From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Sat Feb 15 2003 - 13:10:05 EST
In a message dated 2/15/03 11:43:13 AM Eastern Standard Time,
burgythree@hotmail.com writes:
> However, the precise relationship between mysticism and
> moral belief or practice, and especially the way in which mysticism has
> served historically as a foundation for moral conduct, has received
> comparatively little academic attention and remains, to some extent,
>
Burgy,
Thanks for the information. It does look interesting, but this is no longer
uncharted territory. Although my paper True Religion, The Darwinian
Interpretation of Biblical Symbols covers mysticism specifically by charting
the psychology and ontology of the fall of Adam and Eve and is beginning to
make ripples elsewhere, when I offered it to members of this list, I didn't
get a bite. Here is the abstract. Again, as before, the paper is available
upon request.
Abstract
The paper demonstrates how the religion/science divide can be bridged by
interpreting two Biblical allegories from a Darwinian perspective. The
behavioral structure of the religious experience is determined from the
obvious references to psychological states and evolved behaviors in the
allegory of the fall of Adam and Eve. A conceptual framework is then
presented from which inferences regarding ontological anxiety and pure
altruism are easily drawn, providing new impetus for the study of spiritual
disciplines. A table lists the basic allegorical symbols from the Biblical
text with their psychological counterparts. The evolutionary strategy of
Judaism is revealed in the allegory of Jacob and Esau, “the elder shall serve
the younger,” by observing the successes and failures of Jacob and his
progeny over three generations coupled with Jacob’s cunning breeding of
Laban’s flocks, cited by Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species. This
earliest known Biblical source for religiously disciplined group selection is
identified. The relevance of religious discipline as nascent “pastoral
science” for modern communities is rationalized. As a result of researching
the paper, a translation concern over the nature of Leah’s eyes was
identified in a few newer editions of the Bible by its departure from an
otherwise perfect allegorical structure demonstrating the utility of the
Darwinian toolkit for Biblical exegesis. The paper was written as religion,
as psychology/anthropology and as literature.
Keywords: Biblical exegesis, religious experience, evolutionary strategy,
group selection and I.Q.
Kevin MacDonald thought very highly of the paper upon reading it. Here are
MacDonald's credentials.
“Kevin MacDonald, Ph.D., professor of psychology, California State
University-Long Beach, is the editor of Population and Environment and former
editor of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Newsletter. He is the
author most recently of The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of
Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements
(Praeger, 1998), Separation and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary
Theory of Anti-Semitism (Praeger, 1998), and A People that Shall Dwell Alone:
Judaism as a Group Evolutionary Strategy (Praeger, 1994). As a frequent
contributor to monographs and author of numerous articles in evolutionary
psychology, religion and ethnic relations, his previous books
include:Sociobiological Perspectives on Human Development (Springer-Veriag,
1988),Social and Personality Development: An Evolutionary Synthesis (Plenum,
1988) and (editor) Parent-Child Play: Descriptions and Implications (State
Universityof New York Press, 1993).”
rich faussette
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