This study measured distinctions made by a sample of clergy and mental health professionals in response to three categories of presenting problems with religious content: mental disorder, religious or spiritual problem, and "pure" religious problem. A national, random sample of rabbis (N = 111) and clinical psychologists (N = 90) provided evaluations of three vignettes: schizophrenia, mystical...
Ibogaine (IBO) is a plant-derived alkaloid that is being evaluated as a possible medication for substance use disorders. When administered peripherally to monkeys and humans, IBO is rapidly converted to an o-demethylated metabolite, 12-hydroxyibogamine (NORIBO). We have found in rats that peak blood levels of NORIBO can exceed those of the parent compound, and NORIBO persists in the bloodstream...
How does the mind experience the sacred? What biological mechanisms are involved in mystical states and trances? Is there a neurological basis for patterns in comparative religions? Does religion have an evolutionary function? This pathbreaking work by two leading medical researchers explores the neurophysiology of religious experience. Building on an explanation of the basic structure of the...
April 20, 2000Steven J. Heine, Dale S. Wright4 citations
Abstract The term kōan (C. kung-an, literally “public cases”) refers to enigmatic and often shocking spiritual expressions based on dialogical encounters between masters and disciples that were used as pedagogical tools for religious training in the Zen (C. Ch’an) Buddhist tradition. This innovative practice is one of the best-known and most distinctive elements of Zen Buddhism. Originating in...
MemoryMarch 2000C Jones, R D Griffiths, G Humphris
Patients, when admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), have one thing in common: their illness is life-threatening. Patients may remain on ICU in a critical condition, needing support with their breathing, circulation, and/or kidneys for varying lengths of time, from days to weeks. During that time the patients will receive sedative and analgesic drugs to ensure compliance with artificial...
Contemporary cognitive and neuropsychological approaches to dreaming show striking methodological and conceptual similarities with the scientific dream literature of the last century. The use of introspective dream reports and the emphasis on dream phenomenology are characteristic of both periods but were bannished during the first half of this century, the former by behaviorism, the latter by...
BackgroundSome people who come close to death report having experiences in which they transcend the boundaries of the ego and the confines of time and space. Such near-death experiences (NDEs) share some features with the phenomenon of dissociation, in which a person's self identity becomes detached from bodily sensation. This study explored the frequency of dissociative symptoms in people who...
Although quantum mechanics allows consciousness to have some effect on the collapse of wave functions, most conventional scientists expect the effect to be quite small. Their experience with expert systems, computer-aided design, etc., would cause them to deny the possibility that a specific human intention could be imprinted into a simple electronic device via a meditative process and that...
PROPOSCe volume reunit les communications presentees au Collogue organise sur !'initiative de Roland Goetschel qui s'est deroule en Sorbonne les 10 et 11 Mai 1994 clans le cadre du Centre d'Etudes Juives de l'Universite Paris IV-Sorbonne autour du theme "Experience, ecriture et theologie mystiques".Les trois termes experience, ecriture, theologie marquent les etapes successives de ce phenomene...
The intellect has a unique role in the mystical transformation. Mystics claim that the intellect as a mystical tool leads to the perfection of the self. The state of perfection is achieved when the true human essence and meaning are realised through this mystical intellect. Thus, mysticism has a rational aspect to it which can be defined in terms of the role the intellect in the mystical...