Empathy and Umbanda

Abstract

This article explores the intricate interplay between empathy and religious experience within the Brazilian Umbanda religion. Umbanda is a syncretic faith that integrates elements from African spiritual practices, Catholicism, and Kardecist spiritism, reflecting the diverse cultural and social dynamics of Brazilian society. The religion emphasizes communication with spirits, particularly the pretos velhos—spirits of old slaves—who are revered for their wisdom and connection to the divine. These spirits engage with practitioners through mediums in rituals held in terreiros, offering guidance and comfort. Central to our discussion is the concept of embodied empathy, which is vital for understanding the deep emotional connections between the practitioners and the spirits. We seek to understand why Umbanda rituals are not just spiritual sessions, but profound empathic exchanges that facilitate communal healing and personal transformation. Through the lens of the predictive processing theory and the concept of embodied cognition, we argue that these empathic interactions are not just psychological but are deeply rooted in the physical and social embodiments of the participants. This perspective helps in understanding how Umbanda serves both as a spiritual practice and a socio-cultural mechanism that aids individuals in navigating their personal and collective life challenges. The empathy experienced within Umbanda rituals exemplifies how religion can serve as a powerful conduit for social cohesion and personal introspection.

The old slaves have been there.

The connection is empathetic, and their advice is realistic, not revolutionary.

(Hale 2009, p. 92)

1. Introduction

This article explores the dynamic relationship between empathy and religious practice within the Brazilian Umbanda religion, a syncretic faith that merges elements mostly from African spiritual practices, Catholicism, and Kardecist spiritism. By investigating the intimate interactions between Umbanda practitioners and spirits, especially the revered pretos velhos—spirits of elderly slaves—the study delves into the concept of embodied empathy, pivotal in understanding the profound emotional connections established during rituals.

We posit that the empathic interactions within Umbanda are not merely psychological but are profoundly entrenched in the physical and social embodiments of its participants. Utilizing predictive processing theory and the concept of embodied cognition, the study aims to provide a nuanced understanding of how Umbanda rituals serve both spiritual and socio-cultural functions, aiding individuals in navigating their personal and communal life challenges. These rituals are described as therapeutic encounters where practitioners experience communal healing and personal transformation through empathic exchanges with spirits.

We seek to explain the effective power of empathy in Umbanda by utilizing Anil Seth’s (2014) notion of doxastic veridicality. This concept emerges within the embodied predictive processing theory, a growing framework that understands subjects as autopoietic cognitive systems aiming to reduce uncertainty, and consequently stress, by modeling predictions about the environment. We believe religious practices play a fundamental role in the predictions made by the cognitive systems of practitioners, as they add models of predictions not only for physical interactions but also for social engagements, which include understanding and reacting to the emotions of others. This process is critical in religious settings like Umbanda, where interactions often involve deep emotional and spiritual exchanges. It explains how rituals facilitate a shared emotional experience, making empathy a crucial component of religious practice and personal transformation.

The concept of doxastic veridicality explains how practitioners of Umbanda perceive the presence of spirits during rituals. Their perception is “doxastically veridical”, meaning that while the presence of spirits is not directly observable, it is experienced as real within the context of the rituals. This perception arises from the brain’s predictive models, which are informed by both the physical manifestations of the medium (like voice and posture) and the cultural context of the rituals. This allows practitioners to experience spiritual communications as real, thereby fostering a deeper connection to the spirits and enhancing the religious experience.

In what follows, we explore the cognitive underpinnings of religious experiences, highlighting how both the brain and the body are integral in shaping the perception of and interaction with the spiritual realm in the context of Umbanda rituals. The discussion bridges cognitive science and religious practice, showing how deeply intertwined physical presence, perception, and cultural context are in facilitating religious experiences and empathetic exchanges.

2. Umbanda

Founded in the early twentieth century in the impoverished communities of Rio, Umbanda is a religion that amalgamates various spiritual traditions such as indigenous curandeirismos (spiritual healing practices), Kardecist spirit possession, Afro-diasporic ritual practices and beliefs, popular Catholicism, and esoteric practices. According to Engler (2020), the overarching tenet of Umbanda is Kardecist Spiritism. Kardecism is crucial for understanding Umbanda, as it serves as a prevailing influence in many regions of Brazil. Spiritism, a religion founded by Allan Kardec in the late 19th century, is based on the belief in the reincarnation of spirits. According to its teachings, spiritual reincarnation is an essential part of an evolutionary process that ultimately leads to the perfection of the soul. It emphasizes that God created all spirits as equal and undeveloped, with their ultimate purpose being to incarnate, evolve, and attain a more perfect existence. Some spirits, the evolved ones, communicate with mediums not for personal evolution but to offer guidance and assistance to less developed spirits. Still, in terms of doctrine, an essential characteristic of this religious tradition is its receptiveness to diverse influences depending on the region and the context where it develops. Luis Antônio Simas (2021) holds Umbanda is an umbrella term for many similar religions spread throughout Brazil. A good example of this openness to different religions and practices is the fact that it is not unusual to hear umbandistas discussing concepts like chakra cleansing and energetic fields.

