Download or read book A Scientific Assessment of the Validity of Mystical Experiences written by Andrew C. Papanicolaou and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-04-14 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the approach of the natural sciences is adopted to confront the ontological question of how far mystical experiences can be considered as reports of an objective reality rather than reports of subjective delusions. Moving beyond traditional philosophical or cultural and theological interpretations of mystical phenomena, the author uses inductive inference to analyze claims made by secular and religious mystics, highlight links between altered states of consciousness and neurochemistry, and counters reductionist claims that mystical states are exclusively products of neurochemical, neurophysiological, or psychopathological factors. The text also considers the positive long-term effects of proper use of psychedelics and meditation. This fresh approach to mystical experiences will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students working in the areas of psychology and neuroscience, and with an interest in mysticism in religious studies and philosophy.
Download or read book Mystical Experiences and Scientific Method written by Christer Norrman and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Acute Religious Experiences written by Richard Saville-Smith and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-02-09 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book engages the problem of how, in the 21st century, we are to speak about experiences of the extraordinary/anomalous/extreme which occur on a transhistorical and transcultural basis. Critical re-readings of seminal texts show how 20th-century theoreticians in the humanities sought to erase madness from their irrational subjects. This propensity to sanitize madness in the study of religions was mirrored by the instinct of psychiatrists to degrade religious experiences by reducing mad consciousness to psychosis or dissociation. Richard Saville-Smith introduces explanatory pluralism as a way of recognizing these disciplinary biases and mad studies as a way of negotiating this understanding. The disproportionate significance of madness in shaping the fabric of the human story can then be recovered from both erasure and dismissal to be given the recognition previously denied - as acute religious experiences. Acute Religious Experiences divides into three sections, beginning with re-readings of William James's pathological programme, Rudolf Otto's numinous, T. K. Oesterreich's possession, Mircea Eliade's shamanism, Walter Stace's mysticism, Walter Pahnke's psychedelic experience, and Abraham Maslow's peak experiences. These ideas are shown to constitute the beginnings of a fractured discourse on the irrational. In part two, contemporary psychiatry's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) and Foucault's History of Madness are re-read to reposition madness as not necessarily pathological. This opens the way for the identification of acute religious experiences as a new holistic and post-colonial approach through which religious data can be organized and addressed on a comparative basis. In part three, The Gospel of Mark is re-read as a case study to demonstrate the novel insights which flow from the identification of acute religious experiences. Richard Saville-Smith draws on his own experiences of madness and his PhD from the School of Divinity at The University of Edinburgh to elucidate his research.
Download or read book Mystical Luminosity Experience written by Jonathan Dinsmore and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2024-07-01 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Light of a divine or transcendent nature is widely revered in various religious and mystical traditions around the world, and luminosity with mystical qualities such as love, bliss, peace, and noetic realization is also frequently reported by contemporary experiencers. Despite being described as a profoundly significant, sacred, and transformative experience, mystical luminosity has received relatively little attention in modern scholarship and scientific study, and has only been examined empirically within isolated contexts, such as NDEs or contemplative practices. This study examines the phenomenology which binds mystical luminosity across various experiential contexts to construct a phenomenologically grounded theoretical model. A three-part mixed methods investigation using a new mystical luminosity experience scale based on this model is then summarized, with findings generally supporting and further clarifying the model.
Download or read book Does a Unitive Mystical Experience Affect Authenticity written by Allison Perry and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The researcher used the intuitive inquiry method to interview Protestant Christians about their unitive mystical experiences. The unitive mystical experience is an experience of being one with God or the universe knowing ultimate love, peace, or truth. Thirteen adult participants described in an interview format whether or not they were living in accordance with the new knowledge received in their experience. This is defined for the purpose of this study as authenticity. The researcher transcribed the interviews, verified each transcript with each participant, used thematic analysis to identify themes, and invited outside interview readers to confirm or refute the researcher's identified themes. All participants reported a change in their values and behaviors due to their experiences. Participants also verified the 12 themes that the researcher compiled as the research results. Two important findings are that the participants have an increased connection and feeling of responsibility to Spirit, people, and the world; and participants experience a surrendering of ego and self while opening to the Divine immediately before or during these experiences. Transpersonal authenticity is a termed coined by the researcher and supported by this research and other literature to describe the relationship between the unitive mystical experience and authenticity. One conclusion of this study is that the unitive mystical experience does affect authenticity, and this path of authenticity is personally unique to each individual.
