How Religion Evolved Av Robin Dunbar

<p><b>A fascinating analysis of the evolution of religion from the internationally renowned evolutionary psychologist</b><br><br>When did humans develop spiritual thought? What is religion''s evolutionary purpose? And in our increasingly secular world, why has it endured?<br><br>Every society in the history of humanity has lived with religion. In <i>How Religion Evolved</i>, evolutionary psychologist Professor Robin Dunbar tracks its origins back to what he terms the ''mystical stance'' - the aspect of human psychology that predisposes us to believe in a transcendent world, and which makes an encounter with the spiritual possible. As he explores world religions and their many derivatives, as well as religions of experience practised by hunter-gatherer societies since time immemorial, Dunbar argues that this instinct is not a peculiar human quirk, an aberration on our otherwise efficient evolutionary journey. Rather, religion confers an advantage: it can benefit our individual health an