SCIENCE AND RELIGION: Scientific Understanding and Mathematical Modeling of Emotions of the Spiritually Sublime

TL;DR

This paper explores how scientific and religious perspectives on understanding emotions of the sublime can be integrated through brain imaging and mathematical modeling, revealing their neural basis without reductionism.

Contribution

It introduces a scientific framework for analyzing religious sublime emotions using brain imaging and mathematical models, bridging science and religion.

Findings

Religious sublime emotions have identifiable neural correlates.

Mathematical models can explain these emotions without reductionism.

Recent brain imaging advances enable scientific measurement of spiritual feelings.

Abstract

Science strives for a detailed understanding of reality even if this differentiation threatens individual synthesis, or the wholeness of psyche. Religion strives to maintain the wholeness of psyche, even if at the expense of a detailed understanding of the world and Self. This paper analyzes the cognitive forces driving us to achieve both. This analysis leads to understanding emotions of the religiously sublime, which are the foundations of all religions. These seemingly mysterious feelings, which everyone feels, even if rarely, even if without noticing them consciously, even if without being able to name them properly, today can be explained scientifically. And possibly, we may soon be able to measure them in a psychological laboratory. The article briefly reviews new developments in brain imaging that have made new data available, and reviews development and mathematical modeling in cognitive theory explaining these previously mysterious feelings. This new scientific analysis has overcome another long-standing challenge: reductionism. Although religious feelings can be scientifically discussed in terms of concrete neural mechanisms and mathematically modeled, but cannot be reduced to "just this or that" mechanical explanation.