The Darkness and the Mind : How Sensory Deprivation Can Induce Spiritual Experience
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Be it loneliness and darkness of the caves where paleolithic people created first arts, ancient Greek prophets descending underground in search for the ultimate Truth or current alternative-spiritual enthusiasts searching visions in deprivation tanks, the tendency to withdraw to dark and remote places and achieve religious or other special experiences seems to be a widespread human tendency crossing the boundaries of cultures and times. But why humans tend to seek dark and quiet places to establish their private rituals and achieve special experiences – what neurological and behavioral mechanisms lie behind the efficacy of darkness? In the talk, I will focus on the neuro-cognitive foundations of religious and other special experiences in the context of sensory deprivation by using predictive processing theory. To illustrate the expected neural mechanisms that enable us to experience shared cultural content as subjectively real, I will present the results of my recent research on the so called “Dark therapy” – alternative spiritual technique, during which people are withdrawing to complete darkness for usually one week. The predictive processing-based analysis of achieved spiritual experiences will be further supported by the ethological view of prestige-based relations among the practitioners and the more general theoretical view on the role of authority in achieving religious experience. |
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