. Neuroscientific scanning of meditators is taken as providing data on mystical experiences. However, problems concerning how the brain and consciousness are related cast doubts on whether any understanding of the content of meditative experiences is gained through the study of the brain. Whether neuroscience can study the subjective aspects of meditative experiences in general is also...
Humanism and philosophy in the Renaissance recover the ideal of poetic theology [ theologia poetica ] a knowledge where essential truths of mystic-religious nature were hidden under an allegorical veil. The poet is, then, a theologian philosopher, essential part of an ancient tradition that served the ends of true faith. In this sense, the restoration of the privileged place of poetics by the...
The science of meditation has grown tremendously in the last two decades. Most studies have focused on evaluating the clinical effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions, neural and other physiological correlates of meditation, and individual cognitive and emotional aspects of meditation. Far less research has been conducted on more challenging domains to measure, such as group and...
Responses to psychedelics are notoriously difficult to predict, yet significant work is currently underway to assess their therapeutic potential and the level of interest in psychedelics among the general public appears to be increasing. We aimed to collect prospective data in order to improve our ability to predict acute- and longer-term responses to psychedelics. Individuals who planned to...
Previous work demonstrated that placebo brain stimulation can function as an experimental tool to elicit mystical and quasi-mystical (i.e., extraordinary) experiences. However, it has not yet been investigated whether these effects result from mere sensory deprivation and individual differences in suggestibility, or whether expectancy manipulations are crucial in eliciting these effects. In...
NeuropharmacologyNovember 2018I Ivan Ezquerra-Romano, W Lawn, E Krupitsky et al.
Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic drug which acts on the central nervous system chiefly through antagonism of the n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. Recently, ketamine has attracted attention as a rapid-acting anti-depressant but other studies have also reported its efficacy in reducing problematic alcohol and drug use. This review explores the preclinical and clinical research into...
Efforts to translate sub-anesthetic ketamine infusions into widespread clinical use have centered around developing medications with comparable neurobiological activity, but with attenuated psychoactive effects so as to minimize the risk of behavioral toxicity and abuse liability. Converging lines of research, however, suggest that some of the psychoactive effects of sub-anesthetic ketamine may...
Seorang profesional mengaku mendengar panggilan Tuhan untuk meninggalkan pekerjaannya yang mapan untuk melayani sebagai relawan di daerah terpencil. Seorang penderita suatu penyakit mengaku melihat sosok bercahaya yang mengatakan bahwa ia akan segera sembuh, dan esok harinya ia benar-benar sembuh. Seorang yang sedang menghadapi dilema mengaku merasakan dorongan di dalam hatinya untuk membuka...
INTRODUCTION Union with Christ stands at the very apex of the Christian doctrine of salvation. The whole of our personal relationship to God can be summed up in such terms. John Calvin agreed when he wrote, "For we await salvation from Him not because He appears to us a far off, but because He makes us engrafted into His body, participates not only in all His benefits but also in Himself"...
Cambridge University had the honour of being the first to welcome the new thought. Between Descartes and the Cambridge writers there was a certain identity of aim in that both sought for a basis in reason for man’s moral and religious experience. Though it is a mistake to represent mystic ecstasy as the centre of its teaching, it is true that the main interest of the school was religious. Its...