Spirituality as a Natural Phenomenon: Bringing Biological and Psychological Perspectives Together

Abstract. Working in Britain and in Poland, the authors independently arrived at an interpretation of spirituality as a natural phenomenon. From the point of view of the British author, spirituality is based on a biological predisposition that has been selected for in the process of evolution becaus...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Authors: Hay, David (Author) ; Socha, Pawel M. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell 2005
In: Zygon
Year: 2005, Volume: 40, Issue: 3, Pages: 589-612
Further subjects:B Spirituality
B Religious Experience
B relational consciousness
B Social Construction
B biological evolution
B psychology of religion
B spiritual awareness
B social evolution
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Summary:Abstract. Working in Britain and in Poland, the authors independently arrived at an interpretation of spirituality as a natural phenomenon. From the point of view of the British author, spirituality is based on a biological predisposition that has been selected for in the process of evolution because it has survival value. In several important ways this approach is in harmony with the psychological perspective of the Polish author that sees spirituality as a socioculturally structured and determined attempt to cope with the existential human situation. Thus interpreted, spirituality is a human universal appearing in many secular as well as religious forms, although its most typical manifestations have been in religious experience. In this essay we discuss research data in support of this theoretical point of view and highlight some of the issues in bringing the two theoretical perspectives together.
ISSN:1467-9744
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9744.2005.00691.x