decreases of activity in the frontal lobe similar to what we found with the Pentecostals, who, by the way, also engaged in intense body movement. As we have described, when you decrease activity in the frontal lobe, it becomes easier to access creative states of imagination— Level 4 on the Spectrum of Awareness.

p. 152: In the Sufi scans, we saw greater decreases in the activity in the right frontal lobe when compared to the left side. We saw the same thing with our mediums, and other researchers have noted similar brain asymmetries in their meditation studies, The right frontal lobe is frequently involved with negative thinking and worry. A decrease signifies less pessimism and thus an improvement in emotional health... From a neuro-scientific perspective, intense spiritual practices actually change our ability to perceive the world around us. Areas of the brain that are normally dormant when we perform our daily tasks can come online during ritual practices. Our sense of reality changes and this allows the brain to form new neural connections. Old habits can be suddenly interrupted, allowing us to form healthier behaviors. This gives us greater freedom to change our outlookd on life.

p. 153: An Enlightenment experience radically rearranges many neuronal connections in a relatively short time. The result is a tremendous benefit to our brain and body as we discover new positive ways of thinking, feeling, and experiencing the world around us... It is a neurologically "real" state of being-ness that promotes inner and outer peace. Unity consciousness allows a person to feel intimately connected with everyone and everything, and the love that bursts forth from one's heart is one of the essential goals of the Sufis.

p. 155: Yogi Bhajan taught Kundalini yoga in the 1970s. One practice was called Kirtan Kriya and the other called Shabad Kriya. They both involve the repetition of the mantra SA-TA-NA-MA, but the Shabad form includes very deep breathing.

pp. 159-160: My co-author Mark Waldman stopped using traditional practices that contained spiritual imagery and theologies he didn't really believe in. Instead he focused on key secular values that gave his life more meaning and purpose, concepts like compassion, peace, and self-acceptance. He realized that meditationg on disbeliefs could cause abnormal activity in the brain. His insights dramatically changed the direction of his life and his research, and that fits all of the criteria of Enlightenment... To claim that one is Enlightened feels narcissistic. Mark did not feel that his personaltiy had changed, only that his orientation toward meditation had been altered. It certainly was a big "aha" moment in his life, so perhaps one could call it a little "e" experience.

p. 161: As brain researchers at Drexel University found: "Insight occurs when a person suddenly reinterprets a stimulus, situation, or event to produce a nonobvious, nondominant interpretation."*... Based on our brain scan studies of other atheists,
I have come to the conclusion tht it is generally unwise to focus too much on disbeliefs because it can generate anxiety. My advice: when choosing to pray or meditate, focus on those desires, beliefs, and values that mean the most to you. If you are an atheist, don't pray to God but meditate on a beautiful rainbow, or love, or pure consciousness, or the simple joy of being alive.
* Kounios J. & Beeman M. "The cognitive neuroscience of insight" Annu Rev Psychol. 2014;65:71-93

pp. 162-163: Battle metaphors exist in the Hebrew bible, the New Testament (Revelation), and the Quran (jihad), and there are always two opposing interpretations: one literal and the other metaphoric. All mystical traditions, including Sufism, invoke the latter by stating that everyone must do battle with the inner demons of their mind. To quell the turmoil we are born with to end the cosmic war of the soul that is true Enlightenment... We believe that spiritual practices neurologically force us to confront these issues in our lives, and as many spiritual practioners will tell you, one can spend years struggling with these emotional wars the inner jihad, as the Sufis say in order to reach inner and outer peace.

pp. 163-164:The Sufi path opens the heart and mind:
I ruminate on God
And my old self falls away.
Am I a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, or a Jew?
I do not know for Truth has set fire to these words.
Now they are nothing but ashes.
I ruminate on God
And my old self falls away.
Am I a man, a woman, an angel, or even a pure soul?
I do not know for Love has melted these words away.
Now I am free of all these images
That haunted my busy mind.
Hafez, 14th-century Islamic Poet
* Original version & interpretation of a Hafez poem by Mark Robert Waldman, copyright 2010

p. 165: Actively pursuing transformational practices like compassion meditation or prayer or even just challenging your current beliefs in a deeply contemplative way, much the same way that I did on my way to Infinite Doubt, can all be useful approaches on the path toward Enlightenment.

