Julian Jaynes, in his book The collapse of the Bicameral Mind The Origin of Consciousness , suggests that in antiquity (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece preomerica) our ancestors were aware or had no powers of self we have. To demonstrate this bizarre argument, relies on a wealth of textual and archaeological records, and actually pretty impressive.
It is argued that in Homer's Iliad, for example, the characters never seem animated in their actions, decisions and thoughts on conscious, aware of reflections on the consequences of their actions and careful examination of their desires: the characters of ' Iliad does not have a "psychology" as we understand, and which already appears in the Odyssey (a text by another author, and certainly much later). When Achilles in the first book raises his dagger to strike Agamemnon and then stops, not because he has rethought. Minerva is that it grabs the hair, and invisible to others, speaks to him and makes him more merciful. And it's always the god Apollo, out of spite, sends a deceitful dream to Agamemnon, which advised him to launch a massive attack against the Trojans the next day.
scheme that is repeated countless times. I have never been people to decide their own destiny, but they are always the gods to guide them, talking or even physically handling it. Jaynes's thesis is that of Homer (as well as those of Egyptian mythology or other peoples, including Jews) were no more than auditory hallucinations (rarely visual) through which the right hemisphere informed to the left: the individual personality was not yet "integrated". The ancients were all fucked up with schizophrenia, and only later, with the advent of writing, the true conscience would have made its appearance.
This would also be the source of religious beliefs. Probably the hallucinations were initially attributed to a charismatic personality, as the leader, but continued his duties as director of command, or even after death. The place where these creatures lived was to be the sky, which was then filled with divinity. And there still counts, even though over time they have lost much of their reality and have become increasingly invisible and far.
With the advent of consciousness, and then rational thought, get in touch with the gods (that means not only pray but also to get an answer) has therefore become much more difficult, but humanity has always striven to find devices capable of restoring a degree of communication. One of these drugs, which plays a very important role in almost every culture known. The rational Greeks, including Plato, attended the Eleusinian rites, around which the mystery is dense, but perhaps that included the ingestion of hallucinogenic substances related to LSD (the ciceone). Probably the Pythia delivered oracles in the temple its verdicts under the influence of some substance.
But the ways are endless ecstasy. Hildegard of Bingen, German mystic and saint of the twelfth century, most likely suffered from migraines, or more precisely "scintillating scotoma", which according to the doctors today would explain perfectly the content of his hallucinations, which are described in detail in his texts in which, from the heavenly visions received, is processed whole theological doctrine.
Another way to get in touch with a transcendent reality is to die, or at least have near-death experience. The typical experience of someone who is about to die and then you take is to go through a tunnel with a bright light at the end, and a simultaneous feeling of bliss. Neurologists have shown how these experiences can be explained by the release of endorphins in the nervous system during high stress, as well as the possible change in metabolism in the cells due to the interruption of oxygen. Even the tunnel vision seems to be induced by stimulation of certain cells in a particular area of \u200b\u200bthe brain. As for feeling out of the body, could be an effect of ketamine (used as an anesthetic).
The most conformist and quiet to contact the other hand, meditation is divine, with which you can accomplish the same drug, only it takes a lot more patience. Many followers of the meditation claim to be able to reach a stage lighting, which sometimes persists over time even if it is not easy to maintain on an ongoing basis, during which they experience a sense of unity with the cosmos and of bliss. Neurologists have studied them.
Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili have demonstrated, for example, to monitor the brain activity of people in deep meditation, finding an unusual drop in the level of activity in a small area they called the "orientation association area" which is precisely to orient themselves in space and above has the important function to demarcate, to this end, the boundaries of the body distinguishes it from the outside world (it is very important, per un organismo, capire cosa e sé e cosa non lo è). Proprio per questo, secondo l'ipotesi contenuta in Dio nel cervello , un calo di attività in questo settore può contribuire a dissolvere il senso di separatezza dell'io rispetto al resto dell'Universo e a percepire una mistica unità col Tutto.
Altri neurologi invece propongono che l'estasi mistica sia correlata ad altre zone del cervello (la disciplina della neuroteologia è ancora agli inizi, non c'è consenso universale), come i lobi temporali e il sistema limbico. Esistono anche macchine deputate a stimolare l'attività in queste zone del cervello in modo da indurre un'illuminazione artificiale (l' elmetto of God Michael Persinger). It seems that Dawkins, curious to know how it feels to believe in God, he wanted to try the helmet but I was disappointed.
Max Weber spoke of disenchantment of the world, provided that the rationality and scientific progress would eventually led to the fall of superstitions and religious beliefs: as we know, is exactly what happened, and scientific progress has by no means certain in the end religion even in its most destructive and irrational. The problem is not just that there are still Christian or Muslim faiths, who can rely on a well-established historical tradition, and a strong institutional structures and propaganda. The problem is che nascono nuovi culti ogni giorno, e che a quanto pare nessun culto è abbastanza bizzarro da non essere preso sul serio da qualcuno.
Non dobbiamo nemmeno aspettarci, quindi, che la diretta intromissione della scienza nelle faccende religiose sconvolga più di tanto, che la scoperta da parte di uno scienziato che Dio è un'allucinazione possa far perdere la fede a qualcuno. Le ricerche di cui sopra vengono inoltre tacciate spesso di "riduzionismo", o di scientismo arrogante. Non si può pretendere di ridurre un fenomeno culturalmente complesso come la religione all'attivazione di un paio di neuroni, o trattarlo alla stregua di una malattia psichiatrica. Ci vuole rispetto. Per una volta, sono d'accordissimo. Anzi, sostengo che quelle research, far from constituting a threat to spirituality, could help to awaken it.
If God's ways are infinite then it may well occur through the temporal lobe through a scintillating scotoma, or a psychedelic drugs (entheogens, or "with God in them"). But above all, what we care about the origin of experience, if it is the experience that counts? After all, there are a lot of people who take their drugs in order to have mystical experiences and do not think at all that the origin of "artificial" experience of their disqualification. Others think that they are mezzucci and shortcuts that do not "apply", but it is unclear on what basis can say that, beyond a certain moralism. And if there is a difference between illumination induced by a psychedelic substance, and obtained a faith blindly believing in the contents of a book or an authority, I would say that is a difference that goes all to the detriment of dogmatic belief.
ecclesiastical institutions are in fact generally opposed to psychedelic drugs, and for that distrust of the mystics in general, even those who officially join their church, as they have the nasty tendency to not obey (even if they can create a turn around their personality cults) and create problems. Nothing is further from the mystic of a cardinal or an ayatollah.
So my theory is this: today's best ally in the human search for God and spirituality in general is the science, chemistry, neurology. The worst enemies of God but are the Church and the State, which prohibit drugs and discourage the personal quest for God in any form. I, skeptic and atheist, but not dogmatic, I'm ready to explore the parallel dimensions that chemistry could unveil, I'm ready to hear God's voice and try to understand what he wants to tell me. I am even willing to pay a small fee for this, only that it is forbidden.
0 comments:
Post a Comment