Editing Religious experience (section)

==Causes==
[[File:Falun Dafa fifth meditation exercise.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Meditation]]]]
[[File:Whirlingdervishes.JPG|thumb|[[Sufi whirling]]]]
Traditions offer a wide variety of religious practices to induce religious experiences:
* Extended exercise, often running in a large communal circle, which is used in various tribal and neo-pagan religions.
* [[Prayer]]{{sfn|Heffern|2001}}
* [[Music]]{{sfn|Miller|Strongman|2002}}
* [[Dance]], such as [[Sufi whirling]]
* [[Meditation]]:{{sfn|Paulson|2006}} Meditative practices are used to calm the mind, and attain states of consciousness such as [[nirvikalpa samadhi]]. Meditation can be focused on the breath, concepts, [[mantra]]s,{{sfn|Danielou|1951}} [[Yantras|symbols]].
* Questioning or investigating (self)representations/cognitive schemata, such as [[Self-enquiry]], [[Hua Tou]] practice, and [[Douglas Harding]]'s ''on having no head''.
* [[Lucid dream|Lucid dreaming]]{{sfn|Mota-Rolim|Bulkeley|Campanelli|Lobão-Soares|2020}}

Religious experiences may also be caused by the use of [[entheogens]], such as:
* [[Ayahuasca]] ([[Dimethyltryptamine|DMT]]){{sfn|Watts|1968}}
* ''[[Salvia divinorum]]'' ([[salvinorin A]])
* [[Peyote]] ([[mescaline]]){{sfn|Baggott|1996}}
* [[Psilocybin mushroom]]s ([[psilocybin]]){{sfn|Griffiths|Richards|McCann|Jesse|2006}}
* ''[[Amanita muscaria]]'' ([[muscimol]])
* [[Cannabis]]
* [[LSD]]
* [[MDMA]]{{sfn|Adamson|Metzner|1988}}
* [[Soma (drink)|Soma]]
* [[Ketamine]]

Religious experiences may have [[Neurophysiology|neurophysiological]] origins. These are studied in the field of [[neurotheology]], and the [[cognitive science of religion]],{{sfn|Van Eyghen|2020}} and include [[near-death experience]]s.{{sfn|Moody|1975}} Causes may be:
* [[Temporal lobe epilepsy]],{{sfn|Tucker|2003}} as described in the [[Geschwind syndrome]]
* [[Stroke]]{{sfn|Taylor|2008}}
* Profound [[Major depressive disorder|depression]]{{sfn|Katie|2003|p=xi}} or [[schizophrenia]]