THE ORIGIN OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS FROM NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE
Yury M. Serdyukov
The Humanities and Social Studies in the Far East 2023 DOI: 10.31079/1992-2868-2023-20-3-51-63 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key points | Argues that religious beliefs originate from near-death experiences, citing a necessary connection between mystical and near-death experiences, a correspondence between near-death experiences and religious afterlife imagery, and evidence that many archaic religious ideas derive from near-death experiences, including links to shamanic practices. |
Abstract
The subject of the article is the idea that religious beliefs are originated from near-death experience. Firstly, it is supported by the existence of a necessary connection between mystical (religious) and near-death experience: 1) the majority of people who have survived clinical death, in their near-death experience have had an experience traditionally considered religious; 2) a clear correla-tion of brain activation in delta-, alpha- and gamma-bands has been established for both groups of near-death and religious experi-ences; 3) near-death and mystical experiences are associated with similar functional changes in the autonomic nervous system. Secondly, it’s corroborated by the correspondence between the complex of near-death experience and religious ideas about the "afterlife". The opposite modalities of subjective reality in the state of clinical death are oniric experiences similar to religious images of Hell and Paradise. Thirdly, it is supported by the origin of the majority of archaic religious ideas from near-death experience: 1) there are numerous direct evidences that religious ideas come from near-death experience; 2) the variability of the genesis of reli-gious ideas from analogs of near-death experience has been recorded; 3) the relationship between shamanic practices and near-death experience has been established.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times | 1987 | Historical analysis | |
| Neuroscience and the Near-Death Experience: Roles for the NMSA-PCP receptor, the sigma receptor and the endopsychosins | 1990 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Implications of near-death experiences for a postmaterialist psychology. | 2010 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-Death Experience as a Probe to Explore (Disconnected) Consciousness | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-death experiences between science and prejudice | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cites 8
- Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands The Lancet December 1, 2001
- Distressing Near-Death Experiences Psychiatry February 1, 1992
- The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death Harvard Theological Review 1969
- Congruence Between Near-Death and Mystical Experience International Journal for the Psychology of Religion October 1, 2013
- Near-death experience as mystical experience. Journal of Religion and Health March 1, 1986
and 3 more in the library