🧠 neuroscience

Where is God? A comparison of the neural correlates of mystical and religious praying

This study uses fMRI to demonstrate that the neural correlates of prayer differ based on the perception of God, with Sahaja Yoga meditators showing thalamic deactivation associated with focusing on an immanent, internal God, while Christians exhibit thalamic activation linked to dialoguing with a transcendent, external God.

Original authors: Rubia, K., Hernandez, S. E., Perez-Diaz, O., Gonzalez Mora, J. L., Barros Loscertales, A. R.

Published 2026-02-25

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CC BY 4.0

Original authors: Rubia, K., Hernandez, S. E., Perez-Diaz, O., Gonzalez Mora, J. L., Barros Loscertales, A. R.

Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ⚕️ This is an AI-generated explanation of a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed. It is not medical advice. Do not make health decisions based on this content. Read full disclaimer

The Big Question: Is God "Out There" or "In Here"?

Imagine you are trying to talk to a friend. Sometimes, you talk to a friend who is sitting across the room from you. You look at them, listen to them, and feel like they are a separate person. This is like Religious Prayer (specifically the Christian tradition in this study). You are talking to a God who is "transcendent"—meaning God is separate from you, sitting high above, like a King on a throne.

Other times, you might feel like your friend is actually inside your own mind, or that you and your friend are made of the same stuff. You don't look "out" for them; you look "in." This is like Mystical Meditation (specifically Sahaja Yoga in this study). Here, God is "immanent"—meaning God is everywhere, including inside you. The goal isn't to talk to someone else, but to realize you are already connected to the Divine.

The scientists wanted to know: Does the brain work differently when you pray to a God "out there" versus a God "in here"?

The Experiment: A Brain Scan Showdown

The researchers put two groups of people into an MRI machine (a giant camera that takes pictures of the brain while it's working):

The Christians: 18 people who pray to a God they see as separate and outside themselves.
The Sahaja Yogis: 16 expert meditators who practice a form of meditation where they seek a "thoughtless silence" and feel a connection to a divine energy inside them.

The Task:
Inside the noisy machine, everyone had to do five different mental tasks silently (without speaking out loud):

Pray: Say the Lord's Prayer or make up a spontaneous prayer.
Secular: Recite a poem or make wishes to Santa Claus.
Control: Count backwards from 100.

The scientists compared the brain scans of the Christians praying vs. the Yogis praying to see what was different.

The Discovery: The "Sensory Switch" Goes Off

The most surprising finding was in a tiny, deep part of the brain called the Thalamus.

Think of the Thalamus as the "Front Desk" or "Gateway" of your brain.
Every time you see a bird, hear a car horn, or feel your clothes on your skin, that information hits the Front Desk (Thalamus) first. The Front Desk then buzzes the rest of the brain to say, "Hey, look at this! Feel this!" It keeps you alert to the outside world.

Here is what happened during the scans:

The Christians: When they prayed, their "Front Desk" (Thalamus) stayed active.
- Why? Because they were having a conversation with a God they perceived as a separate person "out there." Their brains were still in "social mode," ready to listen and speak, keeping the gateway to the outside world open. It felt a bit like a phone call.
The Yogis: When they prayed/meditated, their "Front Desk" (Thalamus) turned off (deactivated).
- Why? Because their goal was to find God inside and to reach a state of "mental silence." To do this, they had to stop paying attention to the outside world. They turned off the Front Desk so no outside noise (sights, sounds, feelings) could get in. This allowed them to focus entirely on the quiet, internal feeling of the Divine.

The Takeaway: Two Different Ways to Connect

The study suggests that the way we think about God changes how our brain works physically.

Religious Prayer (The Conversation): The brain stays connected to the outside world. It's like having a deep, meaningful chat with a wise friend across the table. The brain is active in social areas and keeps the "sensory gate" open.
Mystical Meditation (The Union): The brain disconnects from the outside world. It's like diving deep underwater to find a treasure inside a cave. You have to close your eyes and ears to the surface world to find the silence and the "God within." The brain shuts down the sensory gate to focus inward.

In simple terms:
If you pray to a God who is "Up There," your brain stays awake to the world.
If you pray to a God who is "In Here," your brain turns off the outside world to listen to the silence inside.

The scientists found that the Thalamus is the switch that controls whether you are listening to the world or listening to your soul.

1. Problem Statement and Research Gap

The study addresses the neurobiological heterogeneity of spiritual experiences, specifically focusing on how different perceptions of the divine influence brain activation during prayer.

The Dichotomy: The authors distinguish between two primary conceptions of God:
- Transcendent: Typical of Western religious traditions (e.g., Christianity), where God is perceived as an external, infinite entity separate from the human self. Prayer is viewed as a dialogue with an "other."
- Immanent: Typical of mystical traditions (e.g., Sahaja Yoga Meditation), where God is perceived as an internal, omnipresent force within the self and the universe. Prayer aims for a state of "mental silence" or union (Yoga) between the individual self (Atman) and cosmic consciousness (Brahman).
The Gap: While previous fMRI studies have examined Christian prayer (showing activation in social cognition networks) and Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) separately, no study had directly compared the neural correlates of these two distinct modalities to determine if the perception of the divine (internal vs. external) drives specific neurofunctional differences.