Download or read book Human Interaction with the Divine the Sacred and the Deceased written by Thomas G. Plante and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-06-30 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human Interaction with the Divine, the Sacred, and the Deceased brings together cutting-edge empirical and theoretical contributions from scholars in fields including psychology, theology, ethics, neuroscience, medicine, and philosophy, to examine how and why humans engage in, or even seek spiritual experiences and connection with the immaterial world. In this richly interdisciplinary volume, Plante and Schwartz recognize human interaction with the divine and departed as a cross-cultural and historical universal that continues to concern diverse disciplines. Accounting for variances in belief and human perception and use, the book is divided into four major sections: personal experience; theological consideration; medical, technological, and scientific considerations; and psychological considerations with chapters addressing phenomena including prayer, reincarnation, sensed presence, and divine revelations. Featuring scholars specializing in theology, psychology, medicine, neuroscience, and ethics, this book provides a thoughtful, compelling, evidence-based, and contemporary approach to gain a grounded perspective on current understandings of human interaction with the divine, the sacred, and the deceased. Of interest to believers, questioners, and unbelievers alike, this volume will be key reading for researchers, scholars, and academics engaged in the fields of religion and psychology, social psychology, behavioral neuroscience, and health psychology. Readers with a broader interest in spiritualism, religious and non-religious movements will also find the text of interest.
Download or read book Developing a Model of Islamic Psychology and Psychotherapy written by Abdallah Rothman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-29 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when there is increasing need to offer psychotherapeutic approaches that accommodate clients’ religious and spiritual beliefs, and acknowledge the potential for healing and growth offered by religious frameworks, this book explores psychology from an Islamic paradigm and demonstrates how Islamic understandings of human nature, the self, and the soul can inform an Islamic psychotherapy. Drawing on a qualitative, grounded theory analysis of interviews with Islamic scholars and clinicians, this unique volume distils complex religious concepts to reconcile Islamic theology with contemporary notions of psychology. Chapters offer nuanced explanations of relevant Islamic tradition and theological sources, consider how this relates to Western notions of psychotherapy and common misconceptions, and draw uniquely on first-hand data to develop a new theory of Islamic psychology. This, in turn, informs an innovative and empirically driven model of practice that translates Islamic understandings of human psychology into a clinical framework for Islamic psychotherapy. An outstanding scholarly contribution to the modern and emerging discipline of Islamic psychology, this book makes a pioneering contribution to the integration of the Islamic sciences and clinical mental health practice. It will be a key resource for scholars, researchers, and practicing clinicians with an interest in Islamic psychology and Muslim mental health, as well as religion, spirituality and psychology more broadly.
Download or read book Eastern European Perspectives on Emotional Intelligence written by Lada Kaliská and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-02-22 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a unique perspective on Emotional Intelligence (EI) research in Eastern Europe, analyzing current trends in the research and application of EI in a region with a distinct socio-political history. Bringing together leading researchers from seven countries, namely Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Serbia, Slovakia, Poland, and Russia, chapters within this edited volume present original research that illustrates both the etic and emic aspects of emotions, to discuss how EI research can address psychosocial challenges across different societies. Using a selection of cross-cultural frameworks for comparison, contributors to the volume make important developments to the field of EI research by instating a cultural and regional adaptation of EI theories. This includes considerations of EI from a collectivistic perspective as well as the relevance of creating psychological measurement tools that reflect and represent the cultural and linguistic nuances in the adaptive use of emotional information. Eastern European Perspectives on Emotional Intelligence will prove a valuable resource for academics, researchers, and students of cultural and social psychology, or particularly for those seeking to expand their conceptual understanding of EI.
