The neurological basis for religion as evidence of the latter evolution of human consciousness (40,000 BCE) with speculations on the neurological origins and culturally based answers to many common religious questions.
Global conflicts constantly erupt along the boundaries that separate differing religions. This work examines, in eminently readable prose (compared to Lewis Thomas by Arthur C. Clarke)the fact that since all religions aspire to the same goals, and differ mainly in cultural roots, that the only real differences are answers to three questions concerning time: where did I come from, why am I here, and where amd I going. If a chronological memory provides a past, it can also create a future, and creates questions basic to human consciounsness. How cultures use ceremony, activity, and ritual to create brain states conducive to breakdown of this last stage of evolution. returning us to "oneness" and the unity of birth and death, is the subject of a series of essays in chapter form. From the miracles of human vision to the universal journey to "heaven" at death, Neurotheology was the first work praised by both leading theologians,educators,and scientists. As the first readable exploration of the interface between science and religion that covered almost all the bases, it literally created an entire field of religious speculation that has continued to grow.
