Abstract

This paper develops a religious anthropology for Dionysian Naturalism, examining how ritual, myth, and ecstatic practice can address modern alienation while remaining grounded in naturalistic worldviews. Drawing from Nietzsche's Dionysian-Apollonian framework and Wesley Wildman's concept of homo religiosus, it synthesizes scientific naturalism with embodied spirituality. The research integrates insights from Religious Naturalism, depth psychology, and neuroanthropology to explore how ecstatic states and communal rituals serve vital psychological and social functions. Building on Michael Winkelman's work on shamanic consciousness and contemporary psychedelic research, the paper argues that the human drive for transcendent experience represents an adaptive mechanism that has been systematically repressed in modern society. The study concludes by proposing a model of spirituality that balances scientific inquiry with ritual practice, offering potential solutions to contemporary psychological and ecological crises through reconnection with nature and communal celebration. This framework contributes to ongoing discussions about the role of embodied religious experience in an increasingly secular world.