p. 167: The more clear you are about the change you would like to bring about, the more you prime your brain to search for that experience. So ask yourself this question: "What do I really want to discover that could change and enrich the direction of my life?" The more deeply relaxed you are, the easier it will be to hear those "whispers" of intuition. Write down your "enlightenment" or "transformation" goal and then meditate on the words, allowing your mind to wander and daydream. When a new piece of information comes into your awareness, write it down and continue to observe your thoughts and awareness... This we believe, is the conscious way that will increase your likelihood of having a small "e" or big "E" experience.

p. 168: When you deliberately do this, your brain begins to search for a new belief to replace it. You are asking for Enlightenment, and if you continue to interrupt your old ideas, you push your consciousness into the higher levels of our Spectrum model.

p. 169: Challenging your beliefs and opening your mind to new ones can be a very intense experience, but don't judge it. Just let the process unfold in its own way... In most religions, this is referred to as surrender, or giving your will over to some higher authority or power. This requires faith, perserverance, and devotion... But giving up old beliefs involves risk. So religion poses a double bind: traditions demand that you adhere to the specific tenets of the organization, but Enlightenment involves transcending them. This partly explains why new religions typically are established by people who felt enlightened by their spiritual endeavors, and it also explains why the orthodoxy will persecute them.

p. 178: The basic steps of "Lovingkindness" meditation are simple. First, you send kindness to yourself by repeating either out loud or in silence, any version of this phrase for five minutes: "May I be happy, may I be well, may I be filled with love and peace." Next, you visualize friends and family members, saying "May you be happy, may you be well, may you be filled with love and peace." Then you send this blessing to distant acquaintances, and then to people who have hurt and angered you. In the final step of this powerful exercise, you extend your love and kindness to everyone in the world to all cultures, all colors, all religions, and all political groups. As you do this, you envision everyone getting along with one another and living together in peace.

pp. 179-180: Reflecting on forgiveness and compassion lowers your heart rate and blood pressure. Lovingkindness builds neurological empathy, acceptance, and compassion toward others... In a series of studies conducted at the University of Kansas, researchers found that for people who practiced forgiveness toward those who offended them, their positive behavior spilled over into a wide range of social situations. They were more relational, and often used language like "we" and "us" demonstrating a movement toward acceptance and social unity. They donate to charity and volunteer their time to others, qualities that psychologists refer to as self-transcendence and that are often associated with the sense of unity found in spiritual Enlightenment.

p. 183: In a study that included 12,000 women, those who held negative beliefs about themselves were more at risk for developing depression, and those who had the least number of negative self-beliefs were the least likely to get depressed. Obviously, optimistic beliefs are healthier, but this requires us to ignore or interrupt the brain's natural propensity to ruminate on negativity.

pp. 184-185: When we examine our deepest beliefs in the quest for Enlightenment: we don't necessarily have to be accurate about the world, only optimistic about the future... When I compared long-term meditators to nonmeditators, I found that the areas associated with belief formation were different. In fact, the more positive your beliefs become, the more pleasure you'll feel in your brain and your life.

pp. 190-191 : Co-author Mark Waldman's transformational moment— Twenty-five years ago (1990), when I was 38, I had what I would call a spontaneous mystical experience. I was sitting in my office chair, gazing mindlessly out of the window. Suddenly, and for no reason that I could identify, I was filled with inner peace. I looked at the tree and it seemed "perfect".
I looked at the fence and it seemed perfect. Even the weeds seemed perfect, and everything felt connected to everything else.
I too felt perfect and connected to the tree, the fence, and the weeds. It was pure bliss and I clearly remember what I first said: "Oh! This is what those Buddhists and Hindus were writing about when the described enlightenment." At that moment, my beliefs suddenly changed. I "knew" that there was no heaven or hell of god, and that when I died, that was the end of everything. Rather than feeling anxious or sad, I was filled with an incredible sense of being alive and living in the present moment, something I had never experienced before. The feeling lasted for several months, but I slowly returned to my usual state of self-doubt... Then one day, without any warning or preparation, I heard a small "voice" whisper to me: "Mark, you don't know a damned thing about religion or psychology." I again "knew" that I had stumbled on a fundamental truth. I knew that I didn't know anything! Now Socrates seemed to be content when he made a similar statement at the end of his life, but my "aha" experience and the sudden joy of self-illumination quickly disappeared. I literally went from "Oh wow!" to "Oh crap! What do I do now?"

