Religious experiences

Direct experiences

Direct religious experiences refer to cases where a person encounters god in a direct way. An example of a direct experience is when god reveals themself directly to the person having the experience. This experience is not willed or chosen by the person; the person experience or observes god in some way

Indirect religious experience

Indirect religious experiences refer to an experience, thoughts or feelings about god that are promoted by events in daily life. For example, observing a sunrise and having thoughts about the greatness of god/acts off prayer are seen as indirect religious experiences as god is not directly revealed to the person, nor is knowledge of god revealed; instead, the person learns something about god through what us observed

Muhammad during the night of power

Essentially an angel gave Mohammed the begging of the quarantine from god via the angel on a very holy/powerful night where people believe god is the most open to giving religious experiences o accepting prayer. The implication is that the Quran is from god and therefore is based in a revelation from god

Moshe at the burning bush

The experience of Moshe was one of direct divinity, where he was directly contracted by god, this has helped to contribute to the idea that the Jews are the chosen people, as those who followed Moshe had been by proxy directly contacted by god. This event also gives the justification for the Jews taking Isreal as a homeland therefore forming the core Jewish identity.

4 criteria

Passive - someone is not looking for a spiritual or mystical experience

Ineffable - unable to put it into words (the experience/being)

Noetic - the experience/knowledge received can only be explained as a giving by a divine figure

Transient - doesn’t last for a long time, the experience is only short term but the impact is long term

Mystical experiences

• The subjec is transformed and report the loss of individuality

• The experiences feel the oneness of all reality

• Someone has union with a deity: “in mystic states we both become one with the absolute and we become aware of our oneness” - William James

• There are special mental states or events that allow a certain understanding of ultimate truths

Meister Eckart mystical experience

• 13th century mystic

• “The highest star comers when we are stripped of our own form and are transformed by gods eternity, coming wholly oblivious to all transient and temporal life, town into and changed into an image of the divine, and have become gods son”

• “Between that person and god there is no distinction, they are one…”

• “When the soul is united with god, then it perfectly possesses in him all that is something. The soul forges itself there, as it is in itself, and all things, knowing itself in god as divine, in so far as god is in it”

• Essentially: no individuality, oneness in reality, union with god/experiance, understanding truth

William James

• Psychologist and brother of Henry James - novelist

• 1842-1910 - American

• Philosopher and psychologist

• Philosophical interests:

  • Phenomenology (study of phenomena, concordance, things which happen, conscious experience)

  • Pragmatism (theory of truth - “an idea upon which we can ride…; any idea that will carry us prosperously from one part of our existence to any other prat, linking things satisfactorily, working securely, saving labour is… true instrumental”)

James on Religious experience

“The individual transects… by himself alone, and the ecclesiastical organisation, with its priests and sacraments and other go-between, sinks to an altogether secondary place. The relation goes direct from heart to heart, from soul to soul, between man and his maker”

• James uses a variety of firsthand accounts of religious experience in is book

• Many would claim these experiences cannot be evidence for god, because they cannot be scientifically tested

• James disagreed and placed such accounts as central to any understanding of religion

• James understood he difficulty of providing a definition of mystical experiences and proposed 4 criteria

James classification

1. Passive - the experinence is not initiated by the mystic but rather they feel that something is acting upon them. (James saw this as evidence against arguments claiming that a religious experience can be explained by saying a person willed it)

2. Ineffable - the experience is beyond proper description. The direct experince of god goes beyond human powers of description

3. Noetic - mystics receive knowledge of god that is not otherwise available. In this sense religious experiences are direct revelation of god

4. Transcendent - the experience is a temporary one that cannot be sustained, although it may have long-lasting effects

Transcendent mystical experiences

• some have understood mystical experiences as part of a ladder to a higher really

• If one practices these mystical experiences they they can ascend beyond the mundane, earthly world and gain unity with the ultimate reality

• A journey from darkness to Sufism

Transcendent mysticism in Sufism

• Sufism is a mystical group within Islam that is focused on the divine union with allah

