God on the Brain; The God Helmet and How We Experience the Divine
For most people, the search for God leads to a mosque, an ashram, a synagogue, or a church. For others, they head to a mountaintop or a quiet, calm place seeking stillness and contemplation. But is it possible to experience God through a wearable apparatus or even a helmet, like one would wear biking or skiing? Can divine experience be artificially triggered in our brains? Inventor Stanley Koren and neuroscientist Michael Persinger, as well as those who have contributed to their work, would answer, yes, it is possible.Â
Stanley Koren was a neuroscientist who developed what is known as the God Helmet based on the specifications created by Persinger. The helmet is an experimental object designed to study religious experiences and creativity, all through a subtle temporal lobe stimulation that impacts the part of the brain usually associated with how we understand God — the amygdala and hippocampus. The God, or Koren Helmet, merges science and religion into a research field that is dedicated to investigating what role the brain plays in religious, mystical, and creative experiences.
The God Helmet; How Does It Work?
The Koren Helmet utilizes a network of low-intensity magnetic signals, or a field-to-field interaction onto the brain, mildly disrupting the brain which causes the left and the right side to communicate, specifically about a sensed, or religious presence. The experience of using the helmet highlights the brain’s central role to what is recognized as a deep spiritual embodiment, normally associated with activities such as prayer, fasting, or meditation. Sessions are held in the quiet of an acoustic chamber, or totally silent room with electromagnetic insulation.Â
For Persinger, the brain is considered to be the key to understand religion, including the physiological causes, as well as, ways to replicate or train the brain to deepen the divine experience. According to Persinger, who tested the God Helmet on more than 2,000 subjects, up to 80 percent state that the mild disruption that the God Helmet provides created a “sensed presence,” a feeling subjects, both those who identified as believers and non-believers, described as religious, or spiritual. Additionally, about one percent of subjects said they had direct experiences of God, though Persinger doesn’t consider these numbers accurate as such experiences can be quite personal and profound, often making it difficult for researchers to record.
The Growing Field of Brain Helmet Stimulation: Science and Spirituality Merge
The God Helmet is part of a rich field of growing research in the field of brain stimulation that includes and extends beyond the medical field, including the TMS helmet, and more recently, the Neuroelectric Wireless Helmet. The neuroelectric wireless brain helmet measures and stimulates neurons with the goal being to diagnose and treat certain illnesses including epilepsy, severe depression, post-stroke rehabilitation, as well as PTSD in veterans, fostering brain neuroplasticity.
Unlike the God helmet or the neuroelectric wireless brain helmet, transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, utilizes electronic currents in a noninvasive manner and is emitted from a magnetic coil that is attached to the scalp. Approved by the FDA, the TMS helmet applies varying levels of electronic charges which enter the brain waves themselves, with therapeutic results with neurological disorders and in mental health, most beneficially with those who suffer from severe depression. Yale University is among a number of medical teaching institutions that take the TMS helmet’s capacity to heal severe depression seriously, along with Johns Hopkins University. Â
The 64 coil Shiva heasdset
Beyond the brain helmets or apparatus that are medically-focused, there are a number of other helmet therapies including the Experience Helmet. Created by Aiste Noreikaite, a London designer, the helmet transmits someone’s brain activity through a NeuroSky EEG, which then gets translated back into a programming language that plays meditative electronic sounds created by that person’s brain, resulting in a calm and contemplative state.Â
Also created by one of Dr. Persinger’s students, the eight-channel Shiva Neural Stimulation system, which can be set up as the God Helmet as a version of Persinger’s “Octopus,” and a simplified, two-channel apparatus that foregoes rotatino over the temporal lobes, known as the Shakti system.
These technologies represent a new generation designed to induce and awaken psychic perceptions, develop spiritual awareness, and is designed to heal anxiety, fear, depression, and anger.
Instead of a solid helmet, these systems are open-sided and circle the brain with a rapid magnetic signal at various rotations per second. The magnetic stimulation interacts with the cortical segment of the brain in the right hemisphere, the non-verbal thinking part of the brain. Users of this technology claim higher levels of spiritual awareness, psychic insights, or other more intuitive powers.
Sacred Neurology or Suggestibility?Â
As with anything having to do with religion, the God helmet has plenty of skeptics, including biologists and the famously intractable materialist/atheist Richard Dawkins, who volunteered to test the machine in 2003. “I’ve always been curious to know what it would be like to have a mystical experience,” Dawkins said prior to the experiment. However, despite Dawkins’ curiosity, he experienced only slight dizziness and a tingling sensation in his leg.
