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Stairway to heaven : a first-person account of noesis
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Singh, Swaran P. (2022) Stairway to heaven : a first-person account of noesis. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 210 (11). pp. 850-854. doi:10.1097/NMD.0000000000001550 ISSN 0022-3018.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000001550
Abstract
Mystical and spiritual experiences have been reported throughout human history. Causal explanations for these range from psychopathology of mental illness, drugs such as hallucinogens, neurological disorders including temporal lobe epilepsy, and genuine mystical or spiritual awakening. There is a common core of phenomena in such experiences, as described both in historical accounts and recent research, but also evidence of cultural specificity. This article is a personal account of such an experience, which occurred in a postanesthetic state. A striking feature of the experience was noesis: a sense of revelation and complete understanding. I argue that while there must be a neural basis to these phenomena, it is difficult to reduce the subjective meaning of the experience purely to a brain dysfunction. Reconciling mechanism and meaning of such experiences remains a challenge for both neuroscience and philosophy.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
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Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BV Practical Theology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
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SWORD Depositor: | Library Publications Router | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Psychiatry, Transcultural , Spirituality , Phenomenology , Dissociation (Psychology), Experience (Religion) | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease | ||||||
Publisher: | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins | ||||||
ISSN: | 0022-3018 | ||||||
Official Date: | November 2022 | ||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 210 | ||||||
Number: | 11 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 850-854 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1097/NMD.0000000000001550 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 22 November 2022 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 22 November 2022 | ||||||
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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