Sensing the presence of gods and spirits across cultures and faiths

Tanya Marie Luhrmann (), Kara Weisman (), Felicity Aulino, Joshua D. Brahinsky, John C. Dulin, Vivian A. Dzokoto, Cristine H. Legare, Michael Lifshitz, Emily Ng, Nicole Ross-Zehnder and Rachel E. Smith
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Tanya Marie Luhrmann: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
Kara Weisman: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
Felicity Aulino: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003
Joshua D. Brahinsky: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
John C. Dulin: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Department of Behavioral Science, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT 84058
Vivian A. Dzokoto: Department of African and African American Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University
Cristine H. Legare: Department of Psychology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712
Michael Lifshitz: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Department of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3A 1A1
Emily Ng: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam, 1012 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nicole Ross-Zehnder: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
Rachel E. Smith: Department of Anthropology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, CB2 3RF Cambridge, United Kingdom

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, vol. 118, issue 5, e2016649118

Abstract: Hearing the voice of God, feeling the presence of the dead, being possessed by a demonic spirit—such events are among the most remarkable human sensory experiences. They change lives and in turn shape history. Why do some people report experiencing such events while others do not? We argue that experiences of spiritual presence are facilitated by cultural models that represent the mind as “porous,” or permeable to the world, and by an immersive orientation toward inner life that allows a person to become “absorbed” in experiences. In four studies with over 2,000 participants from many religious traditions in the United States, Ghana, Thailand, China, and Vanuatu, porosity and absorption played distinct roles in determining which people, in which cultural settings, were most likely to report vivid sensory experiences of what they took to be gods and spirits.

Keywords: religion; porosity; absorption; spiritual experience; voices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nas:journl:v:118:y:2021:p:e2016649118

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