Oneness State and the Brain

Awakening depends on a Shift in Brain Function.
Professor Andrew Newberg, author of the acclaimed book ‘Why God Won’t Go Away’ has studied Tibetan Buddhist monks scientifically, using brain scans. He found that the brains of these monks were functioning in a completely different way from the brains of ordinary people. When the monks were in deep meditation he found a shift in brain dominance from the rear to the front part of the brain or - as we say - from the old to the new brain.

When the frontal area of the brain is activated and supplied with large amounts of high grade energy there is an awakening to a higher state of consciousness, also called the Oneness State. This shift in brain dominance, we suggest, is the biological foundation of Enlightenment or Awakening as we prefer to call it.

Four levels of Reality
You awaken to a higher level of consciousness every morning when you wake up from sleep. Actually you wake up twice, once when you go from deep sleep to dream sleep and again when you wake up to your normal daily consciousness. We suggest that it is possible to wake up even from that state to a higher level of reality.

Each of these four levels of reality is associated with a specific brain structure and a specific brain wave frequency. At the lowest level is the Reptilian brain with its survival functions reflected by the slow delta waves. This is a part of the brain which is active during deep sleep at night. When we start dreaming (REM sleep) a higher level in the brain (Limbic System) steps in with all its emotional activity indicated by theta brain waves. Eventually the Neocortex wakes up, the brain now starts producing alpha and beta waves and we wake up to our normal daily consciousness. Now, the point is that we can awaken to an even higher level of reality (the Oneness State) when the frontal area of the brain is activated and starts generating high amplitude synchronous gamma waves.