The importance of imagination and subjective knowledge: The evolution of art and religion as symbolic representations of feelings, experiences, and beliefs

Abstract

Religion and art have been incredibly important in human evolution but, we argue, are often not taken seriously as an important source of knowledge. In this article, we propose that the arts and religions are symbolic systems that capture subjective knowledge, or knowledge about the world that is specific to human experience or the human condition, both concerning the self (existential subjective knowledge) and others (social subjective knowledge). Forms of this knowledge comprise feelings, experiences, and beliefs, which can arise from naturally occurring experiences or can be induced through religious rituals and artistic performances. Subjective knowledge is processed through subjective cognition – experiential or intuitive thinking, narrative processing, and meaning-making. Individual differences in subjective cognition are proposed to lie in absorption, or the propensity of individuals to allow for a state of the experiential, more porous self, through reduced boundaries of the rational, bounded self. This in turn allows for an immersive focus on sensory inputs, and becoming connected to something bigger than oneself, a state that is especially conducive to providing meaning and new perspectives with regards to the human condition. Together, forms of subjective knowledge make up symbolic systems that feed into overarching subjective knowledge systems, or cultures and worldviews. Thus, religion and art has allowed for subjective knowledge to become represented in symbols and artefacts, which renders the subjective knowledge concrete, memorable and shareable.