Science, Spirituality, and Ayahuasca: The Problem of Consciousness and Spiritual Ontologies in the Academy

Abstract

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew from Amazonas, popularized in the last decades in part through transnational religious networks, but also due to interest in exploring spirituality through altered states of consciousness among academic schools and scientific researchers. In this article, the author analyzes the relation between science and religion proposing that the "demarcation problem" between the two arises from the relations among consciousness, intentionality, and spirituality. The analysis starts at the beginning of modern science, continues through the nineteenth century, and then examines the appearance of new schools in psychology and anthropology in the countercultural milieu of the 1960s. The author analyzes the case of ayahuasca against this historical background, first, in the general context of ayahuasca studies in the academic field. Second, he briefly describes three cases from Spain. Finally, he discusses the permeability of science to "spiritual ontologies" from an interdisciplinary perspective, using insights from social and cognitive sciences.Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew traditionally used by the native population in Amazonas. The name comes from the Quechua, aya, meaning soul or dead person, and waska, meaning vine, usually translated as "vine of the spirits" or "vine of the dead." The name of the brew varies in each tradition Ismael Apud is a doctoral student at

The neuropsychology of religious experience. A review of different scientific approaches to the phenomenon / Neuropsicología de la experiencia religiosa. Una revisión de distintas aproximaciones científicas al fenómeno

“…Carl G. Jung, retomará la idea de lo numinoso de Otto, concibiendo la religión como el acto de observancia y cuidado de dicha experiencia (Jung, 2008). La psicología analítica jungiana, junto con la psicología humanística de Abraham Maslow, serán dos antecedentes importantes para el surgimiento de nuevas corrientes psicológicas en la segunda mitad de siglo XX, preocupadas por la dimensión espiritual de la experiencia humana: la escuela bioenergética de Alexander Lowen, la psicoterapia gestáltica de Fritz Perls, la psicología transpersonal de Stanislav Grof, y las distintas corrientes involucradas en el estudio clínico de los psicodélicos (Apud, 2017).…”

“…Carl G. Jung further elaborated on Otto’s concept of the numinous and conceived religion as the act of observance and care of that experience (Jung, 2008). Jungian analytical psychology and the humanistic psychology of Abraham Maslow are two important antecedents that gave birth to the emergence of new psychological currents in the second half of the twentieth century, concerned with the spiritual dimension of human experience: Alexander Lowen’s school of bioenergetic analysis, Fritz Perls’ gestalt psychotherapy, Stanislav Grof’s transpersonal psychology and the different currents involved in the clinical study of psychedelics (Apud, 2017).…”

Modern Buddhism and its Cultural Translations. Reflections from a Qualitative Case Study of Two European Zen Monks

“…From an anthropological perspective, I propose to explain the creation of Modern Buddhism in terms of cultural translation, just as I have discussed elsewhere the case of neo-shamanic practices in Latin America (Apud, 2015) and Spain (Apud, 2017;2020). I defined cultural translation as the transformations that occur to symbols, beliefs, and practices when transferred from one cultural context to another.…”

“…Cultural translation is not a unilateral process. It usually results in changes on both sides of the cultural exchange, something I call 'double assimilation' (Apud, 2015). Modern Buddhism is a good example of how the two-sided process of cultural translation works.…”