Dalai Lama Gave Suspended Professor Michael Persinger and his associate an A+

Jan. 20, 2016 - EntSun -- For over ten years, Laurentian University Professor Dr. M.A. Persinger has been asking students to read or to sign a form acknowledging that profanity would be used in his first-year psychology classroom. Late last year, a student complained about it. The university provost responded by suspending Persinger from teaching the class, and he was replaced by another teacher in mid-semester. Students responded with a petition to have him reinstated, and the University's Faculty Association has made a formal protest. The university provost stated that the university plans to re-instate Persinger as the first-year psychology teacher if he drops the waiver on profanity. Persinger says that it's not a waiver (it's a "statement of understanding"), and that students who choose not to sign it are still welcome to take the course.

Persinger's (recently replicated) God Helmet is famous for having induced religious experiences in his laboratory. A small percent of them included visions of God. Although his experimental work includes some very striking results, the theories and hypotheses they're based on are almost unknown. However, there is a book that explains them for general readers authored by Todd Murphy, a close associate of Persinger's. What's important here is that the book has a contribution by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, who called it "illuminating". "Sacred Pathways: The Brain's role in Religious and Mystic Experiences" extends Persinger's research. It takes it from concepts about God, the core belief of the religions of the western world, to the core Buddhist and Hindu concepts of enlightenment, rebirth and mystic experiences. The Dalai Lama has a long-standing interest in the meeting of science and religion.

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Any comprehensive theory that can encompass the science behind so many religions is worth attention, but when it gains the approval of the most popular monk in the world (who has authored several books in advanced Buddhist psychology), it becomes something very significant. Dr. Persinger developed the basic theories, while his associate, author Todd Murphy, successfully applied them to the central beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism. It's unlikely that the Dalai Lama would have contributed a foreword to Murphy's book if he had any serious disagreements with it.

Dr. Persinger is a well-known scientist, with over 500 scientific, medical and academic publications. The architect of this new science (sometimes called "neurotheology") has been suspended from teaching the Laurentian's first-year psychology course in an action that some call "academic censorship". Online reviews of Persinger's classes hail him as a brilliant teacher. In 2007, he won the TV Ontario (TVO) award for Best Lecturer. His many accolades include a favorable review for his work from The Dalai Lama, an honor that only a few scientists can rival.

The meeting of science and religion has advanced significantly in the last decades, and Dr. Persinger's contributions have played an important role. His censure over a single student complaint is deeply regrettable.

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"Sacred Pathways: The Brain's Role in Religious and Mystic Experiences" can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/zq3sfp2.

Author Todd Murphy is available for comment here: http://tinyurl.com/huqfhhr.

End.

Postscript:
This writer interviewed Dr. Persinger on Tuesday, Jan 19^th, 2016, and he confirmed that the Provost's action concerns only one undergraduate course.  He continues to teach "Brain and Behavior", "Behavioral Neurobiology", "Neuropsychopharmacology", "Advanced Human Neuroanatomy", "Adult Clinical Assessment", as well as "Bio-statistics and Methods".  Most of these are graduate courses.  He also continues his experimental work, working alongside graduate students in the psychology department.