p. 192: After Andy told me his story of "Infinite Doubt", I watched a 1999 movie The Third Miracle, about a sacrilegious priest hired by the Vatican to debunk false claims of miracles. The movie begins with a scene in a small European village during World War II. You hear the sound of falling bombs, and then a young girl looks up to the sky and begins praying. Mysteriously, the sound of the bombs disappears and the village is saved. The movie's plot includes the investigation of the event, which is finally deemed to be a validated miracle. I had seen the movie once before, but this time, after it ended, I stepped outside into the sunlight and found myself utterly free of any feelings of doubt almost the opposite experience that Andy had had. My first thought was this: Ah, this must be what others call 'grace'

p. 193: It also changed my beliefs about Enlightenment: instead of only seeking the big "E" experience, I find it highly valuable to savor the small "e" experiences that often occur in our lives. For me, each small experience gives me a great
sense of meaning and helps to illuminate my purpose. I am satisfied with simply being on the path and less concerned
about discovering ultimate truths... Mark brings up an important point: sharing your big "E" or small "e" moments can
trigger similar experiences in other people. I'm convinced that the search for Enlightenment is hardwired in our brain.

pp. 194-195: Our research has uncovered a few basic steps that can speed up the process of enlightenment. (1) First, you must genuinely desire insight and change, knowing that it could shake up some of your most cherished beliefs. Beliefs are principles that you formed in the past, and enlightenment going by the dictionary definition means "to bring ne light to ignorance." (2) You need to prepare yourself by engaging in gentle relaxation and awareness exercises. (3) You'll need to engage in an intense ritual that will interrupt you old habits. (4) You must completely surrender and immerse yourself in the ritual experience. (5) Finally, after you've completed your ritual, you must set aside 10-20 minutes to deeply reflect on all the feelings, thoughts, and sensations that occurred while you were in an altered state. Desire Prepare Engage Surrender Reflect. These are the five basic steps that will prime your brain for Enlightenment.

p. 196: Step 4 surrender can be compared to what the esteemed psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls flow, a state of intense awareness where you become so immersed in an activity that your sense of self begins to disappear.

p. 200: Write down as many life-changing events and fully feel the memory as if you were living it for the very first time.
(1) Books or movies that transformed or deeply affected your life. (2) Teachers that deeply influenced your life.
(3) Childhood experiences that changed your view of yourself. (4) Friendships that transformed some aspect of your life.
(5) Spiritual/religious experiences that "enlightened" you. (6) Events/activities that changed your view of the world.
(7) Exceptional experiences that changed your relationship to money or work. (8) Health-related experiences that dramatically improved your lifestyle. (9) Realizations that profoundly changed your beliefs. (10) Anything else that you would consider enlightening or life-transforming.

p. 203: Slowly rotate your head the way you normally do when you want to relax the muscles in your neck. Most do this in 5-10 seconds for a single slow rotation. Take a full 60 seconds to do it. Notice all the tiny aches and pains? This super-slow motion interrupts your habitual way of relaxing, and it's the only way your brain can become aware of the tension you are holding. It is the awareness itself, and not the movement, that releases body tension. Roll your head again in about five minutes and you will notice far fewer aches and pains.

p. 205: Open your mouth, breathe in slowly and gently, and as you breathe out, say "ah". This triggers a yawning and relaxation response, and as researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found, repeating "ah" improves cognitive function, mental health, and spiritual well-being. [Milbury, K. et. al, "Tibetan sound meditation for cognitive dysfunction: results of a randomized controlled pilot trial", Psychooncology, 201322(10):2354-63]

p. 206: The more relaxed you become, the easier it is to be fully immersed in the experience of the ritual. This is what we mean by "surrender". You let yourself go.

p. 207: The more you add mindfulness to your daily routines, the easier it becomes to deal with many emotional problems. Self-reflective awareness reduces activity in the fear-and-worry centers of your brain, and as you watch your anxiety, you become less anxious. Research shows that mindfulness has transformed people's lives by alleviating suffering from life-threatening diseases.

pp. 210-211: Mindfulness is a slow path of transformation, but it trains your brain to remain calm when problems occur... Mindfulness keeps you and your brain grounded, bringing you back into the present moment where you can integrate your experience into the everyday consciousness that guides you through your daily tasks and interactions with others.

p. 213: Enlightenment isn't a practice, it's an emergent experience that can be triggered when the brain transitions from one stage of consciousness to the next. In both Eastern and Western philosophies, the big "E" experience is seen either as a gradual progression or ascension toward realization of the essential values identified by the various sacred texts or as a sudden burst of transformative insight often related to an intense spiritual practice.

