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I've added a little to "The Causes Of Religion: Biological Neuronal Dysfunction", Vexen Crabtree (2007), ending with a tie-in to my page on Christianity's St. Paul.
It is not only chronic neurological dysfunction that can cause religious and supernatural beliefs. Some of the founding experiences can be based on single neurological events such as isolated strokes or seizues. Many types of fit do not involve the motor area of the brain, so do not result in obvious, physical signs of fitting. They can be purely sensory in nature, involving sights, sounds and feelings that range from subtle through to overwhelming.
 “Partial seizures can [...] cause clonic movement of part of a limb [, ... or] may trigger an abnormal sensation, or aura, such as an odd smell or sparkling lights. Most bizarre are the partial seizures that elicit more well-formed auras such as déjá vu (the feeling that something has happened before) or hallucinations.”
"Neuroscience" by Bear, Connors and Paradiso, p464
William James remained convinced that St. Paul was converted to Christianity by a vision that was the result of a lone seizure. Tags: christianity, experiences, fits, irrationality, jesus, neurology, neuroscience, psychology, religion, seizures, st. paul
Current Location: Monchengladbach, Germany
Listening To: "Antichrist (club mix)" by The Retrosic
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New: "What Causes Religion?" by Vexen CrabtreeThe conclusion reads: "Religions arise as collections of popular beliefs, codified and institutionalized by the progression of Human organisation. Eventually, the changing beliefs of the masses out-evolve the more dogmatic, established religions. The causes of the religious beliefs of Humankind are rooted in our psychology. Psychologists, sociologists, ethnographers and scientists tend to view religious beliefs as the result of mostly normal psychological systems being applied in the wrong context. A prime example is the way we get angry with cars and computers, and shout insults at them, or the way we tend to see patterns in random behaviour such as brownian motion (our 'hyperactive agent detection device'). Historical investigators such as William James have found that outstanding religious innovaters and leaders have frequently been psychotic, suffered from various mental problems and nervous instability. Experiments on the Human brain have allowed us to discover many of the specific neuronal networks that can misfire to cause us to have 'religious' feelings and experiences. Childhood fantasies, including an absence of death and the seemingly all-present, ever-caring and all-knowing parental figures who give us comfort, often become the basis for religious beliefs in adults. This hidden wishful-thinking mechanism feeds our ego (that someone cares about everything we do) and gives us consolation from death in the idea of an afterlife. Many strange things we 'experience' are cultural (therefore an aspect of upbringing), and once a scientific and critical understanding of them is attained, the beauty of the natural world displaces the appeal of the supernatural. Religion is self-inflicted delusion, illusion, smoke and mirrors." Related to: "Experiences of God" by Vexen Crabtree (2002)</p> </div> Tags: belief, beliefs, experiences, faith, fantasy, god, illusion, irrationality, myth, religion, science, sociology, supernaturalism, theology
Current Location: Germany
Current Mood:  happy
Listening To: "Aiges Mortes" by Ataraxia
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Contents:
- Experiences
- Culture
- Argument from consensus
- Our expectations influence our experiences
- Abstract Man
- Materialists
- Phsyiological causes of strange experiences
Tags: beliefs, consensus, conspiracy theorists, delusion, epistemology, expectations, experience, experiences, god, illusion, psychosis, religion, subjectivism, supernatural
Current Location: London, UK
Current Mood:  hyper
Listening To: "Heart in velvet" by Marc Almond
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