From a sociological perspective, Umbanda serves as a reflection of the dynamics within Brazilian society. It does not seek to preserve its African origins or adhere strictly to Kardecism. According to Emma Stone (2018), Umbanda is a syncretic and adaptable religion that continually absorbs and responds to political, economic, and social conditions, encompassing a wide range of Brazilian societal groups. Stone also holds that spirit possession has a sociological significance, for it represents one instance of a multifaceted struggle of Afro-Brazilian culture to remain alive. The ability to make the body a vessel for contact with the divine and sacred serves as a symbolic act of resistance against forces that oppress the bodies of the marginalized. This aligns with Florestan Fernandes’ (2021) seminal work, A Integração do Negro na Sociedade de Classes, which is regarded as one of the most significant sociological analyses of modern Brazilian society. Fernandes (2021) argues that Black people occupy the lowest tier of the Brazilian social pyramid due to the enduring impact of slavery on the country’s underdeveloped capitalist system. This legacy has perpetuated numerous unresolved issues related to inequality, cultural silencing, and invisibility. Umbanda responds to material reality by relativizing its value. In rituals, spirit possession interprets the body as a means through which spiritual reality, a more fundamental reality, is known. Hence, as Stone suggests, spirit incorporation is a special moment in the life of Brazilians, for it is when they can “rehearse and reimagine alternative senses of agency and intentionality” (Stone 2018, p. 191).

Still within a sociological perspective, another noteworthy aspect of Umbanda rituals, indirectly reflecting aspects of Brazilian society, is the diversity of incorporated spirits. Although Umbanda is open to individuals from all social classes and racial traits, it predominantly remains the religion of the most impoverished. This can be observed from the variety of spirits that are incorporated, most of them marginalized figures (Schmidt and Engler 2016). Caboclos are indigenous healers, ciganos are gypsies who assist with employment and business matters. Exus are trickster spirits, and pombas giras are prostitutes, these last two representing the marginalized and underground aspects of Brazilian society. Crianças and boiadeiros represent the spirits of children and rural workers, respectively. Among all these spirits, special reverence is given to pretos velhos, the elderly slaves. Lindsay Hale (2009) suggests that pretos velhos serve as healers and counselors because of their dramatic life narratives. Their experiences uniquely position them to engage with people. Their stories are not always conveyed through words, for their body language communicates their past. For instance, when mediums incorporate pretos velhos, their stiff joints, stooped posture, and cane symbolize the physical toll of labor, deprivation, and even torture. Moreover, the elderly slaves often speak slowly, stammer, and stutter, conveying an atmosphere of vulnerability and secrecy. Hale also contends that mediums incorporating old slaves offer a blend of stereotypical and dynamic existence, providing room for performance and individuality when these spirits are received. This imparts a sense of authenticity and shared identity to the ritual, touching people’s emotions deeply. As Hale puts it, “it is clear to me that the old slaves are dearly loved, spirits with whom people identify, from whom they take great comfort; they are shoulders to cry on, fonts of unconditional love. They are family” (Hale 2009, p. 87).

Umbanda rituals take place in casas or terreiros (houses or temples). These houses are commonly placed in the poor neighborhoods of big Brazilian cities or sometimes in rural communities. Regional differences in ritual are perceivable in the south or the north of the country: some have the presence of sailors or cowboys, depending on what is most appropriate to the context; some lean more toward African traditions, while others are more influenced by Kardecism and Christianity. However, a common feature of all Umbandas that constitutes a central aspect inherited from Kardecism is the practice of communicating with the spirits of the deceased while they are incorporated into mediums. These interactions, often in the form of consultations, play a pivotal role in Umbanda, allowing people to seek advice, guidance in everyday matters, and solace. Topics such as love, fertility, crime, health, and employment are addressed by these entities, who listen, provide support, and share their wisdom to assist individuals. In addition to this, some terreiros also offer passes (healing services that aim at cleaning bad energies by making non-contact hand movements.) and defumações (smoking services that aim at cleaning energies from spaces such as houses or offices). Finally, we can observe another element of Kardecist heritage in the practice of providing most gatherings, celebrations, and rituals free of charge. Some celebrations include offerings, and some lineages have sacrifices. Despite being a religion of the marginalized, efforts to bring donations in the form of food or goods are always appreciated.

A central aspect of our investigation takes place during rituals. It is the moment of consultations and talking to the spirits. In Umbanda, most mediums learn how to control the gift of communicating with spirits as they go to casas or terreiros. Spiritual incorporation is a phenomenon well-known to most Brazilians, as spirits are believed to manifest through individuals’ bodies. According to Hale (2009), conversations with the old slaves play a crucial role and are closely associated with therapeutic functions. People who participate in Umbanda often turn to it in search of relief from a variety of illnesses and conditions. We aim to explain how the therapeutic effect works within this context, for there is a cognitive function that operates in the process of healing.