Though according to researchers administering the experiment on Dawkins, he had consumed alcohol prior to the test and imbibing interferes with the conditions necessary to properly entrain the brain. One wouldn’t expect to successfully induce a mystical experience through meditation while intoxicated, so why wouldn’t he have abstained before submitting himself to such a test?
Graham Hancock once pressed Dawkins on why he was averse to the use of psychedelics to induce the mystical state, to which he responded with receptivity before referencing his “failed” God Helmet experiment: you can listen to their interaction here.
But despite this well-publicized outcome, Persinger was not discouraged, stating that some people are simply more genetically disposed to the “sensed feeling” associated with God. Other criticisms of the God Helmet and accompanying research have included the suggestibility of the subjects, who were aware in advance how the God helmet worked, casting doubt on the authenticity of the research. Though this criticism has been disproven as Persinger does, in fact, conduct experiments using placebo-controlled, double-blind methodologies.
Dr. Persinger’s work is also not entirely focused on the mystical, but also clinically focused, as he has studied the effects of his helmets as modalities for treating various types of depression — both long-term and ephemeral types from concussions and head trauma.
The God Helmet: Proof of a ‘God’ Gene?
The God Helmet is part of a body of scientific research dedicated to exploring the existence of a “God” gene or a genetic component that shows a biologically driven religious tendency toward frequent prayer and a strongly felt presence of the divine. Persinger was inspired by research conducted in the 1950s by Wilder Penfield, who studied people with epilepsy. During surgery, Penfield electronically stimulated various parts of the brain and recorded the patients’ sensation which included hearing voices and seeing visions.Â
While not without critics, the God Helmet is responsible for a new understanding of the complexity that is our brain function, one that goes far beyond what we’ve previously imagined, as well as adding to the body of scientific research devoted to how the sacred exists in our biology. Could the sensed presence of God be developed, regardless of one’s religious beliefs, upbringing, or genetics, by simply slipping on a hard-cased helmet? The implications are many, but one of the most obvious ones is that the God Helmet could forever change our understanding and relationship to what we have thought of as a higher power.
Correction 11/19/2019: A previous version of this article omitted the fact that Richard Dawkins had consumed alcohol prior to submitting himself to a test using Dr. Persinger’s technology, marring the results of the experiment. Other clarifications regarding the results of Persinger’s work were also corrected.
About the Author
What Is 'Vibrate High' and How to Raise Your Vibrational Frequency
Everything in the universe, including our thoughts and emotions, has a vibrational frequency that influences how we feel, act and relate to others. When our vibrational frequency is high, we experience greater well-being, clarity and spiritual connection. In this article we explore what it means to vibrate high, how to identify your current vibrational state and what practices can help you raise your vibration in a sustained way.
Table of Contents
- What Does It Mean to Vibrate High?
- Am I Vibrating High or Am I Vibrating Low?
- Raising Your Vibration: Essential Practices and Habits
- What Can You Achieve by Vibrating High?
- The Science Behind Vibrational Frequency
- Vibrational Frequency and Spiritual Development
- Strategies for Maintaining High Vibration Over the Long Term
What Does It Mean to Vibrate High?
Vibrating high refers to the level of vibrational frequency we emit through our thoughts, emotions and states of consciousness. Just as everything in the universe vibrates, we also project an energetic frequency that influences our perception, our decisions and the reality we co-create. A high vibration manifests through elevated emotions such as love, gratitude, joy, compassion and trust.
The importance of vibrating high lies in its direct impact on our daily experience. A high vibrational frequency favors well-being, enhances inner clarity and attracts people and situations in tune with that energy. On the other hand, a low vibration can generate emotional blockages, conflictive relationships or repetitive patterns that limit our growth. Learning how to vibrate high allows us to take responsibility for our energetic state and transform our lives from the inside out.
Am I Vibrating High or Am I Vibrating Low?
To know if you are vibrating high, observe how you feel physically, mentally and emotionally. People with a high vibrational frequency tend to feel at peace with themselves, face challenges with a positive attitude and cultivate healthy relationships. They also commonly experience synchronicities, creative inspiration and a sense of purpose.
Conversely, when someone vibrates low, emotions such as anxiety, frustration, fear or judgment predominate. The energy feels dense, it is difficult to maintain motivation and everything seems to go uphill. Recognizing if you are vibrating low is fundamental to initiate a change, since raising your vibration is possible with intention, awareness and small daily actions.
Raising Your Vibration: Essential Practices and Habits
Knowing how to raise your vibration does not require drastic changes, but rather incorporating daily habits that strengthen your energy, your presence and your inner connection. These practices help you sustain a high vibrational frequency, cultivate positive emotional states and live with greater coherence and vitality.
- Daily meditation: Dedicating a few minutes to inner silence regulates the nervous system and improves mental clarity. Constant practice allows you to tune in to a higher and more stable vibration.
