Autoscopic phenomena (AP)
Heautoscopy (HAS) Autoscopy (AS)
An intermediate phenomenological state
Out-of-body
experience (OBE)
Experiencing the self as
localized outside one’s
physical body
boundaries.
The experience of seeing
one’s body in extracoporeal
between AS and OBE.
space (as a double) but
without the sense of
disembodiment
characteristic of OBE.
The temporo-parietal junction
(TPJ).
Figure 26.2. Types of autoscopic phenomena associated with the brain area known as the
temporo-pariteal junction (redrawn from Arzy et al. 2005, figure 1 and 3).
The sacred engagement: anchoring the transcendental stance
So far we have exposed a possible neuromatrix between the identified core aspects of
religious thinking placing our emphasis on a possible link between the TPJ and the
angular gyrus. What remains to be sown is why the construction of such a link is
important and what possible role material culture may have to play in this respect. To this
end and within the limits of this paper two important things need to be emphasised: The
first is the immediate connection that TPJ offers between embodiment, body schema and
the complex experiences of OBE and AS. The second is the possible role of the angular
gyrus AG in integrating these powerful phenomenal experiences with more abstract
aspects and autonoetic conceptualisations, such as that of a dualistic proto-soul concept.
These ideas fit nicely with many contemporary arguments that see early shamanic
experiences having an important role in early religious thinking and the development of
human cognition (Clottes and Lewis-Williams 1998; Lewis-Williams 2002; Rossano
2007). However, one crucial difference of the hypothesis advanced here needs to be
underlined: The identified nexus of religious intelligence claims no particular association
with shamanism. Although, the processes of animism, fetishism, anthropomorphism and