The starting point of numinological thinking is religion, not God. The idea of numinous feelings, as set forth vividly in theological terms by Rudolf Otto, is here put instead into an evolutionary perspective. The framework of the conscious and unconscious mind, developed by depth psychologists Freud and Jung, is also put into the broader evolutionary context of the operation of the 'old brain' and the 'new brain'. The recent findings from fossil and genetic research by paleoanthropologists signal the need for a radical revision in our understanding of religion, which originated more than two million years ago. Numinology avoids the traditional failures of theology, especially monotheology, seeing them as flawed modes of thought about survival-replication. Likewise, numinology avoids the widespread deficiencies of evolutionary thought, which reduce survival primarily to competition rather than cooperation of living organisms. If religious thought in the twenty-first century is built on numinous foundations, the survival-replication of Homo sapiens itself will be enhanced.
Table of Contents for EN I
Table of Contents for EN II
Table of Contents for EN III
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