Do All Good Feelings Come From God?

[_Investigator]

Is it LDS doctrine that every good feeling is directly produced by The Holy Spirit?

If you find yourself feeling good, does that always mean that God is trying to tell you something (about what you were just thinking, or doing, or saying, or hearing)?

[_DrW]

Good feelings come from appropriate stimulation of pleasure centers in the brain such as the nucleus accumbens or elsewhere in the limbic system (e.g.,hippocampus or amygdala).

These centers can be stimulated naturally by endogenous neurochemicals that are released in response to certain sensory stimuli. These centers can be stimulated artificially by small electrical currents administered by focused electromagnetic induction or insertion of small electrodes.

Pharmaceuticals can either upregulate or downregualate the activity in these pleasure centers, mainly through actions in the synaptic cleft. SSRIs (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) for example, generally elevate mood and affect by increasing average concentrations of serotonin in the synaptic cleft.

So, if you find yourself feeling good, it is probably because your brain is simply doing its job.

[_Investigator]

So it would be an official doctrine of the Atheist school of thought that NO good feelings come from God?

Thank you, but I already knew that.

What I'd like to know is whether it's an LDS doctrine that ALL good feelings come from God?

Could someone whose LDS (and who believes in God) please answer that question?

Thank you.

[_DrW]

So it would be an official doctrine of the Atheist school of thought that NO good feelings come from God?

Thank you, but I already knew that.

What I'd like to know is whether it's an LDS doctrine that ALL good feelings come from God?

Could someone whose LDS (and who believes in God) please answer that question?

Thank you.

inquiringmind,

You might have noticed that the ranks of the faithful have thinned out considerably over here. Mormon truth claims and associated views and assertions do not seem to fare very well in uncontrolled environments (they are clearly unable to complete in the free market of ideas). Thus, not many TBMs post here anymore, and those who do seem to have their hands full.

You might get a better and more interesting response to your question (from an LDS point of view) by asking the faithful over on the MDD board.

by the way; welcome to MDB. Hope to see more from you here.

[_SteelHead]

I was reading over on the mad board and some poster, I forget which, was saying he avoided certain pharmaceuticals as they prohibited him from feeling the "holy ghost". The thought in my mind was if a prescription, used correctly drug can do that, then the HG is worthless.

[_DrW]

I was reading over on the mad board and some poster, I forget which, was saying he avoided certain pharmaceuticals as they prohibited him from feeling the "holy ghost". The thought in my mind was if a prescription, used correctly drug can do that, then the HG is worthless.

Over the long run properly used psychoactive compounds in natural products have certainly served to aid humans in "feeling the spirit" much more often than they have served to inhibit "spiritual" feelings.

This fact doesn't serve a much of an endorsement for the HG either.