Within this context, mediums provide a range of healing options, including Reiki, spiritual healing clinics, and spiritual surgeries. These practices are deeply rooted in one of the core principles of Umbanda: help for those in need. As Hale notes in a conversation with Jorge, a man he met during his fieldwork who participates in Umbanda:

Looking at the situations many of those who come seeking the old slaves find themselves in, I am drawn again to Jorge’s conclusions—things have changed but things have not changed so very much at all. Some are tormented by bosses they dare not stand up to, in jobs they can’t leave, purgatories that are at least a shade cooler than the inferno of unemployment. Others, and some of the same ones, feel powerless, abused, and trapped in intimate relationships. Reality catches up and crushes the happy-go-lucky Geronimos and Catherines (both are pretos velhos spirits). Dreams die, asphyxiated by lack of opportunity, by structures that work against dreamers in favor of those who already have it made. Not all the time, but at least often enough that it is how the world looks to many of those who come to Umbanda (and many who don’t, of course). The old slaves have been there. The connection is empathic, and their advice is realistic, not revolutionary.

(Hale 2009, p. 92)

Why is the connection between consultants and the old slaves empathic? We believe that there are embodied relations with spirits that are fundamental at this point. Becoming an Umbanda practitioner touches on aspects of social, economic, and racial identity. This shared identity becomes the touchstone of inner change, acceptance, and faith. To look at this in more detail, we can look at a practitioner’s testimony that can give us some hints on how empathy is at play in Umbanda rituals.

In Brazil, it is common to find publishing companies dedicated to the testimony of those who have met spirits for many years. In a published personal testimony, Robson Pinheiro (Pinheiro and Aruanda 2018) describes how his contact with the spirit of the preto velho Pai João de Aruanda has helped him to gain wisdom in life matters. Pai João introduced himself firstly through Robson’s mom, Mrs. Everlinda Batista, in the 1970’s. Robson describes the conversations with Pai João de Aruanda as an opportunity for education and spiritual evolution. His experiences are better understood if we consider his testimony one out of the many possible expressions of Umbanda, for those in other terreiros, and parts of Brazil, tend to see Robson’s experiences as specific to his subdivision of Umbanda. It is noteworthy that through images and vocal messages, Pai João evokes many aspects of his identity like skin color, suffering through work, simplicity, and search for evolution. Along his testimony, many fundamental attitudes show openness to the other. Robsons writes:

Pai João attentively heard.

- Why choose the appearance of an old man if he was a spirit, and spirits are neither old nor young, but only spirit? After some moments of silence, Pai João said:

- My son, as far as I know, the enlightened spirit can present itself in any way it wishes to be with the children of Earth. Each one chooses the attire that pleases them the most. Aren’t there spirits out there who appear as nuns, priests, Asians, doctors, and many others? Why the prejudice against the old man or grandma? Is it just because we present ourselves as black or former slaves? Does that somehow diminish the message we bring? Why not reject spirits that manifest as nuns, Indians, or doctors? Does my son think that on this side of life, there are only diplomas of doctors and clergy?

Father João continued: The problem, my son, is that being old doesn’t attract attention from mediums and center owners. But if, in addition to the vision of the elder and simple language, we appear as black, then yes: the prejudice of my children speaks even louder… No emancipation solves it; prejudice is a captivity worse than slavery. Black, old, and, on top of that, dead… Some think that this bothers them because of the pride and desire you have to fit everything into white standards, let’s say. If that’s the case, my son, accept my advice: go look for higher spirits, doctors, priests, and nuns, and let me work quietly, speaking with simplicity for those who don’t understand complicated language.

(Pinheiro and Aruanda 2018, p. 38)

Pai João shows that the way by which he comes to this world already carries significance and teachings that would be important for both mediums and consultants to learn: prejudice is a form of captivity. Transmission of wisdom through messages is a central tenet of Umbanda and Spiritualist religions. On other occasions, Pai João speaks, comparing himself to Robson. “I’m black, I’m old, I’m human. (…) I’m like you, I’m a spirit” (p. 37). On other occasions, Pai João shows Robson images of suffering like that of Jesus holding the cross in his arms. These images are symbols of strength, faith, and humility.

