philo - religious experiences

what is a VISION?

something seen in a dream, trance or religious ecstasy, especially a supernatural appearance conveying a revelation

CORPOREAL vision

comes from sense of SIGHT

• person will see an object with religious experience clearly, in same way can see any other object around them

• reality view, as god, angel or saint is believed to be really appearing within the world to convey a message that god exists

• empirical and realist

examples:

• joan of arc c15th claimed to see saints with her bodily eyes in same way could see any other object, told her to fight for french independence ad led her to lead a revolution against the british in the hundred years war which was won by the french

• st bernadette saw mary in lourdes, france, vision opened a spring of water and has healing properties, 70 miracles have taken place here since

IMAGINATIVE visions

occur most frequently in dreams

• seen in mind and person has no control showing that it comes from god

• have real effects to change behaviour despite happening in mind

• understand in both realist and anti-realist way

EXAMPLES:

• genesis 41 - pharoah dreams that 7 thin cows eat 7 fat cows and same with withered/ healthy stalks of corn, this meant that there would be a famine 7 years time and to start to prepare

• joseph’s dream - matthew 2 - angel appears to joseph in a dream and tells him to take mary and jesus to egypt as herod is planning to kill Jesus

INTELLECTUAL visions

have no image to be perceived

• instead give people an awareness of how things really are/ true nature of universe

• experience illumination of the soul and proof that god exists

• cannot be described in human words as is type of mystical experience

EXAMPLES:

• St Teresa of Vila - sense of jesus whilst praying, comforting her and allowing her to draw on his presence whenever she needed to, knew god was with her even though couldnt see him, ‘light’ of understanding

• Mother Julian of Norwich - felt a cloud of unknowing descend on her, revelaing to her the true extent of god’s greatness in comparison to her. transformed her life and she dedicated the est of her life to reflect and understand this experience

LITERAL/ REALIST visions

really occur as appear from god

designed for a specific purpose e.g. moses

SYMBOLIC/ ANTI-REALIST visions

do not necessarily actually occur in the world but people think they do

used to confirm faith and are valuable for religious believers even if dont actually happen

occur in mind but people interpet these as coming from god

S/W of VISIONS

STRENGTHS:

• can be understood in a realist way

• can be understood in an anti-realist way - overcomes issue of being hard to verify

• powerful as change lives

WEAKNESSES

• non-verifiable as not universal

• HICK epistemic distance undermined if god/ holy beings appear in world

• why occur only for some?

• may be a hoax or lie or misunderstanding e.g. trick of light

• occams razor

NUMINOUS experiences

experiences of awe and wonder believed to have come from a supernatural being

• comes from ‘numen’ = to bow the head

• put human experience into perspective - make humans aware that in grand scheme of gods plan, they are very small, becoming aware of power of god gives humans a sense of own nothingness and powerlessness in universe

• key to understanding spirituality of many religions

• most of experiences we have discussed already have numinous aspects e.g. St Teresa - feeling of amazement

EXAMPLES

• moses and burning bush - exodus 3:3-6 - overwhelmed and hid face from power of god, ground described as holy ground, moses instructed to take of shoes to show respect to god. god is INEFFABLE, cannot be described beyond ‘I am the I am’, Moses feels fear and is motivated to follow god by doing what he says

• old testament passages, ‘holy’ is repeated 3 times to emphasise importance of gods holiness, emphasises gods transcendent nature

• Isaiah 6:3 - ‘holy holy holy is the lord of hosts’ - greatness of god communicated through repetition of phrase - completely special and set apart

what could cause NUMINOUS EXPERIENCES?

