[FRIAM] God

[Prof David West]

Who said anything about a function?

A simple observation: every culture of which we are aware express some sort of belief in the supernatural - there is marginal consistency among expressions of that belief. Burials with artifacts / food stuffs / staged body positioning / etc. are interpreted as expressions of supernatural belief in prehistoric cultures. Again just an observation, no interpretation, no assignment of meaning, no explantation.

davew


On Wed, May 20, 2020, at 10:22 AM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com wrote:
> Wait a minute?
> 
> What is the function of believing in higher spirits? 
> 
> Or is it a spandrel?
> 
> N
> 
> Nicholas Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
> Clark University
> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>  
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Prof David West
> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:23 AM
> To: friam at redfish.com
> Subject: [FRIAM] God
> 
> Taking (inhaling) DMT seems to induce a belief in "higher spirits" e.g. "God."
> 
> https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269881120916143
> 
> Since human brains naturally produce DMT (some controversy about this 
> assertion); that is why all human cultures — historic and prehistoric — 
> incorporate beliefs in the supernatural.
> 
> davew
> 
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