Preface

Summary

This book proposes to inject some new aspects into the theory of evolution and the development of the human brain. In the interests of honesty, I am neither an evolutionary scientist nor a cognitive scientist, although I will seriously and critically take into consideration their theories. My own training and approach to the study of religion is that of a historian of religion. Nevertheless, when composing this book I used material from the theory of evolution, history, phenomenology, neuroscience, archaeology, and anthropology for a multidisciplinary approach to the subject of the origin of religion.

This book proposes to examine the nature of religion by seeking its origin within the context of the theory of evolution and the development of the human brain. It is argued that religion is the way the mechanism of natural selection in the theory of evolution operates to help humans survive in the context of a dangerous and hostile world. Survival is accomplished when profound experiences like trance cause a rewiring of the brain, giving birth to what later is identified as religious attitudes and ways of behaving. It is possible to speculate that without the development of religion, humans might not have survived to create cultures and civilizations. Therefore, the development of religion makes it possible for early humans to thrive. This evolutionary process involved adaptation to one's environment, creation of social groups, development of the body, and the brain.

There are also other neglected aspects of evolution not discussed by previous theorists. The implications of the embodied nature of human beings are not always stressed by cognitive theorists. What they more specifically tend to neglect is that human bodies are chemical factories. It is numerous chemicals created within the body that contribute to the development of religious experiences. Another neglected aspect of those influenced by the theory of evolution is that early humans exerted a will to power to survive. This so-called will to power is a process of empowerment with the goal of enabling humans to become strong and powerful enough to survive. This will to power is not something metaphysical but is rather part of the dynamic of natural selection.