Studied by 6 people
God is not the being described by Christian teaching and is probably in time, not knowing the future. God could be a collection of god-like selves.
Spiritual communion with God through prayer produces real psychological or material effects in the world.
There are psychological benefits of spiritual communion such as a new zest for life.
Ineffable: The experience is beyond proper description and cannot be described in words but has to be felt
Noetic: The experience gives the person a deep and direct knowledge / insight of God. Leads to a state of insight.
Transient: The experience is a temporary one (often very short) although the effects can be long lasting.
Passive: The person has a sense that something is acting upon them. They have not caused the experience and do not control it.
James argued that personal religious experience has its root and centre in mystical states of consciousness. He saw that it was difficult to define what a ‘mystical experience’ is but linked it to a state of union with the divine
William James would consider it coherent that the mind can both receive experiences from God and initiate experiences by reaching out to God.
SCIENCE: religious experiences are simply states of the brain
RELIGION: religious experiences have to be states of the brain that can be both given and asked of God.
James argues that mystical religious experiences range from experiences with little religious significance (such as the effects of music or poetry or the experience of déjà vu), to cosmic consciousness and union with the divine.
He argued that religious experiences can be drug-induced as drugs (like nitrous oxide) can give the experiencer access to different levels of consciousness – but this is a very controversial claim!
Mystical experiences can also be cultivated by actions such as prayer and meditation as they induce the appropriate conditions.
The point of mystical religious experiences is that God / the divine meets each individual on he basis of their own personal concerns, be they ‘sick souls’ or ‘healthy minded’.
‘God’s existence is the guarantee that there is an ideal order that will be permanently preserved’.
John Macquarrie, a Scottish born theologian writes: ‘Otto holds that although the numinous is inconceivable, it is somehow within our grasp. We apprehend it in feeling... the feeling of the presence of an overwhelming Being- the numinous Being which strikes dumb with amazement.’
It produces feelings of stupor, black wonder, dumb astonishment, inadequacy, humility.
Otto's use of the term as referring to a characteristic of religious experience was influential among certain intellectuals of the subsequent generation. For example, "numinous" as understood by Otto was a frequently quoted concept in the writings of Carl Jung and C. S. Lewis.
When the disciples first encountered Jesus, they perceived this power in Jesus. Peter watched Jesus produce a miraculous catch of fish and his immediate response was to understand his own inadequacy.
The mystery itself is fascinating. Having recognised that he is a creature confronted by the wholly other, the reaction of Peter is simply to leave everything and follow Jesus. His fishing partners, James and John, are caught up by the same fascination, and do the same thing. (Luke 5:11).
Richard Swinburne argues that our experiences of the world suggest that God probably exists, and religious experiences are part of this probability argument
There is no reason why claims to religious experience should be treated any differently to ordinary perceptual claims
He seems to claim that since normal sense experiences are reliable, so religious experiences are reliable evidence that God exists. Is this a sensible claim?
Accounts of religious experience are private and not open to public scrutiny. They happen inside the person’s head which makes them difficult to confirm.
The fact the people believe God is the explanation for their experience, doesn’t mean that he really is.
It is Freud’s hypothesis that religion is just wishful thinking to combat psychological turmoil.
The idea of God helps us to control fear of the unknown and of death, and pressures from society.
For Freud religion is not necessarily false but illusionary – something which answers inner needs.
Religious visions and mystical experiences are simply hallucinations caused by a human need to have control over our helpless state.
Freud therefore focused on the function of religion in overcoming inner fears and turmoil.
Freud’s ideas are supported by modern investigation into temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). People who suffer from TLE are more prone to have religious experiences and can experience strong religious visions. There have been suggestions that religious figures of the past may have suffered from the condition.
Research findings on TLE are supported by the science of neurology which suggests that religious experiences are produced by electrical stimulations of the temporal lobes of the brain
the God helmet creates a weak electromagnetic pulse around the right temporal lobe . the reason for the specific lobe, is because it is the right temporal lobe that creates out of body experiences if stimulated
1000 people have worn the god helmet, with 80% reported feeling a presence in the room with them
others has reported out of body experiences - others reported nothing
Finally, religious experiences can also be caused by certain types of drugs, which is further evidence that religious experiences are nothing more than mental states, you could argue.
The effects of religious experiences are often similar to that of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD. These drugs are called ‘entheogens’, meaning ‘generating the Divine from within’, because people who take them can have intense spiritual experiences. The main effects are processed by the prefrontal cortex.
The etymology of entheogen is itself striking, pointing towards the spiritual effects of these drugs.
En + theo + gens (within) (divine) (generating/ becoming)
In 1962, Walter Pahnke conducted a scientific study of 20 theology students at Harvard Divinity School, known as the ‘Good Friday Experiment.’
Ten were given the drug psilocybin, a form of entheogen, while the others were given a placebo.
Pahnke hypothesised that psychedelic drugs, in this case psilocybin, could facilitate a "mystical" experience in religiously inclined volunteers who t ook the drug in a religious setting. He further hypothesized that such experiences would result in persisting positive changes in attitudes and behavior.
Pahnke believed the most conducive environment for his experiment would be a community of believers participating in a familiar religious ceremony designed to elicit religious feelings, in effect creating an atmosphere like that of the tribes which used psilocybin-containing mushrooms for religious purposes.
Response: some experiences are group experiences (toronto blessing) that don’t rely on one person’s experience / testimony.
God could select individuals for an experience because he considers them trustworthy.
What about the effects of the experience – conversion.
Religious Experiences can be foundational. They have been the direct cause of the founding of several religions and are the basis of their faith e.g. Saul, a Pharisee who persecutes the Christian community, has a foundational experience which transforms him into the Apostle Paul (you can read more about this in Acts 9).
They are also inspirational. The religious experiences of some of the great martyrs and saints of the Church have inspired belief in others, convincing others that their faith is worth standing up for e.g. Joan of Arc in France in the medieval era. (see clip/s)
They are at the heart of religious pilgrimage. As in the example of Bernadette Soubirous and Lourdes
Religious Experiences are life-changing. They have psychological benefits (W James) and can develop feelings of love, sympathy, etc.
They can be foundational, inspirational and life-changing.
They confirm faith and lead to a deeper knowledge of God for those who have had the experience.
The only certainty we have that God exists is faith (or ‘belief in’), and that certainty is based on personal experience of God, not logical arguments.
Swinburne uses a ‘cumulative argument’: When combined with arguments like the design argument, taken together they are stronger. They are all strengthened by each other.
