I’ll argue that Darwinism is in favor of great art and literature when viewed from the perspective of societal reproduction, and a coherent society actually increases the average survival chances of that community. If one starts to view societies as the key organism, and humans as just cells in that society, many pan-human concepts such as religion, art, politics, war, communism and capitalism start to be very explainable from a Darwinian standpoint.

Of course, this diminishes the importance of the individual. Strangely, diminishing the importance of the individual is one of the key tenents of Buddism, Christianity, Islam, etc. Odd that

And the concept of driving the body to extreme conditions in order to experience satori is not restricted to buddism. Arguably it explains Moses revelations on the mountain, Jesus’ revelations during his 40 days in the desert, Mohammed in the cave, aboriginal communing with the spirts while on walkabout, etc.

One can theorize lots of reasons why the body yields this response, but my guesses the “religious experience” actually motivates the body to survive, and hence it is indicated for increasing survival rates. A smart adaptation if that’s the case.

“In the central nervous system, serotonin is believed to play an important role in the regulation of anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, sleep, vomiting, sexuality, and appetite. Low levels of serotonin may be associated with several disorders, namely increase in aggressive and angry behaviors, clinical depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, tinnitus, fibromyalgia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders[citation needed] and intense religious experiences[1].”

I am deeply amused by the juxtaposition of this description. It suggests that the health of body and mind are placed at risk during a condition that is conducive to seeing God. That fits with all the subjective stuff people write about the lengths people go to for satori.

[1]http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/160/11/1965?

http://www.floridabuddhistvihara.org/rcsite/page.jsp?articleid=3

To the best of our knowledge is also doing a series on religion and the mind. There are some interesting listens on the podcast
http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510011

My friend asks: Is your argument that darwinism is in favor of spirituality, so therefore you should be? Because there are a lot of things that are great that darwinism isn’t in favor of, think of all the great art and literature produced by people who never procreated. And what’s good for the race as a whole isn’t necessarily good for the individual, where does that fall in? Hurry up and write the next piece in your thesis, we want to argue with you.