- Conscious gratitude: Intentionally giving thanks shifts your mental focus and elevates your emotional state. It is one of the fastest ways to raise your vibrational frequency.
- Conscious eating: Eating fresh, natural, nutrient-rich foods sustains your vital energy. Avoiding processed and mindful eating also influences your vibration.
- Body movement (yoga, dance, walking): Moving the body unblocks stagnant energy and promotes inner balance. Activities such as yoga or dancing help to release tension and raise the frequency.
- Listen to high vibrational music: Music has a direct effect on your energy field. Choose sounds that inspire you and connect you to higher states of consciousness.
- Connection with nature: Being in contact with the natural environment harmonizes body and mind. Walking barefoot, breathing fresh air or simply observing the sky restores your energy.
- Creative visualization and affirmations: Using the mind in a positive way transforms your frequency. Visualizing what you desire and repeating affirmations raises your vibration and focuses your intention.
- Laugh, enjoy and surround yourself with positive people: High emotions are contagious. Sharing time with people who nurture you emotionally improves your vibrational state.
- Rest and restful sleep habits: Good sleep allows the body to regenerate and the mind to quiet down. Deep rest sustains a high vibrational frequency in the long term.
What Can You Achieve by Vibrating High?
Maintaining a high vibrational frequency not only improves your internal state, it also transforms the quality of your experiences. When you vibrate high, your energy becomes consistent with opportunities, connections and situations that reflect that same level of well-being. This internal change manifests in specific areas of life, generating a deep and lasting impact.
- Attract money and abundance: A high vibration connects you with the energy of trust and deservingness. This facilitates openness to new economic opportunities and a healthier relationship with giving and receiving.
- Improve relationships and bonds: When your frequency is high, you attract people who are in harmony with your energy. Relationships become more authentic, conscious and enriching.
- Elevate your emotional well-being: Feelings such as peace, joy and gratitude become more frequent and stable. This strengthens your ability to respond to stress and improves your quality of life.
- Connect with your purpose: Vibrating high helps you listen more clearly to your inner voice. This facilitates decisions aligned with what truly inspires you and gives meaning to your path.
- Expand your spiritual awareness: As you raise your frequency, you access states of greater connection with the subtle. This opens the door to experiences of unity, intuition and inner expansion.
The Science Behind Vibrational Frequency
The idea that everything vibrates at a certain frequency is consistent with the principles of modern physics. Matter, energy and even our thoughts and emotions are made up of vibratory fields that manifest at different levels of density and movement. The higher the frequency, the more subtle and expansive its manifestation.
Vibrational frequency is not just a theoretical notion: it has practical implications in everyday life. Studies in neuroscience, psychology and physiology show that positive emotions such as gratitude, joy or compassion generate beneficial effects on the nervous system, strengthen health and favor broader states of consciousness. These emotions, when sustained over time, raise the overall vibration of the body and mind.
In contrast, emotions such as fear, anger or sustained sadness are associated with lower frequencies. These can weaken the immune system, affect mental health and limit our perception of possibilities. Understanding how our vibrational frequency influences our physical, emotional and mental balance allows us to make more conscious choices to cultivate a more coherent and healthy energy.
Vibrational Frequency and Spiritual Development
Raising the vibrational frequency is an essential part of the spiritual growth process. As a higher vibration is sustained, inner perception is expanded and the connection to deeper aspects of the self is strengthened. This inner shift is reflected in greater clarity, a sense of purpose and a life guided by intuition.
A higher frequency acts as a catalyst for spiritual awakening. By letting go of limiting mental and emotional patterns, space opens up to experience a broader reality that transcends ego concerns. From this perspective, spiritual development is not an idealized state, but a gradual process of alignment with higher consciousness.
In addition, when the vibration is high, it is easier to access subtle experiences such as deep meditation, energetic perception or a sense of oneness with all that exists. These experiences are not exclusive to those who follow a formal spiritual practice, but are available to anyone who consciously cultivates their energy. Vibrational frequency, in this sense, is the bridge between the physical plane and the spiritual dimension.
Strategies for Maintaining High Vibration Over the Long Term
Raising your vibration is important, but sustaining it over time is what really transforms your life. This does not mean always being in elevated states, but learning to return to them more quickly and consciously. The key is to cultivate a routine that strengthens your physical, emotional and energetic well-being on a consistent basis.
Setting healthy boundaries, prioritizing self-care and surrounding yourself with uplifting stimuli are essential practices to prevent external factors from draining your energy. It is also essential to regularly review your thoughts, habits and relationships, and make adjustments when necessary. Vibration is not static: it changes depending on how you live, think and connect with yourself and the world.
