What does it mean to be possessed by a spirit or demon? Some phenomenological insights from neuro-anthropological research

What does it mean to be possessed by a spirit or demon? Some phenomenological insights from neuro-anthropological research

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The visible growth in possession and exorcism in Southern Africa can, amongst others, be attributed to the general impression in Christianity that, since Jesus was a successful exorcist, his followers should follow his example.Historical Jesus research generally endorses a view of Jesus as exorcist, which probably also contributes to this idea, yet there is no or very little reflection about either exorcism or possession as cultural practices.This article offers a critical reflection on possession based on insights from cross-cultural and neuro-scientific research.

The first insight is that possession is not a single thing, but a collective term for what is a wide range of phenomena.At least two Horse Toys distinct meanings are identified: possession as a label for illness or misfortune, and possession as an indication of forms of human dissociative phenomena.In the latter instance, an impression of possession as a mode of being a Self, together with insights about the inherent potential for dissociative phenomena, provides the background to the view of possession as a cultural technique with a variety of functions.

A second insight is that the term possession refers to complex neuro-cultural processes that can be described by means of both cultural and neurological mechanisms.A third insight is that in most ethnographic examples possession is Hayward SwimClear Multi-Element Parts the response or solution to other underlying problems.Against this background the role of exorcism should be reconsidered as clear-cut and worthy of emulation.