As we can notice, a significant focus is placed on the body. Pai João speaks of his body and skin color as part of his history and identity. As noted by Rachel Harding (2003), the body has historically been a “contested site” in Brazilian society. Especially for Afro-Brazilians, the body served as a locus of economic control during the slavery era and as a target for symbolic control, as exemplified by the Penal Code of 1890, which outlawed the practice of capoeira and samba. In this sense, in Umbanda, the sharing of social, historical, and racial identity is deemed crucial for fostering empathy between spirits and consultants. Despite disparities between the XVII to XIX centuries and contemporary Brazil, commonalities such as social and economic inequalities, a lack of freedom, and frustration persist across both historical periods. Identity emerges through the palpable expressions—words, postures, pains, and body language—of the pretos velhos, creating a sense of community where past and present intersect. Within Umbanda rituals, conversations with spirits acquire the power to symbolically depict the suffering of elder spirits from the past and the present lives of consultants. We believe that in the realm of Umbanda rituals, empathy emerges as a fundamental aspect as spirits and practitioners share symbols and narratives of suffering, work, and pain, making the body the shared platform of communication.

Why empathy is so important and what role it plays in Brazilian Umbanda, we must explain in the next sections.

3. Towards an Embodied Conception of Empathy in the Philosophy of Religion

There is a growing awareness pointing to the need to embrace diverse epistemologies within the realm of religion. Juan Morales (2022) claims that epistemology of religion has been dedicated to linear, monocausal, and intellectualist approaches to the problems of religion. This model is what Santos (2016) dubs epistemology of the north, since it has been the hegemonic view on knowledge and religious studies. According to him, the alternative to this are the epistemologies of the south that look after non-intellectualist, non-linear, and multiple causal approaches. These epistemologies consider embodied knowledge and practices as the foundation of other perspectives on religious phenomena. Morales contends that varying forms of religious knowledge emerge from distinct ecological constraints, characterized by sets of embodied practices that give rise to different ways of connecting the mind and the world. These experiences are brought forth, or “enacted”, within human consciousness through cycles of action and perception, as contended by Alva Noë (2004). These cycles unveil different experiences of the world according to morphological, physiological, and evolutionary capacities, but also, in the case of humans, according to historical, economic, and societal constitution. These intricate relationships culminate in what can be termed epistemic niches, underpinned by a particular worldview and a situated pre-comprehension of the world, both of which contribute to the formation of different religious subjectivities.

The framework of embodied knowledge is part of a wider view on cognitive sciences that has advocated the need for the so-called 5e cognition. Cognition is always embodied, enacted, embedded, ecological, and extended (Thompson and Varela 2001; Di Paolo and De Jaegher 2019). The central tenet of this new paradigm in cognitive sciences is that cognition does not depend only on the brain but on the whole body and its relations to the environment. The emphasis on the body shifts our focus from beliefs and intellectual phenomena to actions and behaviors. This perspective highlights practical knowledge and the ability to perform tasks, thereby reducing the emphasis on theoretical knowledge. Here, the body is understood as a locus of embedded traditions, modes of attention, gestures, postures, and various forms of interacting with material objects and other people. In an embodiment perspective, affects that arise in cognitive relations are also fundamental to describe the subjective atmospheres that accompany the performance of actions.

The second “e” is enactivism. In the enactive approach, the body is the source of interactions with the physical, social, and cultural world, but at the same time these interactions are partially constitutive of the body itself and of the perspective through which it will constitute its experiences. Enacting a world involves bringing forth a realm of objects and potential interactions. Enactivism aims to understand living beings as entities shaped to occupy specific niches and interact with various aspects of reality according to their bodily characteristics. The world is not perceived uniformly by all creatures, as relevance and value differ among them. This principle also applies to human reality, where cultural differences reflect distinct ways of enacting the world and relating to its aspects.

The third feature is the embedment. The embedded aspect of cognition reflects its heritage in action itself. Claiming that cognition is embedded means asserting that it continually incorporates practical solutions to problems and ways of interacting with the world. Still, cognition is ecological because it cannot be reduced to a linear, monodirectional interaction between subjects and objects. Instead, the ecological approach holistically considers the interactions among beings, where they reciprocally affect each other’s lives. Finally, to say that cognition is extended is to highlight aspects beyond the inner realm. Cognition is extended because the mind projects its processes and structures through actions and instruments. Knowledge results from processes that unfold over time and in the external world.

In this new paradigm, causality is no longer understood as linear processes, but as multiply directed constitutive connections among mind, body, and world. Systems can be analyzed in terms of their internal relations as well as their interactions with other subsystems. For example, conversations with spirits in Umbanda are practices imbued with demonstrations of empathy. Empathy, in turn, provides psychological and immunological (Mello and Oliveira 2013) protection by strengthening social bonds. Thus, causality flows from the organic to the sociological aspects of the religious practice. In this sense, religious phenomena have a cognitive dimension that unfolds not only horizontally within a system, but also from bottom-up and top-down layers of connections. According to Di Paolo and De Jaegher, in the 5e approach to cognition, both the holistic and the more fine-grained view of cognition must be reconciled.

The organic dimension of bodies does not disappear or fade into a background when considering other forms of bodily self-constitution. On the contrary, according to the enactive view, the different dimensions form an entangled stream of processes at multiple scales, an ongoing becoming whose structure is not exhausted by the cycles of metabolism or the path-dependent nature of development.