• They try to achieve this through meditation, dance and other mystical practices

• Rumi (13th century Sufist writer and mystic)

• All individuals have a yearning as they feel a separation between themselves and allah - allah is up in the heavens and within humans, but still seperate

• The human spirit is designed to have a deep relationship with god, we must need to do something to achieve it

Ecstatic mystical experiences

• This form of mystical experience is one where the experiencer feels complete bliss and happiness

• St Theresa of Avila talks of this as all sensory experiences being suspended

• ‘One perceived that the natural heat of the body is perceptibly lessened; the coldness increases, though accompanies with exceeding joy and sweetness’

Unitive mystical experiences

• these mystical experiences involve the experiences feeling united with god

• Henry Suso describes the experiences as like a man who… “is entirely lost in god, has passed into him… like a drop of water which is poured into a large potion of wine”

Mystical experiences are reliable

• Since most experiences are passive, it makes it reliable

• Noetic effect could indicate the presence of the divine as it is difficult to explain otherwise

• Ineffable - unlike any other experince

• Transcendency - only lasers for a short time but has a large impact

• More to our existence than the physical world, and if we stop and think we can experience it

Mystical experiences are not reliable

• Passivity could be unconscious mind deluding the conscious self

• Science might explain experiences

• Ineffability shows how unreliable something is

• Change in character could be down to a range of factors

• Cannot be empirically verified

Self authenticating

The experiences do not need external proof as they matter to the individual

Newberg on mystical experiences

• Newberg - neuroscientist who studies religious experiences

• The best gauge of what is real is what feels real

• With dreams the experiencer is able to identify retrospectively that the dream was not real

• With mystical experiences, the experiencer identifies that the experiences fells real at the time and in retrospect

Otto the Numinous

• Otto argued that all religious experiences are for a numinous nature

• ‘It is an experience of being acted upon by something outside of ourselves, a ‘wholly other’. It makes us aware that we are creatures of an almighty god. This contrasts with a ‘mystical experience’ which tends to seek the unity of all things’

• ‘Mysterious tremendous’ it is both awe-inspiring to the point of producing fear, and also strangely facilitating we are drawn into the experience

• He argues religious experiences are emotional. Believers interpret the world through the experience and the beleif attached to it

• For Otto god is ’wholly other’. He is a being that is completely different and distinct to human beings

• We are unable to know god unless he chooses to reveal himself

• God reveals himself and his revelation felt on an emotional level

• ‘It is the emotion of a creature submerged and overwhelmed by its nothingness. In contrast to that which is supreme above all creatures’

Ottos main point

• “Mysterious tremendum et fascinanas” - fearful and fascinating mystery

• “Mysterium” - wholly other, experiences with blank wonder, stupor

• “Tremendum“:

  • Awfulness, terror, demonic dread, awe, absolute unapproacahbility, “wrath” of god

  • Overpowering, majesty might, sense of ones own nothingness in contrast to its power

  • Creature-feeling, sense of object presence, dependence

  • Energy, urgancy, will, vitality

• “Fascinans” - potent charm, attractiveness in spite of fear, terror, ect.

Conversion experiences

• Common type of religious experience

• It often results in a change in behaviour or way of thinking

• Many observers say that it proves gods’ existence as the conversion is so fast

• They argue it shows that god is acting to convert non-believers

• William James claimed the truth is found in results

Types of conversion experience

• gradual - over a period of time (volitional)

• Dramatic transformation - can happen at once, often in a dramatic way (self-surrender)

James observations about conversion experiences

• To those who experience it, sudden conversion is very real and dramatic

• They talk of god initiating conversation and see it as something they’ve done to them

• Those having a sudden conversion express it as a miracle rather than a natural process

• James saw conversion as a natural process but still considered it to be inspired by the divine

How permanent is conversion

• In many cases a person undergoing a sudden conversion may know little about the faith top which they are converting

• Their prompt to conversion may have been an individual preacher or text

• At a later point there is a higher probability that they may reject their new outlook on life when they find that there are inherent difficulties