Download or read book The Psychological Basis of Moral Judgments written by John J. Park and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-19 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the psychological basis of moral judgments and asks what theories of concepts apply to moral concepts. By combining philosophical reasoning and empirical insights from the fields of moral psychology, cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and neuroscience, it considers what mental states not only influence, but also constitute our moral concepts and judgments. On this basis, Park proposes a novel pluralistic theory of moral concepts which includes three different cognitive structures and emotions. Thus, our moral judgments are shown to be a hybrid that express both cognitive and conative states. In part through analysis of new empirical data on moral semantic intuitions, gathered via cross-cultural experimental research, Park reveals that the referents of individuals’ moral judgments and concepts vary across time, contexts, and groups. On this basis, he contends for moral relativism, where moral judgments cannot be universally true across time and location but only relative to groups. This powerfully argued text will be of interest to researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in cognitive science, moral theory, philosophy of psychology, and moral psychology more broadly. Those interested in ethics, applied social psychology, and moral development will also benefit from the volume.
Download or read book The Relevance of Alan Watts in Contemporary Culture written by Peter J. Columbus and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-31 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whilst accounting for the present-day popularity and relevance of Alan Watts’ contributions to psychology, religion, arts, and humanities, this interdisciplinary collection grapples with the ongoing criticisms which surround Watts’ life and work. Offering rich examination of as yet underexplored aspects of Watts’ influence in 1960s counterculture, this volume offers unique application of Watts’ thinking to contemporary issues and critically engages with controversies surrounding the commodification of Watts’ ideas, his alleged misreading of Biblical texts, and his apparent distortion of Asian religions and spirituality. Featuring a broad range of international contributors and bringing Watts’ ideas squarely into the contemporary context, the text provides a comprehensive, yet nuanced exploration of Watts’ thinking on psychotherapy, Buddhism, language, music, and sexuality. This text will benefit researchers, doctoral students, and academics in the fields of psychotherapy, phenomenology, and the philosophy of psychology more broadly. Those interested in Jungian psychotherapy, spirituality, and the self and social identity will also enjoy this volume.
Download or read book The Self Field written by Chris Abel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this incisive study of the biological and cultural origins of the human self, the author challenges readers to re-think ideas about the self and consciousness as being exclusive to humans. In their place, he expounds a metatheoretical approach to the self as a purposeful system of extended cognition common to animal life: the invisible medium maintaining mind, body and environment as an integrated ‘field of being’. Supported by recent research in evolutionary and developmental studies together with related discoveries in animal behaviour and the neurosciences, the author examines the factors that have shaped the evolution of the animal self across widely different species and times, through to the modern, technologically enmeshed human self; the differences between which, he contends, are relations of degree rather than absolute differences. We are, he concludes, instinctive and ‘fuzzy individuals’ clinging to fragile identities in an artificial and volatile world of humanity’s own making, but which we now struggle to control. This book, which restores the self to its fundamental place in identity formation, will be of great interest for students and academics in the fields of social, developmental and environmental psychology, together with readers from other disciplines in the humanities, especially philosophy, cultural theory and architecture.
