The evolutionary origin of religions theorizes about the emergence of religious behavior during the course of human evolution.

Humanitys closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. These primates share a common ancestor with humans who lived between four and six million years ago. It is for this reason that chimpanzees and bonobos are viewed as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor. Barbara King argues that while non-human primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. These traits include high intelligence, a capacity for symbolic communication, a sense of social norms, realization of "self" and a concept of continuity.[1][2][3] There is inconclusive evidence that Homo neanderthalensis may have buried their dead which is evidence of the use of ritual. The use of burial rituals is evidence of religious activity, but there is no other evidence that religion existed in human culture before humans reached behavioral modernity.[4]

Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, argues that many species grieve death and loss.[5]

In this set of theories, the religious mind is one consequence of a brain that is large enough to formulate religious and philosophical ideas.[6] During human evolution, the hominid brain tripled in size, peaking 500,000 years ago. Much of the brain's expansion took place in the neocortex. This part of the brain is involved in processing higher order cognitive functions that are connected with human religiosity. The neocortex is associated with self-consciousness, language and emotion[citation needed]. According to Dunbar's theory, the relative neocortex size of any species correlates with the level of social complexity of the particular species. The neocortex size correlates with a number of social variables that include social group size and complexity of mating behaviors. In chimpanzees the neocortex occupies 50% of the brain, whereas in modern humans it occupies 80% of the brain.

Robin Dunbar argues that the critical event in the evolution of the neocortex took place at the speciation of archaic homo sapiens about 500,000 years ago. His study indicates that only after the speciation event is the neocortex large enough to process complex social phenomena such as language and religion. The study is based on a regression analysis of neocortex size plotted against a number of social behaviors of living and extinct hominids.[7]

Stephen Jay Gould suggests that religion may have grown out of evolutionary changes which favored larger brains as a means of cementing group coherence among savannah hunters, after that larger brain enabled reflection on the inevitability of personal mortality.[8]

Lewis Wolpert argues that causal beliefs that emerged from tool use played a major role in the evolution of belief. The manufacture of complex tools requires creating a mental image of an object which does not exist naturally before actually making the artifact. Furthermore, one must understand how the tool would be used, that requires an understanding of causality.[9] Accordingly, the level of sophistication of stone tools is a useful indicator of causal beliefs.[10] Wolpert contends use of tools composed of more than one component, such as hand axes, represents an ability to understand cause and effect. However, recent studies of other primates indicate that causality may not be a uniquely human trait. For example, chimpanzees have been known to escape from pens closed with multiple latches, which was previously thought could only have been figured out by humans who understood causality. Chimpanzees are also known to mourn the dead, and notice things that have only aesthetic value, like sunsets, both of which may be considered to be components of religion or spirituality.[11] The difference between the comprehension of causality by humans and chimpanzees is one of degree. The degree of comprehension in an animal depends upon the size of the prefrontal cortex: the greater the size of the prefrontal cortex the deeper the comprehension.[12]

Religion requires a system of symbolic communication, such as language, to be transmitted from one individual to another. Philip Lieberman states "human religious thought and moral sense clearly rest on a cognitive-linguistic base".[13] From this premise science writer Nicholas Wade states:

Another view distinguishes individual religious belief from collective religious belief. While the former does not require prior development of language, the latter does. The individual human brain has to explain a phenomenon in order to comprehend and relate to it. This activity predates by far the emergence of language and may have caused it. The theory is, belief in the supernatural emerges from hypotheses arbitrarily assumed by individuals to explain natural phenomena that cannot be explained otherwise. The resulting need to share individual hypotheses with others leads eventually to collective religious belief. A socially accepted hypothesis becomes dogmatic backed by social sanction.

Frans de Waal and Barbara King both view human morality as having grown out of primate sociality. Though morality awareness may be a unique human trait, many social animals, such as primates, dolphins and whales, have been known to exhibit pre-moral sentiments. According to Michael Shermer, the following characteristics are shared by humans and other social animals, particularly the great apes:

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Hello and welcome to the Esoteric Science website, where you can open your mind to a different way of thinking and your heart to a different way of being. The website has been expanded to include psychological healing, personal development and spiritual growth, which coincides with the release of my second book Awakening to Wholeness. I hope the website and books spark your interest and inspire your life.

