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The Mystical Mind

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How does the mind experience the sacred? What biological mechanisms are involved in mystical states and trances? Is there a neurological basis for patterns in comparative religions? Does religion have an evolutionary function? This pathbreaking work by two leading medical researchers explores the neurophysiology of religious experience. Building on an explanation of the basic structure of the brain, the authors focus on parts most relevant to human experience, emotion, and cognition. On this basis, they plot how the brain is involved in mystical experiences. Successive chapters apply this scheme to mythmaking, ritual and liturgy, meditation, near-death experiences, and theology itself. Anchored in such research, the authors also sketch the implications of their work for philosophy, science, theology, and the future of religion.
The late Eugene d'Aquili, M.D., Ph.D., was, until his recent death, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. A pioneer in neurological research of religion, he published in the area for twenty-five years. Andrew B. Newberg, M.D., is a Researcher in Nuclear Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania.
Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1 -- The Brain and Central Nervous System Chapter 2 -- The Basis for the Mystical Mind Chapter 3 -- Why the Mind Creates Myth Chapter 4 -- Ritual, Liturgy, and the Mind Chapter 5 -- The Mind, Meditation, and Mysticism Chapter 6 -- The Near-Death Experience as Mystical Phenomenon Chapter 7 -- The Origin of Religion Chapter 8 -- Neurotheology Chapter 9 -- Consciousness and Reality Chapter 10 -- Consciousness and Reality Chapter 11 -- Metatheology and Megatheology Epilogue
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