I do workshops on the “Neuroscience of Prayer.” One of the first demonstrations I do is to step into a person’s space and point my finger in their face and ask them how it feels.
They respond in many different ways, sometimes by retreating and sometimes with aggression as though they want to bite it.
I then back up and ask them to close their eyes and say a silent prayer to themselves, a prayerful blessing of their choice, and when done, to open their eyes.
When they open their eyes, I step in even closer than the first time and again point my finger in their face, asking them how they now feel.
Much to their surprise, they usually respond that the finger pointing does not bother them now.
Exactly! With prayer you tune your consciousness, as a neuroscientist would measure your brain wave frequencies with an EEG, to a higher level. Your perception of reality is a function of the level of consciousness from which you view it.
You can worry and tune it so low that mole hills appear to be mountains. Or, you can turn toward God in prayer and tune your consciousness so high that mountains are perceived as mole hills. Prayer helps you turn your consciousness toward God which in turn helps you become closer to God and find your strength in God. (The more you find your strength in God the less dependent you become upon the earthly attachments around you)
If a person is on antidepressants and I do the above demonstration, they can pray for an hour and their consciousness frequency does not change. There is NO CHANGE.
Antidepressants block our ability to hear that higher voice in our heads that guide us to tell the difference between right and wrong. They are like having a radio and taking the tuning knob off so that you only get one station. Can’t turn to higher stations or the lower ones. Thus the flat affect of many people on antidepressants.
That being said, antidepressants do save lives. If the emotional pain is too great for us to bear, we need to temporarily anesthetize it, just as if I have a broken arm I might need a pain killer to get through the first few hours.
The pharmaceutical industry is the greatest obstacle to spiritual growth and is preparing us for satan’s low influence. Fear and anger are satan’t tools. Love is God’s tool. (satan is one of God’s tools too as God is always in control)
The Bible, especially the New Testament, is the best psychological self-help book in existence.
Very interesting. Thanks for posting.