Remi Sussan announced the creation of a mailing list for discussions on neurotheological hacking, i.e. “hierohacking”:

Remi Sussan:

“I have just created a google group about hierohacking: the goal of this group will be to discuss applied neurotheology, see how we can “hack the sacred”, use intelligently and rationally religious thinking and practices for personal purposes; discussion will be of course about various ASC (altered states of consciousness), technologies, BCI, etc. But also about the creation of symbolic architectures and mythologies. I am indeed convinced that “the sacred” finds itself at the convergence of at least three psychological characteristics: ASCs being perhaps the least important or the more discreet (discovering their role may be an interesting task for the list) , the second being imagination, and the third being specific manipulation of some kind of linguistic abilities, such as use of semantics networks of associations, maybe even some specific kind of epistemology or logic. Of course I don’t ask anybody to approve this, I just say that to show the perimeter of the possible discussions and explain that it will not be just a list about ASCs (there are already a lot of forums about it).

Myself, I intend here to explore my concept of “religion as-game”, game-as-religion”, but it will be my own pet theory as an individual, not the main angle of the list (but of course, I would love to have some feedback!.)

Here a few things that I would like to see emerge from discussions:

-good analysis of self experiments with various practices.

-theoretical models of mythology creation; analysis of traditional religion but from a practical point of view. works on epistemology of religion;

-various works on BCI or physiological sensors for testing experiences, or obtain results: works with Neurosky or EPOC helmets, openEEG, etc. computer code is highly welcomed;

-new and original forms of ritual or meditative practices, implying for instance virtual worlds, etc (yes, games, yes..)

This list is not about creating future religions, transhumanist or other, or to discuss the future of spirituality; although it may help those who are pursuing these goals. It’s really about creating a team of “technicians of the sacred”, to use Mircea Eliade’s expression.”