"Siberian shamans, whirling sufis and entranced bushmen; hypnotism and magic mushrooms; hymn-singing in the suburbs and ecstatic drumming in the African night; speaking in tongues and UFOs; near-death experiences and epileptic nuns; Neolithic tomb architecture; God-helmets, God-spots and God-genes. What does all this mean for the faithful and the faithless? What does it tell us about what it means to be human? Charles Foster takes us on a fascinating, fast-paced tour through the underworld and overworld of human spiritual experience. He examines the biological basis of religious ecstasy, meditative calm and mythical voyaging to other worlds. And he asks if these experiences tell us anything about the 'truths' that religions so loudly assert"--Publisher's description, p. [4] of cover.