(Di Paolo and De Jaegher 2019, p. 2)

A central claim of 5e cognition is the idea that the organic and sensory–motor dimensions of the body are connected to different layers of embodied existence such as the cognitive, social, historic, and religious. Consequently, we should take the body in all its multiple meanings as it is involved in religious experience (Schüler 2012). Hence, connecting this view of cognition with the phenomenon of empathy at work in religious experience implies a more complex understanding of the phenomena.

Empathy mobilizes different layers of embodied existence, for it is an inherently embodied capacity. Conceiving empathy solely as a hierarchical and intellectualized cognitive faculty overlooks its multifaceted nature, which unfolds primarily within body-to-body interactions. Empathy transcends the mere intellectual comprehension of another’s emotional state, constituting the ability to co-experience these emotions through sensory–motor patterns of bodily self-constitution and socio-linguistic forms of agency. Furthermore, this process underscores empathy as a contextually contingent capability, influenced by the nuanced tonality and expressiveness inherent to specific situational contexts. Within this broader context, empathy, as a religious skill, is just one member of a more extensive cluster of skills cultivated within intentional, corporeal, and socially enacted contexts. In the next sections, we will try to connect different dimensions of bodily constitution precisely, because a full explanation of the embodied nature of empathy in Umbanda must connect processes in multiple scales, as mentioned by Di Paolo and De Jaegher.

4. Embodied Predictive Processing Theory and Emotions

Andrei-Razvan Coltea (2023) proposes that religions serve as solutions to the complexities of the environment, acting as entropy-reducing technologies that diminish uncertainty in psychic systems. They enhance the perceived predictability of the environment by selectively organizing information received from it. While various practices aim to reduce uncertainty, what distinguishes religion is its construction of models for managing meaning and integrating practices and beliefs with other cultural aspects.

The human inclination to make sense of reality is manifested also through religious practices that seek to enact a structured and orderly reality. Coherence, purposefulness, predictability, and significance are properties that not only aid an individual’s navigation of reality but also contribute to the stability of social systems. In alignment with Coltea’s argument, we assert that empathetic practices in Umbanda such as conversations with spirits, passes, and spiritual healings function as practices of entropy reduction, also called allopoietic practices: an open collective self-composing system of practices capable of adapting to changes in the social and psychological environment while maintaining a dynamic equilibrium.

Coltea’s claim calls to stage the framework of embodied predictive processing as proposed by Kiverstein et al. (2022), an extension of the former theory called predictive processing (PP) (Clark 2013; Friston 2005; Hohwy 2013). Embodied predictive processing (EPP) is a cognitive theory that endeavors to unify the predictive processing functions of the brain and the embodied aspect of cognition. PP posits that the central role of the brain in living organisms is the processing of sensory inputs, with the ultimate objective of constructing predictive models of both external environmental events and the subjective states of the organism itself. These predictive models serve a dual purpose: they facilitate the generation of anticipatory expectations concerning the outcomes in the external world, as well as the organism’s internal, interoceptive states. Having models to anticipate the external and internal world is fundamental to living organisms, since these predictive models enable the organism to execute actions with precision, thereby enhancing its prospects for achieving desired outcomes. As the organism executes actions with precision through sensory motor skills, it can reduce free energy. As posited by Karl Friston (2010), if living beings are dynamic systems, then they must continually self-organize to sustain life. The free energy principle underscores that as the level of free energy within a living system increases, its likelihood of survival decreases. In essence, free energy denotes a state of disorganization and heightened stress for an organism. If religion works as a set of embodied practices that aim at reducing free energy, then it is because it allows the construction of predictive models that function so as to produce allopoiesis (dynamic equilibrium) at both individual and social levels.

Such predictive processes occur at a level beneath conscious awareness. Predictions generated by the organism are unconsciously processed, continually comparing past experiences and prior beliefs with the sensory states concurrently experienced during its actions. The act of engaging in an action effectively actualizes sensory input and serves as a feedback mechanism to inform the organism of any discrepancies, or errors, between its predictions and sensory feedback. The fundamental premise is that, provided that the organism can minimize these prediction errors over time, it is more likely to attain its goals and achieve valued outcomes through its actions. In this sense, Miller et al. (2022) link success in predictions to well-being. In contrast, elevated levels of prediction errors not only induce heightened stress but also necessitate adaptive responses to novel situations. Miller et al. claim that decontextualization and rigidity induce hardship and free energy increase. An essential facet of effective predictions lies in the organism’s capacity to allocate the appropriate amount of energy resources for each circumstance, avoiding free energy.

Here again, linking EPP with religious practices is important. Predictive models of the religious practitioner are slowly constituted through participation in rituals and modification of habits. Many Umbanda practitioners link religion and well-being because words of wisdom and narratives of spiritual evolution are shared meanings that connect their personal lives to the tissue of a mythical balanced reality. If we are to explain why religious participation in the community of practitioners gradually produces these effects, then we must look at how these practices shape the worldview, emotions, and body-image of those practitioners.

