I'm always fascinated by the intersections between faith and science, and one of the most interesting (to me) is the field of neurotheology--literally, the study of mind and God. As the name suggests, neurotheology attempts to explain how religious experiences affect the brain.
Researchers have begun to identify the portions of the brain affected by prayer, and interestingly, the area controlling self-awareness is key. In a Newsweek article entitled "Your Brain on Religion," Sharon Begley writes:
The result (of prayer) is that certain regions of the brain are deprived of neuronal input. One such deprived region seems to be the orientation area ... without sensory input the orientation area cannot do its job of maintaining a sense of where the self leaves off and the world begins... The result again is "blurring the edges of the brain's sense of self."
Of course, some feel neurotheology wants to prove all religious experiences--and perhaps the concept of God--are nothing more than misfirings of the brain. As James Harkin recently wrote in the London Times:
If we take neurotheology literally, the implications are severe. If God lies within our brains rather than within our souls, it seems likely that we invented God rather than the other way round. Some neurologists go farther, arguing that religion is a mere figment of delusional mental processes, a kind of mental illness.
While an attractive explanation on the surface, this is an unfortunate example of offering a how answer to a why question. Suppose I ask: Why is this water boiling? More than a few people will say: "Because it's reached 212 degrees Fahrenheit." Fair enough, but isn't that an explanation of how the water is boiling? Why is another question all together. Perhaps it's being boiled for tea. Or Easter eggs. Or a laboratory experiment. These are answers to the why question--answers, unfortunately, scientific explanations of "boiling" can't provide.
So, then, why does self-awareness go dorman while we're in deep prayer? I'm reminded of the Matthew 24b: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (NIV). For me, it's a neurological response to God: deep prayer is denial of the self, in a very real sense.
Of course, others have differing opinions, and there will always be a chicken-or-the-egg question: Did God hardwire our brains to commune with Him, or did the hardwiring of our brains create God?
However you answer that question, it's not a matter of science. It's a matter of faith.