Download or read book The Problem of Pure Consciousness written by Robert K. C. Forman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are mystical experiences formed by the mystic's cultural background and concepts, as ""constructivists"" maintain, or do mystics sometimes transcend language, belief, and culturally conditioned expectations? Do mystical experiences differ throughout the various religious traditions, as""pluralists"" contend, or are they somehow ecumenical? The contributors to this collection scrutinize a common mystical experience, the ""pure consciousness event""--The experience of being awake but devoid of intentional content--in order to answer these questions. Through the use of historical Hindu, Buddhist,
Download or read book An Analysis of Mystic Experience written by Peter Arnold Knowles and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book John of the Cross and the Cognitive Value of Mysticism written by S. Payne and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among Anglo-American philosophers, interest in mysticism has typically been limited to the question of whether or not mystical and religious experi ences provide evidence for, or knowledge of, the existence and nature of God. Most authors conclude that they do not, because such experiences lack certain qualities needed in order to be counted as cognitive. In this study I examine some current philosophical opinions about mysticism and objec tions to its epistemic significance in the context of a detailed study of the writings of a single mystical author, the Spanish Carmelite Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591). I argue that from his works one can draw a coherent theory of what takes place in the Christian mystical life, and will indicate how acceptance of this theory might be defended as rational through a type of inference often referred to as the "Argument to the Best Explanation. " In this way I hope to show that mysticism still has a significant bearing on the justification of religious faith even if it cannot be used to "prove" the exis tence of God. The nature and advantages of my own somewhat unusual approach to mysticism can perhaps best be explained by contrasting it with the way other authors have dealt with the subject. One of the most striking develop ments in recent decades has been the growing fascination with mysticism, meditation, and the experiential aspects of religion.
Download or read book Assessment of Mental Health Religion and Culture written by Christopher Alan Lewis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-08 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Assessment of mental health, religion and culture: The development and examination of psychometric measures focuses on questionnaires that are of practical value for researchers interested in examining the relationship between the constructs of mental health, religion, and culture. Three particular areas of development and evaluation are represented within this volume: firstly, the psychometric properties of recently developed new questionnaires; secondly, the psychometric properties of established questionnaires that have been translated into other languages; and thirdly, the psychometric properties of questionnaires employed in various cultural contexts and religious samples. The research in this book is authored by a wide range of international scholars working on diverse samples and in a variety of different cultures. In doing so, the book facilitates future research in the area of mental health, religion, and culture. This book was originally published as two special issues of Mental Health, Religion & Culture.
Download or read book Defining Religion written by Robert Cummings Neville and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2018-01-17 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this collection of essays, written over the past decade, Robert Cummings Neville addresses contemporary debates about the concept of religion and the importance of the comparative method in theology, while advancing and defending his own original definition of religion. Neville's hypothesis is that religion is a cognitive, existential, and practical engagement of ultimate realities—five ultimate conditions of existence that need to be engaged by human beings. The essays, which range from formal articles to invited lectures, develop this hypothesis and explore its ramifications in religious experience, philosophical theology, religious studies, and the works of important thinkers in philosophy of religion. Defining Religion is an excellent introduction to Neville's work, especially to the systematic philosophical theology presented in his magisterial three-volume set Philosophical Theology.
Download or read book Spirit Science and Health written by Thomas G. Plante Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2007-06-30 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From meditation to reciting mantras or praying, spirituality is more and more often being recognized for its beneficial effects on health. In this volume, a team of experts from across disciplines including psychology, medicine, nursing, public health, and pastoral care offer reader-friendly chapters showing the state of the art in understanding this connection. Chapters include attention to special populations such as youth, HIV/AIDS patients, cancer patients, and those in hospice care. Contributors, all members of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University, aim to use the scientific understanding of the spirituality/health connection to promote better health for the general public. From meditation to reciting mantras or praying, spirituality is more and more often being recognized for its beneficial effects on health. In this volume, a team of experts from across disciplines including psychology, medicine, nursing, public health, and pastoral care offer reader-friendly chapters showing the state of the art in understanding this connection. Chapters include attention to special populations such as youth, HIV/AIDS patients, cancer patients, and those in hospice care. Contributors, all members of the Spirituality and Health Institute at Santa Clara University, aim to use the scientific understanding of the spirituality/health connection to promote better health for the general public. One focus of this volume is to show easy ways to incorporate spiritual practices in an environment that is often multicultural, multi-religious, stressful, hurried, and secular.
