Sensing the Darkness : Spiritual experiences through the lens of predictive processing and evolutionary ethology

NENADALOVÁ, Jana. Sensing the Darkness : Spiritual experiences through the lens of predictive processing and evolutionary ethology. In IACESR 2022 (International association for the cognitive and evolutionary sciences of religion), 19-21 September 2022, Aarhus University, Denmark. 2022.

Basic information

• Original name: Sensing the Darkness : Spiritual experiences through the lens of predictive processing and evolutionary ethology
• Authors: NENADALOVÁ, Jana.
• Edition: IACESR 2022 (International association for the cognitive and evolutionary sciences of religion), 19-21 September 2022, Aarhus University, Denmark, 2022.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60304 Religious studies
• Country of publisher: Denmark
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords in English: spiritual experience; predictive processing; sensory deprivation; authority
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Subjective religious experiences are an important part of many human traditions. But how can we study them qualitatively in the field if most of the cognitive religious experience research is experimental? Currently, the cognitive science of religion understands religious experience as a composite product of several underlying mechanisms connected by the theory of predictive processing (PPT). I focus on qualitative field research of religious experiences related specifically to the cultural context of “alternative spirituality” (i.e., on spiritual experiences), induced by the alternative-spiritual technique of “Dark therapy” (DT). DT combines the prolonged effect of sensory deprivation – participants usually spend one week in complete darkness – with the probable direct influence of authority, represented here as a DT guide, who usually consults participants’ experiences, feelings, and needs once a day. Sensory deprivation and authority priming were previously identified as variables potentially crucial for the successful induction of religious experience in general. With my paper, I aim to introduce a qualitative ethnographical approach to the field study of religious/spiritual experiences combining PPT with evolutionary theories on social dynamics and authority, present preliminary examples of gathered data and connect them to previous experimental findings.