pp. 214-215: Boom! A sudden shift of consciousness takes place and everything changes in a way that brings insight, clarity, unity, peacefulness, or any of a dozen different states of illumination... Enlightenment is the moment of transition, when our beliefs and worldview suddenly change in ways that provide us with new meaning, value, and purpose... In that moment, many people experience extraordinary insights that bring feelings of clarity, euphoria, and insights into the nature of themselves, the world, and the universe.

p. 217: The specific goal of Zen Buddhism is enlightenment, but most Zen teachers will tell you that any thoughts you have about enlightenment can potentially blind you to what it actually is. They don't want you to think about it, they want you to experience it with your senses. (Zen master to professor: "How can you taste enlightenment if you do not empty your cup?")

pp. 218-220: Stare at the center of the white page of paper taped to the wall. When your eyes wander to the edge, bring your attention back to the center. Keep gazing at the center until the edge of the paper disappears from consciousness. You won't see it anymore (a neural process known as selective inattention) and you'll cease to associate with the preconceived idea of paper. Consciousness changes into something undefinable as you literally decrease the brain's ability to think... Navajo Indians use sand paintings to lose themselves in the spiritual symbols of their traditions. But gazing at the blank page is different. You're eliminating all of your ideas about everything God, self, and especially Enlightenment as you deliberately try to empty your mind of thoughts. When successful, the paper loses its meaning, and from that nothingness, something happens that is beyond words, and that, for the student of Zen, is Enlightenment. It also reflects a neuroscientific truth: your sense of the paper or yourself or anything else in the world is nothing more than a perceptual illusion, a construction that is created in your parietal lobe and then labeled in the language centers of your frontal lobe. Our thoughts and feelings are just constructions in the mind memories pulled from the past and projected onto the present moment. For many people, coming to this realization is a transformational insight.

pp. 220-222: Automatic Writing— Can anyone enter trance-like states to gain knowledge that is normally not accessible when we remain in a normal state of awareness? History certainly says yes, and doing automatic writing where you allow a different "voice" to communicate to you or through you turns out to be simple, fun, and surprisingly illuminating... For every person we can envision a saint, an artist, a philosopher, an ancestor, etc. our creative mind can speak to us through that imaginary muse. Such inner dialogues can have profoundly healing effects, helping us to solve problems that everyday consciousness cannot. It's a form of channeling, and it really doesn't matter if you believe the voices are real or imaginary... Esther Hicks, a well-known author and public speaker, channels an enlightened entity named Abraham, seeing him as a source of inspiration and infinite intelligence... JZ Knight, who has appeared often on television, communes with a 30,000-year-old spirit named Ramtha, featured in the film What the Bleep Do We Know?. Jane Roberts gained international fame in the 1970s by channeling an entity named Seth, and her books remain popular today... Helen Schucman in 1965 began to receive dictation from an inner voice that identified itself as Jesus. The result was a best-selling book A Course in Miracles. Dr. Schucman was a professor of medical psychology at Columbia University in New York, and for these reasons she chose to publish the material under a pseudonym... Carl Jung recorded many perceived encounters with two biblical entities, Elijah and Salome. He also had his own "inner guru" named Philemon and he used these spontaneous experiences to develop a technique called "active imagination", a form of conscious dreaming that Jung believed could help people uncover unconscious blocks and discover their true self.

p. 222: Decide what question you'd like to gain insight into, and write it down at the top of your page. Keep the pen in your hand and your mind as "empty" as possible. See if you can allow another voice a whisper, an intuition, a sensory impression to come through to you. Ask yourself, "What would ____________ say?" and fill in the blank with someone— alive or dead who you consider knowledgeable and wise.

pp. 223-224: OM SWEET OM— When researchers conducted an fMRI study on the OM meditation, they found that the longer people repeated the sound of OM, the less activity occurred in the frontal lobe, the anterior cingulate cortex, the thalamus, and the emotional centers in the limbic system.* ÊThe experience can be profound because everything you are consciously aware of begins to fade away: your thoughts, your feelings, even the sense of reality you have about the world surrounding you...We really don't know why the mmmm part of the sound is so important for eliciting this decrease in neural activity, only that the ssss sound didn't affect the brain. The researchers went on to suggest that OM meditation could be beneficial in the treatment of depression and epilepsy, and we believe that it is also one of the easiest ways to prime the brain for Enlightenment... The OM meditation is even more powerful when you do it with a group of people because you'll quickly experience a sense of unity when all the chanters' voices blend together. This is an example of what we call neural resonance, where the neurons in everyone's brain begin to fire in a similar way.
* Kalyani BG, et.al., "Neurohemo-dynamic correlates of "OM" chanting: A pilot functional magnetic resonance imaging study", Int. J. Yoga, 2011; 4 (10 3-6.

