Ecstasy, Ritual, and Alternate Reality () von Felicitas D. Goodman

A cross-disciplinary exploration of comparative religion that offers a "e;unified field theory"e; of religion as human behavior.In this book, anthropologist and spiritual explorer Felicitas Goodman examines ritual, the religious trance, alternate reality, ethics and moral code, and the named category designating religion. The analysis is divided into two sections. The first reviews species-wide human traits that form the basis for religious behavior. Goodman, in speculative examination, traces the origins of religion to the dawn of human history, when religious ritual was accompanied by gesture rather than full-fledged modern speech. Ritual is seen as being the expression of the vastness of the drama of human life, death, birth, and procreation. The common neurophysiological basis for religious experience is seen to be a particular type of brain "e;tuning,"e; the religious altered state of consciousness, a trance facilitating contact with an alternate reality. The content of this other reality is shown to vary according to the type of adaptation to the habitat.The second section describes the religious systems of the world, dividing them according to societal type. A systematic comparison shows that religions vary according to whether people are hunter-gatherers, horticulturalists, agriculturalists, nomadic pastoralists, or city dwellers."e;An important book which deserves the careful attention of serious students of religion."e; -Religious Studies Review"e;Very few such global interpretations are ever attempted-and this one succeeds . . . The book's importance is in the interpretation as well as in the rich data base materials the book presents."e; -Willard Johnson

Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part One: Theory

Chapter 1. The Religious: Can It Be Defined?
Chapter 2. Human Evolution and the Origins and Evolution of Religious Behavior
Chapter 3. The Independent Variable: Interaction with the Habitat
Chapter 4. Dependent Variables
Ritual Behavior
The Religious Trance
The Alternate Reality
Good Fortune, Misfortune, and the Rituals of Divination
Ethics and Its Relation to Religious Behavior
The Semantics of "Religion"

Part Two: Ethnography

Chapter 5. The Hunter-Gatherers
Chapter 6. The Horticulturalists
Chapter 7. The Agriculturalists
Chapter 8. The Nomadic Pastoralists
Chapter 9. The City Dwellers

Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Index

"An important book which deserves the careful attention of serious students of religion." Religious Studies Review

Anthropologist and spiritual explorer Felicitas Goodman offers a "unified field theory" of religion as human behavior. She examines ritual, the religious trance, alternate reality, ethics and moral code, and the named category designating religion.