NATURE - overwhelmed with gods greatness and power in creation

OTHER experiences that could not be put into words but make people feel like god exists and is with them E.G. worship

SUIS GENERIS

wholly other

OTTO and numinous experience

argued that all religious experiences are numinous ‘relating to the power of a deity’

• numinous experiences often involve feelings of awe and wonder, can also be related to fear - people frightened by unknown and being made aware of power of god being so much bigger than themselves

• described as suis generis

• experience of god as wholly other, god is different from anything else in the universe and realms of human experience

• feelings beyond human reason, cannot be explained rationally or put into human words - INEFFABLE

• show god is transcendent

SCHLEIERMACHER

RE are primarily emotional and everyone has a CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE DIVINE

• emotions are deeper than reason and are ‘self-authenticating’ meaning they do not require testing to be genuine

• awareness of a dependence on a ‘source of power that is distinct from the world’ that is at heart of religion

THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS of religious experiences

theology arise afterwards as people reflect on experiences

religion = sense of infinite

christianity = highest religion as jesus was only example of someone completely god-conscious

S/W of NUMINOUS

STRENGTHS

• can be understood as anti-realist, overcoming issues of verifiability - rather than something happening in world, refers to personal experience

• evidence in bible convinces classical theists - moses

• impact on lives so personally meaningful

WEAKNESSES

• not clear if caused by god, as is subjective ans personal, source could easily be environmental rather than supernatural as cannot be verified

• occams razor - not necessarily most likely option

• if god is ineffable, how can any knowledge of him be conveyed to us at all

• why dont all people have experiences?

what is MYSTICISM

any religious activity that reveals gods mysterious nature

popularly known as becoming one with god

INEFFABLE by nature

mysticism refers to

• any kind of ecstasy (supernatural joy)

• altered state of consciousness (losing control, trance)

• attainment of new insight in ultimate/ hidden truths (gaining new knowledge)

what are MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES?

experiences of the mystical power of god, where one loses oneself and unites with a divine power

• any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning

WALTER STACE and mystical experiences

‘either god is a mystery or he is nothing at all’

ANTI REALIST - takes place in mind

RE are mystical, god must be a mystery and otherwise wouldnt be an omnipotent transcendent god that is worthy of worship

we would be omniscient if we could understand god and the experiences we have with him

humans are not omniscient, so religious experiences must be ineffable

TF rejects visions as people seem to understand these

types of experience to WALTER STACE

‘altered state of consciousness’ feeling united with god

INTROVERTIVE = experience that happens to an individual who loses control of their senses

EXTROVERTIVE = caused by outward surroundings for an individual

WILLIAM JAMES and mystical experiences

‘Mysticism, pure and simple is the sudden realisation of the immediate presence of God.’

He used psychological and scientific methods such as case studies of a variety of firsthand religious experiences, with an aim to take an objective stance taking accounts of religious experience as a psychologist and making observations.

TRUE RELIGION = firsthand religious experiences

MAIN CONCLUSION = there was no proof of anything, however it is reasonable to believe there is a personal God but not reasonable for skeptics to reject clear evidence

james

4 distinguishing features

passive – no control over them.

Ineffable – cannot be described by human language.

Noetic – convey some knowledge of universe.

Transient – don’t last long, may only happen once

why does william james not believe that mystical experience speak of one direct god

He is a pluralist.

The experiences indicated a probability of God but don’t speak directly of one God, but rather the spiritual and higher aspects

The experiences still change lives by considering the effect of the experiences

how does james reject sceptics

He rejects skeptics such as Freud in his criteria for religious experiences, stating that the value is not undone even if there is a psychological explanation for them.

He saw Freud’s view as an attempt to discredit religion

EXAMPLE of mystical experience

julian of norwich

Received 16 showings whilst on deathbed.

She realised that she did not, in the grand scheme of things, know anything

Was in a cloud of unknowing, realising the limits of her knowledge of faith in comparison to God’s omniscience.

It was such a powerful experience that she chose to live the life of a hermit and dedicated her whole life to considering and trying to understand the experience that she had

‘we ought to rejoice that god dwells in our soul’

S/W of MYSTICAL

STRENGTHS

• quantity - religion based on experiences of founders is a powerful force in history and is widespread

• effects - powerful and positive, changes lives - difficult to explain w/o ref to god

• similarities between experiences

• many frost hand testimonies

WEAKNESSES

• BERTRAND RUSSELL- although it is possible for someone to be affected by an experience, this could happen even if the story was a myth

• ANTONY FLEW - statements that can’t be tested empirically are meaningless

• could be an example of psychological experiences

• Too subjective

• does not show there must really be a God

• believer in diff faiths claim their experience is true, but cannot all be right

• Subjective and personal – interpreted in light of particular traditions

• Hard to understand – ineffable

challenges from science:

