--- abstract: 'The earliest known products of human imagination appear to express a primordial concern and struggle with thoughts of dying and of death and mortality. I argue that the structures and processes of imagination evolved in that struggle, in response to debilitating anxieties and fearful states that would accompany an incipient awareness of mortality. Imagination evolved to find that which would make the nascent apprehension of death more bearable, to engage in a search for alternative perceptions of death: a search that was beyond the capability of the external senses. I argue that imagination evolved as flight and fight adaptations in response to debilitating fears that paralleled an emerging foreknowledge of death. Imagination, and symbolic language to express its perceptions, would eventually lead to religious behavior and the development of cultural supports. Although highly speculative, my argument draws on recent brain studies, and on anthropology, psychology, and linguistics.' altloc: [] chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: - cmontell@comcast.net creators_name: - family: Montell given: Conrad honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 2002 date_type: published datestamp: 2003-01-27 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/27/26 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: - family: Wimmer given: Manfred honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Reidl given: Rupert honourific: '' lineage: '' eprint_status: archive eprintid: 2726 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/2726/1/81%2DMontell.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: pub issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: 'evolution, imagination, mortality, self-awareness, fear, religious behavior, language' lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:08 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: 1 pagerange: 89-107 pubdom: FALSE publication: Evolution and Cognition publisher: Konrad Lorenz Institute refereed: TRUE referencetext: "Becker, E. 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(1988) To be or not: Self and authenticity, identity and ambivalence. In: Lapsley, D.K./Power, F.C. (eds) Self, ego, and identity. pp. 263-81. Springer-Verlag: New York.\r\n\r\n\r\n" relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 19 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2008-08-15 02:16:49 subjects: - phil-mind - evol-psy - soc-psy succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: 'On Evolution of God-Seeking Mind: An Inquiry Into Why Natural Selection Would Favor Imagination and Distortion of Sensory Experience' type: journalp userid: 3268 volume: 8