• A person undergoing a gradual process of conversion may be more likely to understand the nature of their faith and so stay within it

Conversion as evidence for god

• Examples of conversion experiences recorded in scriptures and in the modern day raise interesting issues. Although the inner experience is not empirically detectable, the resulting changes in behaviour are something that can be empirically observed. Had the profound changes occurred slowly over period of 20 years, no one would think it unusual. For such change to occur so dramatically over days and weeks is for many believers a powerful pierce of evidence for the existence of god

• William James argued that, as with all religious experiences, its truth was to be found in the results. Hence dramatic changes in the character and lifestyle of an individual does not count as empirical evidence in favour of spiritual claims

Starbuck - psychology of religion

• Edwin Starbuck (1866-1947) studies of conversion prompted him to draw parallels with the normal process of finding our identity in adolescence

• Conversion is a natural part of human development and is common amongst 14-17 year olds

• Symptoms are sense of incompleteness and imperfection, brooding, depression, anxiety about the future

• However, religious conversions tend to be shorter and less stressful

• “Conversion is, in essence, a normal adolescent phenomenon, incidental to the passage from the child’s small universe to the wider intellectual and spiritual life of maturity”

Conversions are the most convincing religious experience

• James uses pragmatism to argue that conversions give insight into experiences

• Fits with teachings of major religions

• Evidence - change in life

• Although we cannot be certain of the meta-physical, we can observe other effects

Conversions are not the most convincing religious experiences

• Starbuck argues the psychological effects are a normal adolescent phenomenon - most conversions happen in teenagehood

• Som people argue it is religion that causes psychological and subconscious guilt

• Lasting impact could be down to something else

• Kant says we are so rooted in this physical wold, we cannot experience god

Swinburne

• Argument is essentially that there is more evidence than not that religious experiences happen

• He defines a religious experience as “an experience of god or of some other supernatural thing”

• This is unique as it does not require the experience to be from god, but could be from a related figure

• His argument then states the principle of credulity (dealing with the 4 key challenges) and the principle of testimony

Principle of credulity

• If a person thinks that something is happening it is probably happening, what someone perceives is probably real

• We should accept what a person experiences unless you can directly disprove it

The principle of testimony

• People usually tell the truth, and therefore you can essentially rely on people to tell the truth when they have experiences

• Not everyone can be trusted to tell the truth, but this is a ‘special consdioration’

• It suggests that anyone should accept a statement of what someone experienced unless you can demonstrate on positive grounds that it is false

Public experiences

1. Ordinary experiences - experiences where a person interprets a natural event as having religious significance - e.g., the beauty of nature or the natural world

2. Extraordinary experiences - experiences that appear to violate normal understanding of the workings of nature - e.g. water turning to wine

Private experiences

1. Describable in ordinary language - expereinces such as dreams, for example Joseph’s dream telling him to flee to Egypt

2. Non-describable experiences - this refers to direct experiences of god in which god is revealed to people. These experiences are ineffable

3. Non-specific experiences - these experiences could include things like looking at the world from a religious perspective. For example, seeing the intricacy of god the creator in the universe

William James

• Argues that all normal people have religious experiences so god must be accepted as factually true

• James also says that religious experiences bring a profound effect on people and these effects cannot be attributed with hallucinations

• James was aware that many people in the late 19th/early 20th century were happy to dismiss alleged religious experiences as the product of a ‘faulty’ mind. Instead of rejecting this view, James accepted it - spoke of ‘religion and neuroses’ as perfectly compatible and, to a degree, necessary partners

5 attributes of a religious experience - James

• The visible world is part of a spiritual world

• A harmonious relation with the spiritual world is our true purpose

• This harmony allows spiritual energy to affect the visible world

• A new zest for life

• An assurance of safety and a predominance of loving relationships with others

Freud

• 1856 - 1938

• Atheist outlook possibly fed by his own experiences of anti-Semitic, warped catholic rituals as a child and education of a materialist kind; psychological/biological/materialist perspective dominates his thought

