On 7 November, the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences (FFCS) of the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP) in Braga hosted the event Brain and Spirituality: Perspectives and Challenges, dedicated to the presentation and discussion of the results of a project funded by the BIAL Foundation. The study aimed to investigate the neuroanatomical correlates of the participants' psychological well-being, i.e., which areas of the brain are activated during or as a result of a religious or mindfulness retreat.
The event was attended by Luís Portela, president of the BIAL Foundation; Paulo Dias, Vice-Chancellor of UCP – Braga; Bruno Nobre, Director of FFCS at UCP – Braga; Ângela Leite, researcher at the Centre for Philosophical and Humanistic Studies; Alex Villas Boas, lecturer at the Faculty of Theology at UCP; and Pedro Morgado, researcher at the Institute for Research in Life and Health Sciences (ICVS) at the University of Minho.
The study compared two groups of participants: one involved in a five-day retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and the other in a mindfulness retreat of the same duration. According to Paulo Dias, ‘this experiment showed that in both cases, whether in spiritual exercises or mindfulness, the effect is positive, what is known as neuroprotective. However, the way this happens is not the same in both groups’.
The Vice-Chancellor also emphasised that this study ‘represents a small step forward in advancing knowledge about the relationship between the brain and religion, but the main incentive is to stimulate philosophical, theoretical, theological and neurological discussion for the future’.
The Director of FFCS, Bruno Nobre, reinforces Alex Villas Boas 'reflection on these exercises, which ‘aim to find a greater affection that reorders all other affections.’
This project brought together researchers from different fields, including Philosophy, Medicine, Psychiatry and Psychology, integrating the collaboration between the FFCS of UCP - Braga and the ICVS of the University of Minho.
This conference reinforces the commitment of research to deepen the dialogue between science and spirituality.
