Nonlocal Consciousness and the Anthropology of Religions and Spiritual Practices
The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality January 23, 2024 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190905538.013.28 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that religions and spiritual practices can be understood as empirical observational systems developed over generations to open followers to "nonlocal consciousness," and that these systems and their rituals are supported by experimental research across many disciplines. Proposes that religions begin with a founder's nonlocal consciousness experience and that common rituals, sacred spaces, healing practices, and scriptures derive from that experience. |
Abstract
Abstract This chapter presents an anthropological assessment of religions and spiritual practices stripped of their sectarian dogmas. It discusses them not on the basis of faith but as systems of empirical observational science developed over generations for the purpose of allowing followers the opportunity to open to nonlocal consciousness. The chapter describes how religions begin as the result of a single individual having a nonlocal, or a series of nonlocal, consciousness experiences, laying out the steps by which that single personal experience becomes a religion, and then examines and explains why the spiritual rituals and practices common to religions across time, geography, and culture grow from the experiences of the founder. It describes all this using scientific experimental research from many different disciplines to show how the empirical sciences of religions, and the spiritual practices they engender are, in fact, supported by a myriad of studies, showing in the process why water and wine are so often a part of religious rituals; why healing is so common across religions; why sacred spaces are significant, and how they are created; and why scriptures, and even the manner in which they are written, matter in these empirical systems.