Towards a Postsecular Society

Consciousness Studies

The emerging field of consciousness studies has taken these ideas as a starting point, and become a broad discipline drawing from physics, biology, psychology, neuroscience, cognitive studies, philosophy and even art. While some outside the field would reject its status as a science, and some within it reject any spiritual implication in its enquiry, it seems that the majority engaged with it are sympathetic to the spiritual, whether connecting the discipline to presecular religious tradition, or interested in what we are calling a postsecular openness. Even if one is sceptical of its achievements as a science, there is no doubt again that as a cultural phenomenon it has considerable momentum and influence.