Naturally, emotions are also constrained by predictions. Lisa Feldman Barrett (2017) underscores the central role of energy regulation in mental processes and behavior. She posits that emotions can be understood as categories of constructed interoceptive signals that emerge into consciousness with the primary aim of regulating energy. These emotions report the body’s state within a specific context by comparing it to previous states and signaling any disparities in predictions, thereby facilitating the refinement of predictive models. In line with the perspective proposed by Shaffer et al. (2022), it is important to note that affective experiences extend beyond emotions, pervading every conscious state. The distinguishing factor is that emotions encompass various affective experiences, constructed by the brain to serve as feedback signals that direct the system toward opportunities for learning and the updating of predictive models. Again, connecting EEP and religiosity, we can notice that emotions play a pivotal role. If emotions are reports of the bodily state, then practitioners’ emotions offer guidance about morality, duties, and other fields of life.

In conclusion, EPP provides a comprehensive framework for understanding cognitive functions, emphasizing the brain’s role in processing sensory inputs to construct predictive models for both external events and internal states. Operating beneath conscious awareness, these predictive processes aim to minimize errors through adaptive behaviors, as highlighted by the free energy principle. In this sense, well-being is intricately linked to error reduction and adaptability. EPP broadens the scope to include the body’s active participation in perception and emotions, viewing them as crucial for energy regulation and predictive model refinement. Overall, these theories offer a nuanced understanding of how organisms navigate and adapt to their ever-changing environments, highlighting the interplay among prediction, perception, and well-being.

5. Empathy in the Embodied Predictive Processing Framework

Understanding the depth of our ability to perceive others’ mental states is crucial to unraveling the mechanisms behind empathy, a vital element in deciphering Umbanda rituals. As stated before, these rituals, which often involve consultations with ancestral spirits or old slaves, frequently evoke a profound sense of sharedness of emotions and mutual feeling and understanding. The question arises as to how individuals come to perceive and experience empathy emanating from spiritual entities. To answer this, we must grasp the concept of empathy within the EPP framework. Subsequently, we will explore how this framework can be applied to understand empathy within the context of Umbanda rituals.

Our perceptual engagement with the world encompasses not only encounters with inanimate objects but also the rich tapestry of human experiences. As mentioned earlier, the brain perpetually strives to predict the behavior of material objects using predictive models. However, the most intricate predictions arise when the brain encounters another human being. How do we discern and infer the mental states of others? According to Palmer et al. (2015), this process is called ‘mentalizing’. Mentalizing constitutes the predictive process that enables us to infer the concealed causes of another person’s behavior. Clues to the other person’s intentions are implicitly embedded within their gaze, speech, bodily movements, facial expressions, tone of voice, and posture, which collectively offer insights into their emotional states.

Consider a scenario where a friend pours wine into their glass and then keeps the bottle tilted in the direction of your glass. In this instance, you can predict their intention based on the placement of your glass or the look they direct at you; you infer that they intend to offer you some wine. EPP emphasizes three specific aspects here. Firstly, the context plays a crucial role in facilitating the inference of a concealed cause behind the behavior, as it suggests the presence of a mental representation in the other person guiding this specific interaction. Context consistently acts as a significant determinant in embodied predictive processing. Secondly, according to Palmer et al. (2015), the recognition of others’ emotions involves both higher cortical processing and lower-level cerebellar processing. Pace Goldman, the distinction between higher and lower processing is arbitrary. A comprehensive understanding of how empathetic processes unfold requires consideration of both hierarchical levels. For instance, the cortical mirror neuron system plays a fundamental role in representing various emotional categories. Nevertheless, to predict behavior, facial changes, and bodily states, the lower hierarchical regions of the brain come into play, highlighting the necessity of reciprocal and continuous communication between these areas aimed at minimizing prediction errors. Thirdly, in social interactions, participants often adapt their behaviors while simultaneously influencing the behaviors of others. This is particularly evident in instances of joint attention, where two or more individuals coordinate their movements to collectively focus their attention on a third person or an aspect of the environment. Similarly, in the context of Umbanda, context plays a pivotal role in shaping predictions. During conversations with spirits, their modes of behavior signal intentions and possible interpretations of what they say in consultations. Additionally, since interactions with spirits are extended and embodied, Umbanda requires both lower and higher cognitive functions. This contrasts with religions that have more intellectualist traditions, where the notion of belief is more fundamental than ritual and practice. Finally, Umbanda can be described as a dynamic religion, as the mutual influence of participants and various societal aspects significantly determines the meaning of its practices.

