Explore the 'group mind' phenomenon and uncover its influences on religious and political experiences. This book investigates the idea that human groups, under certain conditions, can develop distinct personalities and possess 'minds' characterized by quasi-rational decision-making processes, emotions, intentional states, and actions in the world. Utilizing expert research, Patrick McNamara applies the explosion of findings in collective cognition to topics in evolutionary psychology, soci...

Anything can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Wouldnt you rather know that you had done everything in your power to have prepared yourself for that moment when something goes wrong? None of us plan to fail, but we may fail to plan.In Sentinel, author Patrick McNamara provides an instructional guide filled with survival techniques for the family. Drawing from his background as a special-operations agent for twenty-two years, McNamara discusses the importance of bein...

This book provides a complete introduction to the neuroscience of sleep and dreams in plain language. In it, Patrick McNamara outlines new discoveries in the science of sleep and dreams, places them within an evolutionary context, and brings them together with existing scientific findings and implications for sleep medicine. Unlike other introductory texts, the important evolutionary background and social nature of sleep and dreams is emphasized. Major advances in sleep medicine, sleep and...

The inspiration for this book came to the author after he purchased Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's wallet, untouched since the day he died in 1930, at a Christie's auction in London. This true story is based upon the unique contents, which led the author to begin spiritually communicating with Doyle. Sir Arthur's wish was to enlighten those who have lost their loved ones or feel they are lacking direction in their lives. Through Patrick McNamara, Doyle explains that how we live our lives here on...

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Religious Experience, now updated and expanded in a new edition, updates key topics covered in the first edition including: decentering and self-transformation, supernatural agent cognitions, mystical states, religious language, ritualization, and religious group agency. It expands upon the first edition to include major findings on brain and religious experience over the past decade, focusing on methodology, future thinking, and psychedelics. It provides an u...

Technical advances in the life and medical sciences have revolutionised our understanding of the brain, while the emerging disciplines of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience continue to reveal the connections of the higher cognitive functions and emotional states associated with religious experience to underlying brain states. At the same time, a host of developing theories in psychology and anthropology posit evolutionary explanations for the ubiquity and persistence of religiou...

The Neuroscience of Sleep and Dreams provides comprehensive coverage of the basic neuroscience of both sleep and dreams for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. It details new scientific discoveries, places those discoveries within evolutionary context, and links established findings with implications for sleep medicine. This second edition focuses on recent developments in the social nature of sleep and dreams. Coverage includes the neuroscience of all stages of sleep; the lif...

The Neural Basis of Religious Cognition brings together leading researchers from psychology, neuroscience, and religious studies to identify the neural circuits underlying various aspects of religious behavior and cognition. This book presents cutting‑edge research in the cognitive neuroscience of religion, demonstrating how brain research techniques can illuminate the puzzles and complexities of religious experience.Understanding the neural foundations of religious cognit...

Dr. Richard Polin's Neonatology Questions and Controversies series highlights the toughest challenges facing physicians and care providers in clinical practice, offering trustworthy guidance on up-to-date diagnostic and treatment options in the field. In each volume, renowned experts address the clinical problems of greatest concern to today's practitioners, helping you handle difficult practice issues and provide optimal, evidence-based care to every patient.The thoroughly updated, full-c...

Based on extensive research, this volume offers insight and help on the key fiscal topics confronting church leaders today, including: Why is the church so uneasy with the topic of money? Is there a difference between stewardship and fundraising? How can we motivate giving? Should we invest church funds? It tackles the resistance, fears, and difficulties about money common in congregations. The book is must reading for lay leaders and anyone in pastoral ministry today.

The purpose of this book is to use neuroscience discoveries concerning religious experiences, the Self and personhood to deepen, enhance and interrogate the theological and philosophical set of ideas known as Personalism. McNamara proposes a new eschatological form of personalism that is consistent with current neuroscience models of relevant brain functions concerning the self and personhood and that can meet the catastrophic challenges of the 21st century.Eschatological Personali...

A standout resource on the emerging field of applying neuropsychology and the latest findings in sleep and dream research to religious experience, this book investigates the proven biological links between REM dreams and religious ideas, covering past and current schools of thought in both the science of dreams and the science of religion.Across time and around the world, billions of people with highly dissimilar backgrounds and cultures have felt spiritual or reli...