The Neuroscience of Peace: What Jesus Knew About Your Brain 2000 Years Ago

What does the peace of Jesus look like? Probably not the way we imagine it should look. Jesus says, “Not as the world gives do I give [peace] to you.” Often we perceive peace from the “world” in tangible, or practical things. Unfortunately, when we lose these tangible things, we often lose our sense of peace. How many of us fell into terrible anxiety and fear in the Covid-19 pandemic or the Great Recession hit in 2008? So how can we experience the peace of Jesus if our brain is misfiring with frequent fight-or-flight commands caused by everyday interactions in the world? Prayer and mediation. Science has shown that prayer activates deep regions in our prefrontal cortex, while also calming the fight-or-flight mechanism.