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Spirituality Has a Biological Basis Because Humans Have Brains
What does the evidence about spirituality say so far and can it tell us why it’s pervasive across human societies?
(Non-members can read this story for free here)
On the heels of a flurry of academic research into the cognitive science of religion, some scholars are pursuing a neurological or physiological basis for spirituality. Here I explore some of this burgeoning work and join them by offering my own evolutionary hypothesis.
Even more than religion, spiritualism is opaque to most of us. To a great degree this means that spirituality deals with areas that are not amenable to the scientific method. Many aspects of spirituality are perceived as metaphysical and its practices and beliefs challenge the very basis of reality. This makes it particularly tricky to establish a scientific approach.
Just as there are many varieties of religion, there are many dimensions of spirituality. In Outline of spirituality, Wikipedia exhaustively lists about 300 different topics. Magic(k), the occult, esotericism, and reincarnation fall under the spiritual umbrella.
Practitioners of these cryptic arts may claim the existence of an extrasensory or metaphysical reality. In no way…
