Altered States: Ecstasy, Transcendence, and Death
RELI 245
Spring 2027
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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 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: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (Religion Minor)(Religion) |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
William James, THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Iain McGilchrist, THE MASTER AND HIS EMISSARY
Evelyn Underhill, MYSTICISM
Mircea Eliade, SHAMANISM: ARCHAIC TECHNIQUES OF ECSTASY
Ann Taves, FITS, TRANCES AND VISIONS
Robert Wright, WHY BUDDHISM IS TRUE
Aldous Huxley, THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION
Michael Pollan, HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND
Raymond Moody, LIFE AFTER LIFE
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Examinations and Assignments:
No final exam. Weekly reading responses (20%), participation (15%), three short concept exercises (15%), a midterm comparative essay (20%), and a final research paper (30%). |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course satisfies the "additional course" requirement for the Religion major and minor. |
| Instructor(s): Berger,Jesse Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 20 | | SR major: 4 | JR major: 4 | | |
| | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 3 | FR: 3 |
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