In the culture of the Khakass people trees are not only the most important economic resource, but also a key structuring symbol. The tree has extremely wide semantic field. In the traditional consciousness of the Khakass people, the symbolic status and functions of the tree are determined by its perception as an object endowed with special properties, belonging simultaneously to the profane and...
Religion is a widespread feature of human life. Religions typically include both distinctive varieties of experience and also a set of foundational beliefs. An additional, but often overlooked, part of many religions is their expression through specific actions, which we here designate religious motor behaviours. Here we describe these religious motor behaviours and offer a taxonomy based on...
Abstract Moral injury, characterised by intense cognitive and emotional distress following an event that violates one’s ethical beliefs, has been primarily associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. However, its role in the development of primary psychotic disorders remains underexplored. This case report presents a 22-year-old Nigerian male with a conservative Christian background who...
Possession state is a disorder of consciousness with substitution of the personality, which is claimed to be a spirit, a deity, a dead person or some other power. In rural Nepal these experiences are normalised and Hindu communities often attribute psychological conditions to a supernatural cause. We report the case of a 30-year-old woman who presented with acute-onset symptoms characterised by...
Cyberdelics are forms of immersive media (XR, VR, generative AI worlds) that aim to emulate or induce transpersonal states of consciousness traditionally achieved through ritual, psychedelics, or spiritual practices. This discourse explores cyberdelic context engineering through an interdisciplinary synthesis of historical ritual traditions, transpersonal psychology, and design potentials...
The present work is the result of a three-year doctoral research project, which develops both on an ethnographic level and through theoretical and methodological inquiry. The research system focuses on the concept of consciousness from an anthropological perspective, studied through the examination of contemplative practices. This term is employed in a broad sense, encompassing not only...
The article discusses theoretical issues in the sociological theory of shamanism and its manifestations in the shamanism of indigenous peoples of the Far East. The work done by the prominent Soviet ethnographer Sergei Tokarev is usually considered classic in the development of sociological theory of shamanism in Russian scholarship. Drawing on comparative historical and functionalist research...
Psychedelic treatments are extending beyond research units and into hospitals, outpatient clinics, and community practices. Contrasting the constrained procedures of clinical trials with the realities of routine practice, this article outlines the competencies needed for safe, effective, and ethically sound psychedelic therapy in everyday mental health care. To accommodate mainstream adoption...
Since excessive stress can impair both mental and physical functioning, stress management is essential for achieving peak athletic performance. Yoga, a mind-body practice with roots in ancient Indian philosophy, combines meditation, breath control (pranayama), and physical postures (asanas). This essay investigates how yoga helps people cope with stress and how it affects their ability to...
The article discusses the reasons for the wide popularity of entheogens among representatives of occultism of the late 19th – early 20th centuries, and the role they played in their theories and practices. It is hypothesized that the appeal of occult authors to entheogens should be considered in the light of the conflict between science and religion, which sought to overcome the representatives...