Teresian Neuroscience
—
Neural studies in conversation
with the writings of Teresa of Avila
—
Harvard Divinity School
Spring 2023 Directed Readings
Faculty mentor: Michael Ferguson, PhD
Mentor email: mferguson@hds.harvard.edu
—
Description
Teresa of Avila is an exquisite exemplar of mysticism. The first woman to be named a Doctor of the Church in Roman Catholicism and the only woman (to date) to found a religious order for men in the Roman Catholic tradition, she is a singular figure in the histories of Western Christianity and Christian spirituality.
In these directed readings, we will examine Teresa’s written accounts of phenomenal experience, including but not limited to spiritual and mystical experiences described in her writings. Additionally, we will lend special attention to aspects of Teresa’s personal experience which may be categorized as clinical or symptomatic in nature, e.g., migraines, auras, tinnitus, seizures, etc. We will examine both categories of experience–spiritual and symptomatic–through the lenses of brain circuit analysis. In symmetrical investigation, we will also examine brain circuits and symptoms through lenses of spiritual analysis. The goal of these directed readings is to synthesize spiritual, symptomatic, and brain circuit accounts of experience through our sympathetic interrogation of Teresa, and to broadly explore the possibilities and limitations for a contemporary science of mysticism.
The central Teresian text for this semester will be Interior Castle (Castillo Interior or Las Moradas). The vast library of Teresa’s major and minor texts will also be surveyed, a comprehensive digital library of which may be found at http://teresa.academy.
Six themes will guide our “neurospirituality” reading of Teresian texts; namely:
- Carmelite science
- Recollection
- Spiritual water
- Spiritual modes
- Visions
- Virtue
The anticipated schedule and some of the anticipated readings are listed below. Given that these directed readings are a first-of-their-kind experiment in Teresian interlocution with neuroscience sources, specific articles from the neural literature may be substituted with others at the faculty mentor’s discretion as the semester proceeds.
The primary expectation for these directed readings is participation. If you are formally enrolled in these directed readings, you need to make every reasonable effort to attend each of the six discussion sessions. (There are only six of them–you can do this.) Additionally, enrolled students will be required to create an original “neurospirituality” interlocution between any Teresian text of their choosing other than Interior Castle and a primary research article from the neural literature. The faculty mentor will help you in this task and greater explanation of this assignment will be elaborated during the first discussion session.
Lastly, the faculty mentor is actively networking with ordained religious in the Carmelite tradition with eager hopes for dynamically enriching dialog and dialectic between voices of scholarship and devotion during our sessions. Remote and cloistered Carmelite religious are warmly invited to participate in any and all of the discussion sessions through a private Zoom link that will be provided by the faculty mentor upon request.
Thank you for your curiosity and motivation to engage this experiment in crafting a Teresian neuroscience. Given that no one person will be an expert in every aspect of textual, critical, devotional, historical, and scientific approaches to Teresa, let us all consciously maintain a posture of friendly humility and persistent openness to mutual learning. Indeed, la paciencia todo lo alcanza.
Registration Instructions
Harvard Divinity School students: Register for HDS 9998 and simultaneously fill out a Reading and Research Proposal, available in my.harvard.edu under the “Documents” tab.
Boston College students: Register through the School of Theology and Ministry for directed readings with Dr. Andre Brouillette. (Dr. Brouillette is graciously serving as the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry cross-institutional sponsor for these directed readings.) BCSTM students may either participate for a one-credit non-module or a three-credit option, and expectations for semester requirements will be adapted with Dr. Ferguson based on whether students register for one or three credits.
Carmelite ordained religious, including cloistered religious: Please directly email Dr. Ferguson (mferguson@hds.harvard.edu) for a Zoom link to participate remotely.
Schedule
Session 0: INTRODUCTION TO INTERIOR CASTLE
Friday, January 27th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
—INDEPENDENT READING OF INTERIOR CASTLE—
Students are expected to read the entire text of Interior Castle between January 27th and February 24th when the Teresian Neuroscience discussion sessions begin. The text is foundational for all of the discussion sessions. Please take this seriously. It will enrich your learning, deepen your insights, and enliven the entire experience of these directed reading discussions. You can read 242 pages of text in a month.
Session 1: CARMELITE SCIENCE
Friday, February 24th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Session 2: RECOLLECTION
Friday, March 3rd, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Session 3: SPIRITUAL WATER
Friday, March 10th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Session 4: SPIRITUAL MODES
Friday, March 24th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Session 5: VISIONS
Friday, March 31st, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Session 6: VIRTUE
Friday, April 7th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Planned readings for discussion sessions
(subject to modification in response to student interests and knowledge gaps)
These articles will be didactically taught at the beginning of each discussion session. Students are still expected, though, to read the articles before participating in each discussion session. However, owing to the multidisciplinary nature of these directed readings, it is not expected that students will have acquired a full understanding of the articles through their own independent reading.
Session 1: CARMELITE SCIENCE
Friday, February 24th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Beauregard, M., & Paquette, V. (2008). EEG activity in Carmelite nuns during a mystical experience. Neuroscience letters, 444(1), 1-4.
Beauregard, M., & Paquette, V. (2006). Neural correlates of a mystical experience in Carmelite nuns. Neuroscience letters, 405(3), 186-190.
Session 2: RECOLLECTION
Friday, March 3rd, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Shapiro, S. L., Carlson, L. E., Astin, J. A., & Freedman, B. (2006). Mechanisms of mindfulness. Journal of clinical psychology, 62(3), 373-386.
Tang, Y. Y., Hölzel, B. K., & Posner, M. I. (2015). The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4), 213-225.
Session 3: SPIRITUAL WATER
Friday, March 10th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Kim, J. J., Cunnington, R., & Kirby, J. N. (2020). The neurophysiological basis of compassion: An fMRI meta-analysis of compassion and its related neural processes. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 108, 112-123.
Ferguson, M. A., Nielsen, J. A., King, J. B., Dai, L., Giangrasso, D. M., Holman, R., … & Anderson, J. S. (2018). Reward, salience, and attentional networks are activated by religious experience in devout Mormons. Social neuroscience, 13(1), 104-116.
Ferguson, M. A., Schaper, F. L., Cohen, A., Siddiqi, S., Merrill, S. M., Nielsen, J. A., … & Fox, M. D. (2022). A neural circuit for spirituality and religiosity derived from patients with brain lesions. Biological psychiatry, 91(4), 380-388.
Session 4: SPIRITUAL MODES
Friday, March 24th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
Mujica, B. (2001). Beyond image: The apophatic-kataphatic dialectic in Teresa de Avila. Hispania, 741-748.
Ferguson, M. A. (In progress). Neural circuits for mysticism and dogmatism differentiated by lesion network mapping.
Session 5: VISIONS
Friday, March 31st, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
TBD
Session 6: VIRTUE
Friday, April 7th, 1:00 to 3:00 PM Eastern time (USA)
TBD
—
Zelo zelatus sum pro Domino Deo exercituum.