Religious and Mystical States: A Neuropsychological Model

Abstract. This paper first considers the current confusion in categorizing and even describing mystical states, including experiences of God, the Void, and lesser religious experiences. The paper presents the necessity of studying the neuropsychological substrate of such experiences both to understa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Authors: D'Aquili, Eugene G. (Author) ; Newberg, Andrew B. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 1993
In: Zygon
Further subjects:B mystical states
B cultural elaboration
B deafferentiation
B associated areas
B ergotropic-trophotropic tuning
B neuro-epistemology
B structural invariance
B Via Negativa
B hemisphericity
B Via Positiva
B limbic-cortical integration
B Absolute Unitary Being
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Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Abstract. This paper first considers the current confusion in categorizing and even describing mystical states, including experiences of God, the Void, and lesser religious experiences. The paper presents the necessity of studying the neuropsychological substrate of such experiences both to understand them in greater depth and to help resolve scholarly confusion in this area. As a prelude to presenting a neuropsychological model, the basic principles of brain organization are reviewed, including hemispheri-city; primary, secondary, and tertiary sensory receptive areas; their motor analogues; prefrontosensorial polarity; and the integration of limbic functioning into cortical activity. A neuropsychological model for mystical states is then presented in terms of differential stimulation and deafferentation of various tertiary sensory association areas, along with integration of various patterns of limbic stimulation.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1993.tb01026.x