But religious understanding requires updating to suit the ever increasing capacity of the brain, as in every other branch of human knowledge. There are signs that brain is designed for religious experience. Parts of it consistently serve to give the world the significance and unity described in the religious scriptures of mankind.

There are other signs of instinctive awareness of spirituality. Revealed scriptures have held a fascination for the human mind exceeding all other interests, and billions of people today still believe implicitly in their value. Even fables passed on through generations, and modern ones created for mass media, contain symbolic representations of the soul and its relation to the cosmos. The mass appeal is proportional to the symbology present, even if unintentional on the part of the writer.

All this indicates a deep-seated natural instinct at work. It is known that instinctive behaviour serves an evolutionary purpose neccessary for survival. The sexual urge, for example, has a profound influence on all aspects of human and animal life, and is deeply ingrained for a very good reason: without it, no evolution would be possible. Likewise, the religious impulse must have justification somewhere in biology, or the phenomenon would not be so universally widespread and so impervious to skeptical opposition.

The brain is the root of all experience, understanding and knowledge, whether sensory, imaginary, psychic or illusory. Therefore, all mystical experience, and attendant striving, must also have its roots there. It would be foolish to deny mysticism's long and well documented history: its words of hope and inspiration formed the cradle for all of humanity, including modern civilisation, for the grandfathers and fathers of science's pioneers were all devoutly religious men.

The brain evolved gradually over millenia. But during the past hundred or so years an exponential increase has occurred, and today the gap from one generation to another is sometimes impassable for anyone unable to adapt. The tyrannical demands of today's society must be out of step with the more sensitive brains' need for stability and harmony, for the result is a worldwide rebellion against the established norm. The Renaissance marked a turning point against the ferociously untouchable dogma of the church. But modern man is held fast with newly-forged economic chains of his own making: these cause most of the misery and bloodshed around the world, as industrial greed clashes with the need for billions to eat. Divisions still plague mankind, and politics seems unable to take a truly global view. "It does not concern me what one group of foreigners does to another group of foreigners with weapons supplied by Britain," said the late Alan Clark in 1997, a former minister within the British foreign office.

The society materialism created is crumbling everywhere. Every country is affected by war, terrorism, upheaval, or revolution. The answer must be found within the brain: skyscrapers, jets, or even space travel cannot save humanity from degeneration when the brain refuses to tolerate the pressure it is subjected to now. As in the past, when society evolved to the point where it outgrew the social structures of the time, violent revolution was often needed to cause change. Nature's tools, the revolutionaries, were required when reason and logic failed.

Science must examine the precepts of religion and establish or deny their applicability to modern life. The intellect must satisfy itself that religion promotes the evolution of a new sense designed to give man a different view of the Universe, so an individual can confirm his own eternal nature for himself. When satisfied that a life led in accordance with religious principles does indeed have an evolutionary benefit, humanity will gladly forgo excessive material wealth in favour of a glorious inner world within its own brain: the enchanting, everlasting states named "heaven", "nirvana" or "samadhi" by the prophets of old.

Only then will the world undergo a transformation; one every bit as radical as that which followed discoveries such as bacteria, electricity, or the undreamed-of power contained within the tiny atom.

Physicists: quotes on mysticism from eight of the best known physicists of all time, including Einstein

Rainbow: what is at the end of the scientific rainbow?

Scale: Where does our planet fit in the overall scheme of things, and is this truth reflected in modern science and ancient religion?

Science and God: how is science coming to terms with a blief in God?

Science and religion: relevant essays, and quotes from Einstein, Bucke, Sutherland, Descartes, Dawkins, and Krishna

Science and the brain: How modern science is dealing with the profound complexity within our own selves

Search engine: find any word or phrase quickly on any page on this site using a customised search engine

Skeptic: is there any obvious flaw in the thinking of a skeptic?

Sistine chapel: probably the most astounding and enduring of all religious icons

Superconsciousness: what is it like? Does it have a solid biological base? Has anybody really managed to explain it?

Symbolism: how spiritual symbology is represented in some highly successful modern mass media entertainment

Talent: is there any evidence of the talented mind coming into contact with any form of higher intelligence?

Beliefs: the fundamental beliefs which underpin the modern world

Brain: images of the brain in action, examples of its extreme sensitivity to external stimuli and the hazards of over-stressing it

Brain changes: what happens within the brain during and after rituals?

Commerce: how commerce uses pseudo-science in the third world to boost profits.. surprisingly supported by the media celebrities in the west

Genius: the significance of the phenomenon of genius, both creative and destructive

Neurophysiology: one of today's foremost neurophysiologists examines the brain and mysticism

New cells for old: how the long-held belief that the brain does not regenerate is now in disrepute

Pathology: the evidence for an organic revolution within the brain as part of evolution's ongoing processes

Religion: An examination of the underlying precepts behind mankind's major religions

Revelation: detailed medical knowledge recently discovered in the Koran: written hundreds of years before science could verify it

Revelation: How can the presumably incomprehensible nature of revelation have a solid biological base? Has any individual of recent times made any attempt to explain it?