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Bruce G Charlton

2 papers in the library · 27 citations · publishing 2007-2008

Papers

Alienation, recovered animism and altered states of consciousness.

Medical hypotheses January 1, 2007 Bruce G Charlton 15 citations

Alienation, the feeling that life is meaningless and that we do not belong, is not inevitable. Animistic thinking, which regards significant entities as sentient agents with minds, is the natural and spontaneous human worldview, shared by children and hunter-gatherers. This thinking embeds humans in a world of social relationships with animals, plants, and landscapes. Formal education overwrites animism with rationalistic objectivity, creating alienation by estranging people from a relational world. Recovering animistic thinking involves detachment from social systems that enforce objectivity—through solitude, leisure, nature contact, or altered states of consciousness such as meditation, lucid dreaming, trance states, or intoxication. Intoxication, however, impairs memory and can be dangerous, yet seeking altered states remains a major spiritual practice.

DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2006.11.004 Full text

Genospirituality: genetic engineering for spiritual and religious enhancement.

Medical hypotheses December 1, 2008 Bruce G Charlton 12 citations

Genetic engineering could be used to enhance human spiritual and religious experiences, a concept termed 'genospirituality'. If technologies safely engineer genes linked to spiritual behaviors, people might choose their degree of religiosity, potentially increasing direct religious experiences like revelation, animistic thinking where natural features are seen as sentient, or shamanistic states of altered consciousness that can be self-induced and switched off. Trade-offs may include reduced drive for status and monetary rewards, but also more altruistic, moral behaviors and strengthened communal joy. Genospirituality would likely appeal to those unable to achieve desired spiritual experiences.

DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2008.06.006 Full text