2. Methodology

Participants

Groups: Two groups were recruited:
- SYM Group: 16 expert practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation (10 females, mean age ~48). All had >7 years of daily practice.
- Control Group: 18 non-meditating Christian practitioners (11 females, mean age ~48). None had formal meditation experience.
Matching: Groups were matched for age, education, and religious belief intensity (belief in God, frequency of prayer).
Exclusion: Participants with neurological disorders, addiction, or significant head movement (>3mm/3°) were excluded (though one outlier was retained after subgroup analysis confirmed no statistical impact).

Experimental Design

Paradigm: A 2x2 factorial design within an fMRI session, comprising four conditions plus a baseline:
1. Religious/Formal: Recitation of the Lord's Prayer (Lord's_P).
2. Religious/Improvised: Spontaneous prayer (Spont_P).
3. Secular/Formal: Recitation of a poem (Poem).
4. Secular/Improvised: Making wishes to Santa Claus (Santa).
5. Baseline: Counting backwards from 100.
Procedure: Tasks were performed as internal speech (silent) with eyes closed. Each block lasted 26 seconds, repeated 6 times per condition.
Imaging: 3T GE Sigma HD scanner. BOLD fMRI data acquired with TR=2000ms, TE=21.6ms, 37 slices. Structural T1 images were also collected.

Data Analysis

Software: SPM12 (Statistical Parametric Mapping).
Preprocessing: Realignment, co-registration, segmentation, normalization (2x2x2mm), and smoothing (8mm FWHM).
Statistical Model: General Linear Model (GLM) at the first level; Random-effects two-sample t-test at the second level.
Contrasts of Interest:
- Main effect of Domain: Religious (Prayers) > Secular (Poem/Santa).
- Group Differences: Christian Controls > SYM Meditators during the Religious Domain contrast.
Thresholding: Voxel-wise $p < .001$ , corrected for multiple comparisons at the cluster level ( $p < .05$ FWE).

3. Key Contributions

First Direct Comparison: This is the first fMRI study to directly contrast the neural mechanisms of "transcendent" (Christian) prayer with "immanent" (Mystical/Sahaja Yoga) prayer.
Thalamic Specificity: It isolates the thalamus as a critical neural marker distinguishing mystical union from religious dialogue.
Refining the "Mental Silence" Hypothesis: It provides evidence that the state of "thoughtless awareness" in mysticism is not merely the absence of thought but involves a specific downregulation of sensory gating mechanisms.

4. Results

Behavioral Data

Both groups reported high performance and concentration levels across all tasks (mean scores 4.1–4.9 on a 5-point scale), indicating no significant difference in task engagement or ability to follow instructions.

Neuroimaging Findings

Primary Finding (Group Difference): When comparing the Religious Domain (Prayers) against the Secular Domain (Poem/Santa), the SYM group showed significantly reduced activation in the bilateral thalamus compared to the Christian control group.
- Coordinates: Peak at [-4, -20, 6] (Left/Right Thalamus).
- Statistical Significance: $Z = 5.06$ , $p = .003$ (cluster corrected).
Null Findings: No significant differences were found between groups for:
- Formalized vs. Improvised speech acts.
- Interactions between Domain and Speech Act.
- Simple contrasts (e.g., Lord's Prayer vs. Poem) within groups.
Interpretation of Thalamic Deactivation: The thalamus acts as the brain's sensory relay station. Its deactivation in SYM practitioners suggests a reduction in the processing of external sensory stimuli. This supports the hypothesis that mystical prayer involves an "inward turn," filtering out external noise to focus on internal, immanent consciousness. Conversely, the relative preservation of thalamic activity in Christians aligns with the "dialogue" model, which may require maintaining a connection to the external world to address an external entity.

5. Significance and Implications

Neurophenomenology of the Divine: The study demonstrates that the subjective perception of God (as an external "Other" vs. an internal "Self") maps onto distinct neural architectures.
- Transcendent Prayer: Engages networks associated with social cognition and theory of mind (consistent with previous literature), maintaining sensory awareness to facilitate "dialogue."
- Immanent Prayer: Involves a specific downregulation of the thalamus, facilitating a state of "mental silence" by decoupling the self from external sensory inputs and internal mind-wandering.
Mechanism of Meditation: The findings suggest that the "state of yoga" or mental silence is neurobiologically mediated by the thalamocortical disconnection. This reduces the integration of ascending sensory inputs, allowing for a non-reactive sense of self.
Clinical Relevance: Understanding how meditation modulates the thalamus (a hub for arousal and consciousness) offers insights into therapeutic applications for conditions involving hyper-arousal, anxiety, or chronic pain, where reducing sensory gating and self-referential processing is beneficial.

Conclusion
The paper concludes that while both religious and mystical traditions involve communication with the divine, their neural substrates differ fundamentally. Mystical prayer (SYM) is characterized by a specific deactivation of the thalamus, reflecting a shift from external sensory processing to internal, immanent awareness, whereas religious prayer (Christian) retains thalamic engagement consistent with an externalized, dialogic interaction.