FREUD

• materialist

• religion = psychological illness (neurosis)

• seek father figure because of oedipus complex - god fulfills this role

• aim of pschoanalysis was to outgrow religious belief

• religious experience is illusory wish fulfillment - fantasy

• teresa of avila experience of dart of love would be seen by freud as product of repressed sexuality

challenges from science:

RAMACHANDRAN

did experiments to discover that patients w TLE far more prone to RE so temporal lobe is particular focus for experiences

shows that RE may be caused in brain alone, and are not caused by an external, supernatural being e.g. god or holy spirit

challenges from science:

PERSINGER

RE are brain reacting to external stimuli

developed ‘god helmet’ with magnetic fields that induces an experience similar to a RE

tibetan monks agreed that it produced a similar feel to RE

shows that brain alone can be stimulated to recreat feelings of RE

how does SWINBURNE maintain belief regardless of criticisms from science?

belief in god is reasonably possible, based on classic arguments for god (ontological, moral, cosmological, design etc)

based on this:

• principle of credulity - something should be accepted unless there are good grounds to think it may be mistaken i.e. falsification rather than verification

• principle of testimony - should believe what people say unless good grounds for doubting them

swinburne = realist

how does WILLIAM JAMES maintain belief regardless of criticism from science

rejects traditional arguments for god

in mysticism, there is an ‘eternal unanimity’ i.e. they are all the same - the existence of different beliefs and religions is good because it reflects different personalities

RE are different to ordinary experiences - form an identifiable category

in his conclusion to chapter on mysticism, he states:

• mystical states are absolutely authoritative to those that have them

• no authority extends to people who havent had them

• break down authority of rational empiricism, showing there are other forms of consciousness ‘other orders of truth’

although james is a realist of sorts, what does he call himself?

PRAGMATIST

‘to develop a thought’s meaning we need therefore only determine what conduct is fitted to produce’

we can detect the reality of an experience by what is seen and/ or reported

not as much of a realist as swinburne

james and MEDICAL MATERLIALISM

rejects that this idea explains away RE

• calls st paul’s vision on the road to damascus a discharging lesion of the occipital cortex - says he is epileptic

• poses st teresa as hysteric

says all thoughts and feelings are orgaically founded. we should note them but not explain away their products

where does james believe INSIGHT comes from?

RE that convince the experiencer that a higher power exists

this is like fideism although james is not a fideist - the experience does not need any more evidence, and from there on the experiencer can rely on faith alone

influence of religious experience

FOUNDATIONAL

= Direct cause of the founding of several religions so are the basis of faith

E.g Saul Has a foundational experience of God whilst travelling to Demascus to persecute Christians.

• He breathes murderous threats against Jesus’s disciples

• Religious experience transforms him into the apostle Paul, becoming the architect of Christine Faith

influence of religious experiences

INSPIRATIONAL

In particular, some of the matters and Saints inspire belief in others.

Convinced others that their faith was worth standing up for

for example Joan of Arc

influence of religious experiences

HEART OF PILGRIMMAGE

E.g. Bernadette had a corporeal vision of the Virgin Mary and founded the shrine and pilgrimage Centre at Lourdes

value of religious experience for faith

CONFIRMATION OF FAITH

teresa of avila knew Her experience was of Christ because she could not help knowing that Christ was close behind her

Certainty is based on a religious experience where God is encountered personally

science vs religion in terms of RE

SCIENCE:

• accepted by most as the highest form of proof post enlightenment

• Freud, Peringer and doctors studying TLE have all offered evidence against religious experiences proving God’s existence

• Swinburn’s arguments can be rejected – testimony is not necessarily reliable, particularly when Freud opinions on wishful settlement are taken into account

• Swinburnes credulity does not prove anything – sometimes there are answers other than the most obvious one at best he is making an inductive assumption

• hard materialism: the hardware of the brain is the only thing that exists, it creates the illusion of consciousness and religious experiences

• subjective

FAITH

• personally confirmed for those that experience it

• Give direct truths that impact peoples lives e.g. the message to Moses to set people free, and the message to Joan of Arc to fight French independence

• religious experiences have effects on peoples lives, they are foundational, inspirational and life changing

• Faith does not require a reason