Between Disenchantment and Re-enchantment
Exploring AI as a Companion in the Inner Life
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2025.505Keywords:
spirituality, artificial intelligence, right-hemisphere cognition, meaning-making, late modernityAbstract
This article examines the speculative potential of designing a spiritually attuned artificial intelligence platform capable of supporting processes of meaning-making, fostering conditions conducive to emotional resonance, and assisting in the discovery of intrinsic values across diverse spiritual orientations. Situated within the socio-cultural context of late modernity—marked by the rationalization of life-worlds, increased individualization, and the erosion of traditional frameworks of meaning—we interpret the renewed emphasis on spirituality, emotional and embodied experience, as well as interiority, as indicative of a broader re-engagement with right-hemisphere cognitive modes, as theorized by Iain McGilchrist. Rather than conceptualizing AI as a surrogate for spiritual experience or communal belonging, we explore whether this fundamentally left-hemisphere technological artifact could paradoxically be reconfigured to facilitate holistic perception, existential reflection, and prosocial engagement. Acknowledging the ethical complexities and epistemological constraints of such a vision, we propose a theoretical model for a digital interface that does not prescribe, but invites; that does not instruct, but listens. We conclude by posing a critical question: Can artificial intelligence, when sensitively designed, contribute to the re-enchantment of human experience—not by transmitting meaning, but by enabling deeper forms of dialogical presence?
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