Another critical question in our exploration of our connection with others’ emotions concerns whether we directly perceive emotions or whether our understanding of them is achieved inferentially. It seems that if our comprehension of the mental states of others is derived from inference, this implies that we do not possess a direct perception of mental states but rather rely on indirect social knowledge. Shaun Gallagher (2008) advocates for the direct perception of mental states, contending that when we perceive another person’s behavior, we often experience a direct awareness of that individual’s mental state. In this view, there is no requirement for additional inferences or cognitive processes to be aware of others’ mental states. The experience of another person’s happiness and joy, for instance, is considered a wholly meaningful experience, and not a mere aggregation of isolated sensory cues, such as observing a smile, which would necessitate the inference of specific emotions.

However, this perspective does not encompass all possible scenarios. In EPP, it becomes conceivable to reconcile both direct perception and inferential processing. Direct perception can be understood as a product of unconscious inference. Nevertheless, as perception is founded on the same processes of aligning prior experiences with sensory inputs, it compels the agent to differentiate between various causal factors—be they material or mental. As Palmer et al. (2015) articulate,

While predictive processing describes how information that we are perceptually aware of comes to be encoded in the brain, it isn’t necessarily the case that we have the same kind of perceptual awareness for all of the modeled causes of input represented across the cortical hierarchy. In particular, there is a spectrum between shorter and longer-term expected causes of sensory input, grading between, more perspectival and more perspective-invariant levels of representation. Experientially, different levels of representation could be more or less perceptual.

(Palmer et al. 2015, p. 5)

In other words, what we are perceptually aware of is already constrained by prior experiences built with the aid of unconscious processing.

With our current definition in mind, we can raise a question regarding whether the recognition of others’ mental states is experienced as internal knowledge or as a genuine representation of the external world. In addressing this inquiry, Anil Seth (2014) explores three distinctive characteristic dimensions of experience. First, he calls attention to a feature of perception known as subjective veridicality. As outlined by Seth, perceptual content is marked by subjective veridicality, signifying that perceptual contents are experienced as real phenomena and as integral components of the external world. This concept can be contrasted with two other aspects of experience: doxastic veridicality and perceptual reality. In instances where something is perceived as doxastically veridical, it occurs because the perceptual content is cognitively assimilated and understood as an authentic part of the external world, conceived as real and mind-independent. This is notably applicable to the perception of others’ emotions, which may be challenging to perceive fully due to contextual constraints leaving agents with sheer doxastic veridical appraisal. Conversely, when perceptual content persists despite our awareness that it does not belong to the external world, this corresponds to a case of perceptual reality. This situation is observed in some types of hallucinations or in visual afterimages that linger as residual watermarks in the visual field. Taking these distinctions into consideration, we conclude that others’ mental states are sometimes more perceptually experienced because they are embedded in clear contexts, while others may need the help of explicit cognitive processes giving those states a doxastic veridicality. Gallagher’s direct social perception is possible in cases where emotions are more intuitively and immediately acknowledged, without any explicit inferential processes giving them subjective veridicality. However, doxastic veridicality is a fundamental concept to understand how one feels the empathetic presence of spirits.

Therefore, doxastic veridicality plays a fundamental role in connecting the experience of engaging in conversations with mediums to the implicit presence of spirits. The belief in the presence of spirits represents the most plausible inference for a cognitive system shaped by the cultural, racial, and economic context of Brazilian society. This is what Umbanda practitioners enact as their world. The following discussion will explore why the integration of predictive processing theory and the 5E cognition perspective facilitates the analysis of Umbanda in these terms.

6. The Presence of Spirits Is Doxastically Veridical

In Umbanda, practitioners believe that spirits possess the ability to perceive and actively participate in rituals when they are incorporated. Mediums’ bodies serve as the vessels through which these spiritual entities communicate. Since the spirits of pretos velhos are perceived in Umbanda as the souls of experienced individuals from the past, they inhabit the same emotional niche as any other human. This interaction, therefore, encompasses an embodied soul conversing with another embodied soul. This connection to the sacred deepens when individuals genuinely believe they are engaging with a spirit.

However, do practitioners genuinely sense empathy emanating from a spirit? In narratives of consultations with spirits, practitioners often describe their experiences as direct conversations with spirits. In this context, empathy is an embodied, temporally extended experience, encompassing sensory, affective, and cognitive components. During consultations, participants engage in religious experiences where they share the meaning of experiences like job, love, family, etc., connecting the past lives of pretos velhos and the present lives of Brazilian people. This capacity to construct networks of meaning actively, and reciprocally, is called participatory sense-making in enactivist cognition (Di Paolo et al. 2018). In these contexts, emotions emerge from conversations that carry back-and-forth signs of mutual understanding. These consultations provide individuals with opportunities to explore and exchange, through these interactions, the significance of values that can transform their lives. However, it is crucial to clarify that on a material level of description, this experience does not involve immediate empathetic contact; instead, it is the medium’s body that channels the spirit’s empathy. Only on the cognitive and religious level, the practitioner comprehends this interaction as having the participation of spirits. In Seth’s theory, this is an instance of what we call doxastic veridicality. When conversing with the spirit embodied in the medium, the practitioner unconsciously infers the presence of the spirit from the medium’s posture, voice, and behavioral alterations. The presence of a spirit is veridically doxastic because it is a hidden cause that explains that specific aspect of reality but is also felt as real and present because it is the best guess of the practitioner’s predictive system. If asked, the consultant seems to be aware that they cannot perceive the spirit directly, but this practice only makes sense if there is an implicit acknowledgment that the medium’s body is manifesting the spirit’s will. Nevertheless, a fundamental question remains: Why do practitioners perceive these experiences as religious and not dismiss them as mere theatrical performances?

