According to Author Robert Ornstein in his latest book entitled God 4.0 On the nature of higher consciousness and the experience called "god" Until recently there has not been a means to understand what is called 'second system" because we didn't have the knowledge of psychology and neuroscience, but now we understand what this faculty is and how it works....how it might work for us.
The activation of this second system of perception happens in those moments when things change, and we "see" and understand things differently. The second system is an innate network of connections in the brain that when developed can access an awareness of a parallel reality that provides insights and understandings that are more objective---outside the self. There is a continuum of this activation, from our experiences of creativity and insight in daily life. to the ecstatic experiences of saints and shaman, to the transcendental experiences of prophets and spiritual teachers--many of whom described their experiences in metaphorical terms such as god.
When we have that eureka experience the left hemisphere of the brain continuously behind the scenes for relevant information--until it finally gets stymied and goes off line. The brain switches over to its right hemisphere to explore unpredicted ideas and associations. The specific actions of the brain that come next are surprising. Milliseconds before an epiphany, the activity in the right hemisphere posterior (back) area shuts down. This is what provides the "bypass" of the barrier between normal thinking and a new understanding.
The insights we get are specifically associated with a burst of high frequency (40-hertz gamma band) measured by EEG activity adjacent to the brains right parietal lobe. Immediately prior to EEG burst there is a flareup of alpha waves over the right side of the back of the head.
The second system isn't a specific physical organ, it is a second system of cognition, an innate quiescent faculty within all of us that can be developed. In technical terms this second system might be called a "workaround" but it is workaround that is discovered independently to defeat or slide around our normal everyday awareness.
All religious and ethical systems that we know of teach/preach being virtuous. They encourage people to practice humility, charity, forgiveness, and generosity. to sacrifice for others, feel empathy and treat others with compassion; and to focus on gratitude for what you have and not envy what others possess. These systems all encourage being thankful, being honest, offering service to others, practicing altruism, developing patience and tolerance, and reducing one's desires. Being virtuous and seeing others in our orbit as virtuous is helpful in maintaining a healthy society. A virtuous society makes a stable society possible by reducing conflict, maintaining social cohesion and enhancing trust and cooperation.
It is not a coincidence that all three Abrahamic religions emphasize being cooperative, courteous and amenable to the likes and dislikes of others. Everybody is for virtue. What these different virtues have in common; humility, generosity, empathy, patience, compassion, forgiveness, honesty, etc is they all draw attention away from a focus upon the self. They all push for "ego reduction" and personal decantation. in other words, they encourage us not to see ourselves as the center of everything. This is an internal, psychological process that mirrors the changes--initiated by Copernicus in the scientific understanding of humanities place in the universe. Practicing virtues draws the brains operational mechanisms away from the area that situates our self, our space, our place and our role in the mundane world, and takes a step toward timelessness and placlessness--to a higher more comprehensive consciousness. One can understand, why such a move away from self-centeredness is held in many spiritual traditions as the groundwork upon which one can begin to prepare for this shift.
If you are interested in learning more about God 4.0 I have included an audiobook link
