CBB Seminar | Social Seminar ~ Michael Ferguson, Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School

CBB Seminar

Michael Ferguson ~ Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University

Title - From Fundamentalism to Mysticism: A Brain Network for Self-Transcendence and Its Subdomains

Self-transcendence, the temporary dissolution of self-referential boundaries during peak psychological experience, is among the most universal yet least understood dimensions of human psychology. I will present lesion network mapping evidence for a brain circuit underlying self-transcendence, derived from patients whose focal brain injuries produce lasting changes in this domain. From there, I will zoom into mystical experience as the fullest and most acute expression of self-transcendence, presenting network evidence for its neural signature and what the circuit anatomy reveals about the psychology of unity, awe, and noetic insight. I will then turn to spiritual acceptance, a more dispositional subdomain reflecting ongoing openness to transcendent experience and surrender of egoic control, and show how its network signature dissociates from both the broader self-transcendence circuit and the acute states captured by mysticism. The talk then pivots to religious fundamentalism: when the self fails to loosen its grip and surrender is replaced by entrenchment, a distinct network emerges anchored in regions associated with cognitive rigidity, threat appraisal, and motivated reasoning. The closing section puts the fundamentalism and mysticism circuits into direct conversation. These two constructs sit at opposite poles of the religious belief spectrum, yet their neural signatures illuminate each other in unexpected ways, revealing the brain's rigidity-flexibility axis as a core dimension organizing human spiritual life. I will close with implications for psychedelic therapeutics, contemplative neuroscience, and clinical translation.

***CBB and Social talks this semester will be meet on Thursdays, 12:00-1:15pm at NORTHWEST Bldg, B101 AUDITORIUM, Bring Harvard ID card for entry to NW Bldg.***