RELIGIOUS AND MYSTICAL STATES: A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL

  1. Eugene G. D'Aquili1 and
  2. Andrew B. Newberg2

Article first published online: 15 DEC 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1993.tb01026.x

Issue

Zygon®

Zygon®

Volume 28, Issue 2, pages 177–200, June 1993


Additional Information

How to Cite

D'Aquili, E. G. and Newberg, A. B. (1993), RELIGIOUS AND MYSTICAL STATES: A NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL. Zygon, 28: 177–200. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1993.tb01026.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Eugene d'Aquili, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, may be reached at Limina, 2400 Chestnut Street, Suite 1503, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

  2. 2

    Andrew B. Newberg is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and is in his first postgraduate year of medical education. His research experience includes nuclear medicine and brain visualization techniques. He may also be reached at Limina, 2400 Chestnut Street, Suite 1503, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 15 DEC 2005
  2. Article first published online: 15 DEC 2005

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Keywords:

  • Absolute Unitary Being;
  • associated areas;
  • cultural elaboration, deafferentiation, ergotropic-trophotropic tuning;
  • hemisphericity;
  • limbic-cortical integration;
  • mystical states;
  • neuro-epistemology;
  • structural invariance;
  • Via Negativa;
  • Via Positiva.

Abstract. This paper first considers the current confusion in categorizing and even describing mystical states, including experiences of God, the Void, and lesser religious experiences. The paper presents the necessity of studying the neuropsychological substrate of such experiences both to understand them in greater depth and to help resolve scholarly confusion in this area. As a prelude to presenting a neuropsychological model, the basic principles of brain organization are reviewed, including hemispheri-city; primary, secondary, and tertiary sensory receptive areas; their motor analogues; prefrontosensorial polarity; and the integration of limbic functioning into cortical activity. A neuropsychological model for mystical states is then presented in terms of differential stimulation and deafferentation of various tertiary sensory association areas, along with integration of various patterns of limbic stimulation.

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