Altered States: Ecstasy, Transcendence, and Death (FYS)
RELI 145F
Fall 2026
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01
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Mystics, shamans, psychedelic voyagers, and near-death survivors have long reported experiences that shatter ordinary categories of self, time, and reality. What are these experiences? Are they windows onto deeper truths, or artifacts of unusual brain chemistry? Can they be both? This course investigates non-ordinary states of consciousness across religious traditions and through the lens of contemporary science, asking what these extreme experiences reveal about the nature of the mind, the self, and the sacred.
We begin with William James¿s foundational Varieties of Religious Experience and trace the study of mystical and ecstatic states across cultures, from Sufi poetry and Vedic meditation to Amazonian shamanism and Pentecostal possession. We then engage with neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor's account of her left-hemisphere stroke and Iain McGilchrist's research on hemispheric brain differences as touchstones for thinking about the relationship between brain, mind, and religious experience. We then turn to psychedelics -- their roles in indigenous ritual contexts and their dramatic re-emergence in contemporary neuroscience and clinical psychology. A final unit examines near-death experiences, the profound personal transformations they produce, and modern attempts to investigate them scientifically.
The course is organized as a seminar: students are expected to come prepared to discuss the readings and to contribute actively to collaborative inquiry. No prior background in neuroscience, religion, or philosophy is required or assumed. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (Religion Minor)(Religion) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 | | Special Attributes: FYS |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Vine Deloria Jr., SPIRIT AND REASON
Barbara Ehrenreich, DANCING IN THE STREETS
Mircea Eliade, SHAMANISM
Daniel Goleman & Richard Davidson, ALTERED TRAITS
Michael Harner, THE WAY OF THE SHAMAN
William James, THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Allan Kellehear, EXPERIENCES NEAR DEATH
Iain McGilchrist, THE MASTER AND HIS EMISSARY
Jill Bolte Taylor, MY STROKE OF INSIGHT
Carol Zaleski, OTHERWORLD JOURNEYS
YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI
TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
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Examinations and Assignments:
Seminar Participation
Weekly Reading Responses
Midterm Exam
Comparative Analysis Paper
Final Seminar Presentation |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the "additional course" requirement for the Religion major/minor |
| Instructor(s): Berger,Jesse Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: X | JR major: X | | |
| Seats Available: 15 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: X | JR non-major: X | SO: X | FR: 15 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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