Lee Bladon

The Science of Spirituality is a ground-breaking book that integrates the individual systems of science, psychology, philosophy, spirituality and religion into a unified system that describes the multi-dimensional nature of man and the universe. It provides a more comprehensive description of reality than conventional science can offer and fully explains the mechanisms behind an array of paranormal phenomena that mainstream science chooses to ignore. It explains the science behind religious, spiritual and new-age belief systems, and sheds light on some common misconceptions.

Einstein said: "Religion without science is blind, science without religion is lame", because they are two sides of the same coin. Recent scientific discoveries have unknowingly provided evidence that supports the multi-dimensional nature of reality that Hindus, Buddhists, Gnostics and Kabbalists have known about for thousands of years. By combining modern scientific facts with ancient spiritual knowledge we can begin to uncover the whole truth and bring unity out of the existing duality. There can be only one true reality, but we will never know the whole truth if we only look from one perspective and hold on to our preconceived ideas.

The Science of Spirituality systematically describes the mechanisms behind a diverse range of subject matter including: esoterics, consciousness, sleep and dreams, reincarnation, religion, creation, evolution, space and time, higher dimensions, heaven and hell, ghosts, angels and demons, out of body experiences, near death experiences, clairvoyance, psychic abilities, personal development, meditation and the meaning of life.

With science and religion we have two seemingly opposed views of how life, the universe and everything began:

Not only do they both seem pretty unbelievable, they appear to share no common ground. However, recent scientific discoveries have unknowingly provided evidence that supports the multi-dimensional nature of reality that Hindus, Buddhists and Kabbalists have known about for thousands of years:

By combining modern scientific facts with ancient spiritual knowledge we begin to uncover the whole truth and bring unity out of the existing duality. There can be only one true reality, but we will never discover the whole truth if we hold on to our preconceived ideas and only look from one perspective. Einstein said: "Religion without science is blind, science without religion is lame", because they are two sides of the same coin.

Science and spirituality both agree that we live in a multi-dimensional universe, and paranormal phenomena suggest that life exists in these other dimensions. Human beings may be at the top of the evolutionary ladder in our 3-dimensional physical world but a hierarchy of increasingly advanced beings live in dimensions that exist just beyond our normal range of perception. These higher-dimensional beings are omniscient and omnipotent in our physical world, which is how our concept of god originated.

A handful of these highly advanced beings periodically incarnate to teach the most advanced members of humanity about the true nature of reality. The great masters such as Krishna, Buddha and Christ (and others who kept lower profiles) are the originators of esoteric knowledge the one true science and the one true religion. The information was shrouded in mystery and symbolism to prevent the uninitiated from fully understanding it in the event that it became public knowledge.

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Esoteric Science - Psychological Integration and Spiritual Growth

M. L. Shrikant, Dean, S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, is keen that student-managers understand and manage themselves before they can manage others.

He has designed an innovative course that teaches the significance of the spirituality quotient in management. In this interview, he discusses the challenges facing management education.

How do you view the current state of management education in B-schools in India and across the globe?

Management education is too standardised and is following the norms of US society. This is inappropriate given the heterogeneity of business situations and contexts and the emerging environmental trends that question the very basis of business operations. B-schools became and have remained overly scientific, with softer, subjective issues receiving less attention.

In the 21st century, we are passing through an era where business is seen as having failed to deliver and we are grappling with issues like the role of business in society, the so-called triple bottomline and sustainability issues. There is a lot of questioning going on and what is emerging is this tripod of management education under the knowing, doing, being framework, which is more amenable to delivering a customised approach to management education.

Both are important content and delivery, along with technology that provides further options to deliver a portfolio mix.

Across nations, there is a sense of disquiet at the ways of businesses and the methods of business leaders, leading to protests like Occupy Wall Street in the US and similar action in other nations. Is this a passing phase or is there something deeper we as society should be worrying about?

This is not a passing phase. Management education is closely linked to business and business has a role to play in human society. The real issues now facing human society are of two kinds: lack of distributive justice and the attendant issues of resource constraints, pollution and environmental degradation. It certainly means that if the current growth strategy along the path of Western economics if the poor nations were to follow it, its certainly unviable from a resource point of view.

What will be required to rebuild trust between managers/ business leaders and society in the days ahead? In your view, what role do B-schools have in this regard?

Basically, the current social economic structure is unviable and unsustainable. Business will have to play some kind of role in an alternative paradigm.

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‘Softer, subjective issues get less attention in B-schools’