• Religion is seen by Freud as a psychological obsession

• REXs are essentially illusions, projections of our wishes and insecurities. God is a substitute for one’s estranged parent. Religious language disguises our real connection of being psychologically unsettles and seeking wholeness

The origins of religion - Freud

• the future of an illusion

• The origins of religion in human history: a response to our vulnerability in the face if forces of nature

• The origins of religion in the individual mind: a development from our childhood Vulnerability and our relationship with our father, whom we both fear and love

• “Thus, [mans] longing for a father is a motive identical with his need for protection against the consequence of his human weakness”

Religion is an illusion - Freud

• Religion is rooted in. Conflict between conscious and unconscious mind

• Religion is an illusion i.e., caused by the fulfilment of a wish (we want it - life, the universe - to be this way). Religious experience is like dreams, experiences caused by wishes.

Marx

• Man is essentially a social being. Social conditions determine out lives and this can be pretty awful. Marx wrote “it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being determines their consciousness”

• But man is active and productive, and alienation can be overcome by a ‘productive activity’ in which we find fulfilment in our labours. Industrialised capitalism alienates men from the means of production. Communism is coming - inevitably and/or as we bring it about - “workers of the world unite” - a secular humanist salvation is possible

Marx on religious experiences

• there is no god - ‘god’ is a projection of our imagination

• You cannot therefore experience god in a so-called ‘religious experience’ because there is no god to experience

• Religious is founded on illusion

Psychological effects can explain religious experiences

• There is no evidence therefore it being psychological could be plausible

• Empirical evidence of change can be traced to psychological factors

• Perception is rooted in the mind. Freuerbach argues that god is a human projection constructed from out innate desires

• We can be misled by our minds

Psychological effects can’t explain religious experiences

• They are not things which can really be examined in broad strokes

• There are long-lasting effects that are evidenced

• How we choose to describe or react to each experience is private and no one should dismiss it

• There are psychological elements of religious experiences, and these should be forgotten

Strengths of the god helmet

• Helpes to explain the mystery surrounding religious experiences

Weaknesses of the god helmet

• It does not give al the answers

• It does not explain the longevity of religions based on religious experiences

Psychological factors

1. Effects of diet or substance absuse

2. Effects of neural stimulation

Strengths of psychological explanations for religious experiences

• would explain the verity of people who have these experiences

• Explains why REs tend to happen during or around near death or physically traumatic events

• Similar experiences can be reproduced by electromagnetic fields

• St Paul and others could’ve been suffering from epilepsy or something else

• Some religious expereinces, such as visions or voices are linked to fasting or other factors

Weaknesses of psychological explanation for religious experiences

• Dosen’t give all the answers

• Being in these states of deprivation doesn’t automatically cause an RE

• If god wanted to interact with humans, he might use natural and physical neurological processes

• You cannot reduce all of human activity and experiences to material

• You cannot explain the change of someone’s way of life simply through neurological activity

Fatima

The Virgin Mary appeared 6 times to 3 Shepard children and told them messages of wanting peace in Russia, its conversion to the catholic faith, and an end to air

Medjugorje

The Virgin Mary appeared to several teenage girls in Bosnia and gave them messages of conversion, faith and prayer

Toronto blessing

Took place in 1994 when members of a Toronto congregation reported felling the presence of, and being affected by, the Holy Spirit

Corporate religious experience

An experience which happens to more than one person in the same place at the same time

Corporate experiences - charismatic phenomena

• Where believers are caught up in ecstatic feelings in worship

• Some ‘speak in tongues’ or can ‘heal or drive out spirits’

Corporate religious experiences are more reliable

• More witnesses which makes it more convincing

• Empirical and observable effects

• Swinburne principle of credulity could defend the reliablilty of corporate religious experience

Individual religious experiences are more reliable

• Swinburne’s principle of testimony means that we should believe what people tell us

• Empirical evidence of an individuals change

• Swinburne’s principle of credulity can also be used here, we should credit the individual unless we have evidence otherwise