The mystical mind: Probing the Biology of Religious Experience

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 pioneering work by two leading medical researchers explores the neurophysiology of religious experience. Mapping the basic functions of the brain, the authors focus on structures most relevant to human experience, emotion, and cognition. On this basis they plot just how the brain is involved in mystical experiences. Successive chapters employ this understanding to explore mythmaking, ritual and liturgy, meditation, near-death experiences, and theology itself. Original, daring, and widely acclaimed, the authors´ research bears exciting implications for philosophy, science, and the future of religion itself.

Table of Contents
Preface
Pt. 1 Prelude to the Mystical Mind
1 Introduction
2 The Brain and Central Nervous System 3 The Basis for the Mystical Mind
Pt. 2 The Mystical Mind
4 Why the Mind Creates Myth
5 Ritual, Liturgy, and the Mind
6 The Mind, Meditation, and Mysticism 7 The Near-Death Experience as a Mystical Phenomenon
Pt. 3 Neurotheology and the Paradox of Phenomenology
8 The Origin of Religion
9 Neurotheology
10 Consciousness and Reality
11 Metatheology and Megatheology
12 Epilogue: Some Practical Reflections Notes