p. 225: Just listening to pleasant music can increase frontal lobe activity and create states of bliss, so adding music to meditation can be very beneficial. Our Sufi practioners did a far more forceful chant, rapidly repeating la 'ilaha 'illa-llah as they rhythmically rocked their heads and bodies. The chanting was monotone rather than melodic, and the sounds were uttered as the person deeply breathed in and out. Together all of these elements increased breathing, repetitive sounds, rhythmic movement created a powerful change in the brain. The result: frontal and parietal activity dropped as the meditation became more intense.

p. 226: Movements done slowly increase activity in the frontal and parietal lobes, but faster rituals appear to rapidly decrease activity in these same areas, and our research with the Pentecostals and Sufis strongly suggests that fast rhythmic rocking and dancing can take you into ecstatic trance-like states in a matter of minutes.

p. 227: According to Harvey Whitehouse, the Oxford anthropologist, rituals are "the glue that holds social groups together."* ÊEven microorganisms appear to exhibit ritual behaviors as a way to transmit information and knowledge... The marked actions used by priests, rabbis, imams, and shamans of all cultures solemn bows, kneeling, prostration, ritualized walking with sacred texts, orchestrated movements of arms and hands, and the regular use of specific fragrances, food, and drink. Such actions bring our brain to attention and recognize that we are doing something important.**
* Jones D., "Social evolution: the ritual animal", Nature Volume 493, 470-472 (2013 January 23).
** Graybiel AM. "Habits, rituals, and the evaluative brain", Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 2008;31:359-87,

p. 228: In essence, ritual helps us to shift between different levels of consciousness for the purpose of uniting with our highest spiritual and social principles... If you want to quickly alter consciousness, intensify your ritual. The human brain natually resists moving beyond the comfort zone of everyday consciousness, but many spiritual ceremonies overcome this resistance by including activities that will overload the senses: sitting in sweat lodges, engaging in drumming circles, taking mind-altering drugs, hyperventilating, fasting for several days, or performing painful rituals that will shock the body's nervous system. They can certainly elicit transformational experiences, but they can also traumatize you.

p. 230: First relax, then intentionally decide to seek Enlightenment. Find a meaningful word or phrase or sound and begin to repeat it. Add a simple body movement. Concentrate deeply on the sound and movement and slowly increase the speed. As you do so, your breathing will automatically deepen. Then surrender yourself to the experience. Continue until you feel a dramatic shift in awareness and then slow your movements and chanting down... Our research shows that the more you become familiar with foreign cultures and different spiritual traditions, the more tolerant and accepting you become of others and yourself.

pp. 231-232: Create Your Personal Dhikr— Do these exercises sitting comfortably on a pillow on the floor with enough space around you to sway your body to and fro. The faster you chant and move, the easier it becomes to slip into a trance-like state where you lose your sense of your body and your mind. In Dhikr, the most common word that is repeated is "Allah". If saying the word "Allah" bothers you, remember that this word is also used by Arab Christians to symbolize God and is derived from the ancient Hebrew terms of il, el, al. In some mystical circles, Allah means "breath" or "oneness".

p. 234: One of the most powerful Sufi chants repeat this four-part phrase la 'ilaha 'illa-llah in any way that makes it sound like a poetic phrase. It's pronounced like this: "laa-eee-lahh-haa il-ahh-lahh". But don't worry so much about the pronunciation: it's the rhythm and cadence that will put you into an ecstatic trance-like state.

p. 236: Make two lists of your favorite songs that create a state of bliss or euphoria. On one list include three to ten slow songs, and on the other list put down three to ten fast ones. Record each song on the list onto a player. You should now have between ten to fifty minutes of music.

