MYSTICAL BELIEFS AND AFFECTIVE STATES: EXPLORING GAPS IN THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION

Abstract

In this paper a criticism is presented against the research program in the cognitive sciences that devotes itself to the study of religion, the so-called cognitive science of religion (CSR). It is argued that this discipline neglects the role of emotions in its attempt to explain why religious beliefs are adherent, i.e., memorable, evocative, and easily disseminated. The explanation offered by CSR is built up, to a large extent, upon the Minimal Counterintuitiveness Hypothesis, which relates the adherence of religious beliefs to the degree of counterintuitiveness of the concepts figuring in their content. Although this hypothesis satisfactorily explains the adherence of a range of religious beliefs, some religious beliefs exist – the so-called mystical beliefs – whose adherence does not seem to be fully explained without the involvement of emotions and feelings. In the paper, a concrete example is presented, the example of the mystical belief in cosmic consciousness, or supreme consciousness.

Keywords: Cognitive science of religion. Mystical experience. Emotions. Cosmic consciousness.