This scientific commentary refers to ‘The evolutionary origin of near-death experiences: a systematic investigation’, by Peinkhofer et al. (https://doi. org/10. 1093/braincomms/fcab132). In the Gifford Lectures of 1901–02 at the University of Edinburgh, William James a physician, psychologist and philosopher categorized spiritual experiences thereby establishing the origins of their scientific...
Abstract Accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) across cultures often include claims of encounters with deities or spirits who impart information to the experiencer. Other accounts involve the experiencer obtaining knowledge by other means, without the assistance of a non-human supernatural being. While some cases involve deceased relatives, the most significant factor in others might be the...
Reading (well, listening to) this book, appropriately enough given its content and tone, was an experience. Historian of religions Erik Davis landed this book right into two registers that produce very different emotional responses for me. One register is that of chewy, involved, critical intellectual history, a happy place for me, somewhere I feel both welcomed and challenged. The other...
In a recent Viewpoint, Sanders and Zijlmans call for the demystification of psychedelic science. However, they ignore the subjective aspect of psychedelic experiences. For the subject, mystical experiences are felt as real and can yield personally meaningful insights. It is a philosophical question whether they are true.
As a prominent Church father, mystical theologian and incisive polemicist, St. Gregory Palamas has realized a «Summa Theologica» of his epoch, but one that has surpassed not only the thinking of contemporaries, but remained, to this day, a synthesis of philosophical and theological knowledge, at least for the Eastern Christianity. He pointed out with clarity the independence of theology from...
XLinguaeJune 1, 2021T. Bak, A. Larionova, Nina I. Kryukova et al.
The article offers new insights into the mystical philosophy of Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky (1882-1943) and Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (1853-1900). Our critical analysis consists of examining the main topics of intellectual disputes in the 20th century many of which pertained the place of Sophiology in Russian philosophical thinking. Florensky’s and Solovyov’s philosophical legacies are...
abstract:Throughout his literary career, the poet and dramatist W.B. Yeats displayed a keen interest in the phenomenology of the mental image as well as a deep curiosity about the possible mystical functions of the imagination. This article examines the impact of Yeats's evolving set of beliefs about the power of imaginative vision, including those derived from readings in occult philosophy and...
This article examines the views of the Eastern Orthodox and the Reformed on the subject of divine incomprehensibility. The two regard God to be entirely incomprehensible, but differ in the way that he can be known or experienced. The Eastern Orthodox maintain that God is not ultimately known intellectually but experienced mystically. Mystical experience, according to this view, is theology par...
With a growing body of research highlighting the therapeutic potential of experiential phenomenology which diminishes egoic identity and increases one's sense of connectedness, there is significant interest in how to elicit such 'self-transcendent experiences' (STEs) in laboratory contexts. Psychedelic drugs (YDs) have proven particularly effective in this respect, producing subjective...