p. 238: Researchers at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands discovered, dancing, chanting, and drumming together makes the entire group feel united. This is a form of social and community enlightenment... The same thing can occur during an exercise workout. Known as "runner's high", the rapid Êmovement combined with the automatic deepening of breathing affects the structures of the brain in ways very similar to enlightenment experiences.* In fact, researchers have noted that a distinct "dissociation" takes place in the consciousness centers of high-performance athletes.**
* Boecker H., et.al., "The runner's high: opioidergic mechanisms in the human brain", Cereb. Cortex, 2008Nov;18(11):2523-31. ** Masters KS., "Hypnotic susceptibility, cognitive dissociation, and runner's high in a sample of marathon runners",
Am. J. Clin. Hypn. 1992 Jan;34(30:193-201

p. 241: The "reentry" process is simple: take several gentle breaths, then slowly stretch and yawn for at least 60 seconds. Then write, in a journal, a couple of paragraphs about your experience. Writing brings you back into the language centers of your brain that are turned off during thes intensive practices...Research from Harvard University found that repeating a single value word for 20 minutes will affect the function of 1200 stess-reducing genes.Whenever you feel stressed out, repeat this phrase putting one of your value words into the blank space: "I breathe in __________, I breathe out stress." Try it now: repeat this phrase with any word you choose (love, confidence, peace, God, trust, etc.) and notice how it makes you feel.

p. 243: Enlightenment— whether you define it as a spiritual awakening, a mystical experience, an intuitive insight, or a rational discovery has the unique quality of transforming a person's perspective of reality in a fundamental way. Our brain-scan studies show enlightenment can make permanent changes in the brain, and when this occurs, the way we perceive the world— and ourselves within it also changes in dramatic ways.

p. 245: When that brief moment of illumination is sparked, all of our worries, fears, and doubts our dirty laundry fall from our shoulders. We momentarily bask in the experience, but then we must pick up our bag once more... Enlightenment is that momentary glimpse of the thread that connects us to everyone and everything, and that awareness permanently changes the structure and functioning of our brain.

p. 247: If everyone viewed the world from his or her highest level of consciousness, we might expect to see an increased sense of compassion and openness to other people and other beliefs. This feeling of oneness and inclusiveness could be so perversive that it might lead to a massive reduction in hatred and violence among people.

p. 248: Enlightenment is a gift for all humanity. It is in your body and your brain, and it is waiting to be released in everyone.

pp. 249-250: In most religious groups, spiritual exercises are usually offered for free, so avoid organizations that demand large sums of money for their programs... Creating a daily personal practice— a ritual to exercise your brain— can increase the likelihood of having more insights and "aha' experience, and so we created a self-guided audio training program called NeuroWisdom 101 that will guide you through a series of brief meditations that deepen relaxation, concentration, mindfulness, positivity, and emotional regulation. There are 58 exercises in this program.
Visit www.AndrewNewberg.com or www.MarkRobertWaldman.com

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Web Links to Andrew Newberg, Mark Robert Waldman and their Books:

• Wikipedia: Andrew B. Newberg
   (Professional career, Academic research, Literary activities, Criticism,
   Works, References, External Links)
• Andrew Newberg
   (About Dr. Newberg, Curriculum Vitae, Jefferson University Hospitals Page,
   Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine, IMDB Profile, Contact)
• Mark Robert Waldman's Practical Neuroscience
   (Home, Products, Neuro-Coaching, Book Coaching, Certification, Speaking)
• Reviews of How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain at Amazon.com
   (49 reviws: 51% 5-stars, 25% 4-stars, 8% 3-stars, 12% 2-stars, 4% 1-star)
• Reviews of How God Changes Your Brain at Amazon.com
   (172 reviws: 66% 5-stars, 20% 4-stars, 5% 3-stars, 5 2-stars, 4% 1-star)
• Reviews of Words Can Change Your Brain at Amazon.com
   (102 reviws: 73% 5-stars, 10% 4-stars, 11% 3-stars, 4% 2-stars, 2% 1-star)
• The Neurology of Spiritual Experience
   (By Steve Kotler, Humanity Media, September 16, 2009)
• Neurotheology: This Is Your Brain On Religion
   (Author Interviews, NPR, December 15, 2010)
• What Happens to the Brain During Spiritual Experiences?
   (By Lynne Blumberg, The Atlantic, June 5, 2014)
• Book TV: Andrew Newberg "How God Changes Your Brain"
   (9:56 on YouTube Uploaded May 4, 2009—
   an active spirtual life physically changes the brain.)
• Andrew Newberg: The Brain is Hard-Wired for God
   (59:00 on YouTube: Laura Lee Show, April 23, 2014)
• Dr Andrew Newberg on how meditation & spiritual practices empowers your brain
   (16:37 on YouTube, Dr. Pillai Show, October 25, 2013)

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