One plausible answer lies in the EPP notion that the practitioner’s brain actively constructs and fulfills hidden aspects of reality, compelling their experiences to consider the embodied presence of spirits during consultations. The practitioner’s embodied cognitive system processes and predicts a reality where the presence of embodied spirits in these rituals represents the best guess, facilitating an understanding of their experiences in Umbanda terreiros. This understanding only becomes plausible if we view religion not only as a set of beliefs, but as an embodied practice that gradually shapes an individual’s experiences and worldview to reduce free energy within the organism. In this context, practitioners participate in rituals that encourage specific behaviors, redirecting their attention toward specific aspects of material culture, body language, non-verbal sounds, images, altars, and so on (Engler 2021). These rituals offer opportunities for practitioners to gradually engage with the meaning of symbols and actions, and each time they go to the meetings in the terreiros, these hidden causes become entrenched as best guesses. As a result, the brain’s error predictions gradually decrease in significance, and the pervasive presence of spirits works as a stable hidden cause that confers world uniformity and systematic coherence. Hence, at least following the example of Umbanda, participation in a religious community of shared narratives and symbols determines priors that will be the basis of future predictions.

A final but important aspect of empathy in the context of Umbanda concerns how practitioners make sense of spirits’ messages and advice. Engler (2021) holds that ritual contexts in Umbanda are not “normal” contexts where conversations shift in an open-ended manner from one subject to another and according to the fluctuation of associations. He describes these contexts as semantically reduced, for they are not open to multiple, but only to a strict set of interpretations. Spirits are not open to just any kind of conversation, but only to those questions that relate to the webs of associated meanings to which they belong. Spirits talk within a predetermined role in the ritual; some talk more about work, some are more inclined to talk about sex, and others about health. Accordingly, making sense of spirits’ advice and conversations depends on connecting contingent aspects of ritualistic and narrative contexts that will “constrain the range of viable interpretations of what they say and do” (Engler 2021, p. 2). As Engler observes, in Umbanda the network of semantic connections extends only so far as the doctrinal, narrative, and ritual frames allow. He claims that this reflects the fact that in dealing with spirits, we cannot observe their behavior as if in the world at large, but we must not overlook that we are dealing with beliefs, stories, and rituals. In this sense, if Umbanda practitioners feel empathy coming from spirits, it is because they have categorized sets of associated meanings that the predictive brain best guesses as coming from a spiritual entity.

7. Conclusions

In this paper, we have argued against a disembodied conception of religious empathy and presented Umbanda as a religion in which empathy is an embodied skill. In the case of Umbanda, consultations with spirits are empathetic practices that are the building blocks of this religion. These consultations play a fundamental role in Umbanda, for they are the moments in which individuals seek guidance from spiritual sources, find remedies for their mental or physical ailments, and receive the sustenance of hope to persevere through the challenges of life in Brazil. To make sense of these practices, we have shown accordance with the embodied predictive processing (EPP) theory. This theory helps explain how, on a cognitive level, the experience of empathy coming from spirits is meaningful and enables practices such as healing and well-being. We argued that EPP is a theory that explains how religious practices enact new forms of allostatic control.

A final remark is important here. We do not aim to reduce religious phenomena to a purely functionalistic understanding. Although Umbanda plays a significant role in Brazilian society, many aspects of it are not reducible to mere functions but are instead embellishing or connected to moral practices. Moreover, we believe that decolonizing the philosophy of religion requires offering a diverse array of examples of religious practices and employing different methods of analysis. Religiosity is experienced in various ways and connects with the entirety of human experience differently depending on the culture. In that sense, we believe that the 5e cognition approach favors this different kind of analysis.

In Umbanda, there are notable connections between empathy, mental health, and religiosity, but these connections may vary across different cultures and religious practices, offering new perspectives and forms. Our research does not claim to exhaust the mysterious richness of Umbanda; it seeks to explore only one of its many layers. We believe that the intersection of religion and cognitive science provides the elements necessary to understand the testimonies of those who live the religion’s everyday practices. Spiritualist religions often suffer from prejudice and accusations of meaninglessness. Thus, researching associated phenomena helps build a broader view of how and why this religion, despite being attacked, persists as a prolific field of human sense-making.