Article
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Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Religion as memory
Version 1
: Received: 29 January 2024 / Approved: 31 January 2024 / Online: 31 January 2024 (12:49:57 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Bronkhorst, J. Religion as Memory. Psychol. Int. 2024, 6, 454-461. Bronkhorst, J. Religion as Memory. Psychol. Int. 2024, 6, 454-461.
Abstract
This paper will argue that memory from early childhood underlies many practices and beliefs that we commonly refer to as “religious”. The consciousness of young children does not yet have certain features that characterizes adult consciousness. This paper will concentrate on four of these: (I) a reality that is recognizable; (II) a sense of temporal duration; (III) a sense of self; (IV) an experience of the world that is deeply affected by our acquaintance with (a) language. Absence of these features presumably characterizes the consciousness of infants. It also often characterizes mystical experiences. The paper will argue that the human tendency to engage in so-called religious practices and beliefs makes most sense on the assumption that adults somehow preserve the memory of their state of being in childhood.
Keywords
religious experience; consciousness of infants; language
Subject
Arts and Humanities, Religious Studies
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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