An article was recently brought to my attention that appeared in Reality Sandwich which touches on “Sleep Paralysis Visions: Demons, Succubi, and the Archetypal Mind.” As the title indicates, the article probes the subject of sleep paralysis covered on this blog in several previous installments. Of particular interest to me was the discussion of “Neurotheology and Spirits”:
This is where the research of anthropologist Michael Winkelman comes in handy. Winkelman suggests that humans are hard-wired to see spirits; it’s part of our genetic make-up. Known as neurotheology, this view posits that the universality of seeing spirits does not necessarily mean that “spirits are real,” but certainly that the experiences are authentic, and not just made up by a combination of wishful thinking and cultural loading from myths and fairy tales.
My thanks to Matt Cardin of The Teeming Brain for bringing this item and website to my attention.
One Response to “Sleep Paralysis, Neurotheology, and Spirits”