Cognitive Evidence

Up to this point, we have examined phenomena in the brain that appear to originate from our older brain systems, namely the brainstem and the limbic system. These older systems, which are involved with desires, motivations, pain, fear, and various emotions and feelings, can prevent the cerebral cortex from engaging in its normal cognitive processing of evidence, data, information, and experiences. Alternatively, they can compel the cerebral cortex to engage in a particular type of activity aimed at reaching the conclusion they desire.

The cerebral cortex of a person with religious faith operates differently when encountering the beliefs, rituals, and doctrines of other religions. Such beliefs and practices are often criticized easily, and conclusions are reached “very quickly” and “with confidence.” However, when the person’s own religious beliefs, rituals, and doctrines are of the same nature and subject to the same criticisms, they may lack the courage to criticize them. They fail to recognize similar evidence against their own beliefs, and even if they do notice such evidence, they postpone drawing conclusions indefinitely.

However, religious faith is not merely the product of believing stories told by others and of desires, motivations, fears, and anxieties that lead to confirmation of that faith. Sometimes believers also believe, from a cognitive and epistemological perspective, that they have discovered evidence supporting their religious faith.

They may believe that they have attained knowledge and understanding that are the result of their own direct and first-hand observations and experiences, rather than the product of stories told or beliefs instilled by their parents, teachers, religious authorities, or preachers.

Such personal experiences may include mystical experiences, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, hearing voices and seeing sacred individuals and spirits, experiencing their presence entering their minds and bodies, the feeling of familiarity with a place they have entered for the first time as evidence of previous lives, discovering clear patterns in the world that indicate the purposeful and wise design of events by an intelligent being, remembering miracles they themselves have witnessed, directly witnessing present-day miracles, and the consensus of religious scholars.

We will now examine how the brain functions in relation to direct and first-hand cognitive and epistemological phenomena, in order to understand how these experiences occur and how it is that people of every religion use them as direct evidence supporting their own religious beliefs.

First, I will briefly explain the concept of cognition:

1-

I trust Mr. A. I ask him what day of the week it is. He tells me it is Sunday. Based on my knowledge of him, I conclude that today is Sunday. From this moment onward, I say: “I know that today is Sunday.” This means that I have reached a sense of knowledge and understanding regarding the fact that today is Sunday. I no longer feel the need to investigate further.

2-

I ask Mr. A what day of the week it is. He tells me that today is Sunday. I am not certain that Mr. A’s opinion is correct, and I have not yet reached a sense of knowledge and understanding regarding the day of the week. I therefore need to investigate further, so I look at my mobile phone to see what day it is.

I see that it also shows Sunday. Now I reach a sense of knowledge and understanding that today is Sunday. Now I can say: “I know that today is Sunday.” I no longer feel the need to ask further questions.

3-

Mr. A tells me that COVID is a story created to frighten people. He says that he “knows” COVID does not exist and that all related news is false and created by media outlets controlled by powerful elites who have a hidden agenda.

I completely trust Mr. A. I conclude that I know COVID is a fabricated story and does not exist. I feel that I have attained knowledge and understanding regarding the nonexistence of COVID. I see no need for further investigation, and therefore I neither wear a mask nor receive a vaccine.

The COVID-19 virus infects me.

I then realize that I had made a “cognitive error” regarding the nonexistence of COVID and that relying on Mr. A as a means of attaining knowledge and understanding was not a valid approach. My method of acquiring knowledge was flawed, and I needed more evidence and investigation in order to understand reality.

I also conclude that Mr. A, who believed that all statements from the media were the result of a major conspiracy, had also fallen into a cognitive error. Mr. A’s feeling of “knowing” was itself mistaken. What had formed in his mind as reality did not correspond to external or objective reality.

I conclude that the pattern Mr. A perceived from the collection of events and news around him—a pattern of conspiracy—was a cognitive or epistemological error.

I recover, and then Mr. A contracts COVID and is hospitalized. He sends me a message from the hospital saying that, now that he is experiencing severe respiratory complications and considering the collection of evidence around him, his opinion has changed and he has reached new knowledge.

He says that he no longer sees a conspiracy pattern. Instead, he gives greater weight to current evidence, such as test results and the statements of doctors and other patients around him. This time, he says that he “knows” COVID exists.

4-

A man has taken a hallucinogenic drug and says that he sees many ants moving on the ground. He says that he “knows” that the floor is covered with ants. The people around him see nothing. He is certain that the ants exist because he sees them.

He even says to his wife: “If you had cleaned the house properly, there would not be so many ants on the floor.”

He is completely certain of his knowledge and perception regarding the presence of the ants.

Therefore, our knowledge, understanding, or certainty does not necessarily correspond to external reality. Nevertheless, it influences our beliefs, behaviors, speech, and way of life.

The sense of knowing and understanding arises from the processing our brain performs on the totality of incoming sensory data and the information already stored in memory. Sometimes our perceptions are entirely constructed by our own brain, as in the case of hallucinations.

Without a sense of knowing, we cannot easily make decisions or take subsequent actions. If I “know” that today is Sunday, I take certain actions; if I “know” that today is Monday, I take different actions. If I “do not know” what day of the week it is, I remain uncertain and unable to decide about my next actions.

Now let us examine the various types of cognitive phenomena that create or support religious faith. We will begin with mystical experiences.