Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Secular Spirituality

The Next Step Towards Enlightenment

  • Book
  • © 2015

Overview

Authors:
  1. Harald Walach

    1. European University Viadrina, Frankfurt, Germany

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Addresses the conceptual and historical gap between spirituality and science
  • Shows that scientific enlightenment cannot be complete unless it includes spirituality as a topic for scientific scrutiny
  • Argues that religion is the societal and historic form of spirituality
  • Proposes the building of bridges between the societal movement towards spirituality and the scientific enterprise
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Studies in Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality (SNCS, volume 4)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-vii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Harald Walach
    Pages 1-13

  3. Clarifications and Presuppositions

    • Harald Walach
    Pages 15-36

  4. The Historical Framework: Enlightenment, Science, and the Difficulties with the Notion of God

    • Harald Walach
    Pages 37-68

  5. Spirituality, Taboo, and Opportunity for Science

    • Harald Walach
    Pages 69-92

  6. Secular, Non-dogmatic Spirituality

    • Harald Walach
    Pages 93-172

  7. Distortions, Dangers, Further Considerations

    • Harald Walach
    Pages 173-186

  8. Getting on with Enlightenment: The Necessity of a Secular Non-dogmatic Spirituality

    • Harald Walach
    Pages 187-207

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 209-216
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This book discusses spirituality as an emerging scientific topic from a historical perspective, with extensive discussion of the mind-body problem and of scientific concepts of consciousness. While the book focuses on the Western tradition of ‘Enlightenment’, it also implicitly addresses the double meaning of the term, with the Eastern tradition describing it as ‘a state of true knowledge, which is an important goal on an individual’s spiritual path’ and the Western tradition seeing it as ‘the collective process of getting rid of narrow-minded dogmas and concepts’. The book is based on a simple yet challenging premise: Science has not gone far enough in the scientific process of going from a collective mind tied up in dogmatic teachings to a truly free mind that, seemingly, freed itself from bondage and restrictions. The book shows that science, and with it our whole Western culture, has to incorporate spirituality if it is to realize this goal of enlightenment. If that is done, and it can only be done by many individuals actually practicing spirituality, this will also lead to the individual type of enlightenment.

Authors and Affiliations

  • European University Viadrina, Frankfurt, Germany

    Harald Walach

About the author

Prof. Dr. Dr. Harald Walach is a German psychologist, medical researcher, and historian and philosopher of science. He is currently director of the Institute of Transcultural Health Sciences at the European University Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation