The spiritual limits of neuropsychological life

John A. Teske, Elizabethtown College

Abstract

How neuropsychology is necessary but insufficient for understanding spirituality is explored. Multileveled spiritual requisites are systematically examined in terms of their neuropsychological constituents and limitations. The central problem of integrity is articulated via the modularity of our neuropsychology, and evidence is presented for disunities of self and consciousness. It is argued that the integrity of self or spirit is a contingent achievement rather than a necessary given. Integrating possibilities include belief, emotion, and relationships. Understanding integrity, and the transformations of self-surrender and sacrifice, may require explicitly stepping beyond neuropsychology and including the self in a larger system. © 1996 by the Joint Publication Board of Zygpa.