Religious experiences

religious experience

a personal/subjective event where an individual feels they have directly encountered the divine

William James

a philosopher and psychologist who studied religious experiences

James’ characteristics of mystical experiences

• Passivity

• Ineffablity

• Noetic quality

• Transiency

Passivity

• when the experience happens to the person rather than it being produced by them

• beyond their control

Ineffability

• the experience cannot be describe using language

• James says it ‘defies expression’

Noetic quality

• the person feels that they have discovered something important about reality

Transiency

• the experience. is temporary rather than permanent

• usually lost for a short period of time ( 2hours )

vision

• an experience in which a person appears to perceive a supernatural or divine being/event

imaginative vision

• a vision seen in the mind usually through a dream

• in the ‘eye of the mind’ and beyond the individual’s control

imaginative vision example

• Pharaoh’s two dreams about the 7 years of surplus followed by the 7 years of famine

• Joseph deciphered the dream for him which allowed Egypt to save during the surplus so they had enough when there was no food

• it was an illumination

corporeal vision

• a vision seen through the physical sense of sight of a religious figure

• it is empirical

corporeal vision example

• St Bernadette saw the virgin Mary appear to her 18 times where she identified herself as the ‘immaculate conception’

• it happened at a grotto in Lourdes in the south of France

• now lourdes is seen as a place of Pilgrimage

intellectual visions

• a vision with no image - intellectual/mental

• involves an experience of direction understanding something divine

intellectual vision example

• Teresa of Avila

Rudolf Otto

he argues that religious experience involved encountering the numinous

the numinous

• it is an experience of the ‘wholly other’

• experience of something beyond ordinary human experience

• it is non - rational

numinous elements

Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans

mysterium

• the divine is mysterious and beyond human understanding

Tremendum

• the person experiences awe, fear and overwhelming power

Fascinans

• despite the fear the person is attracted towards the divine

Walter Stace + mystical experiences

• he says mystical experiences are ‘ non-sensuous and non-intellectual union with the divine’

• not just about seeing something with the senses to gaining knowledge

challenge of verifying religious experiences

• how can we know that someone’s religious experience actually came from God ?

alternative explanations for religious experiences (5)

1. hallucination

2. mental illness

3. drugs

4. psychological factors

5. brain activity

multiple religions challenge

• different religions report religious experiences

• one person may interment an experience as jesus and another interprets theirs as Allah

• so we cant know which one is genuine

James’ pluralist response

• he argues that different religions may be experiencing the same ultimate reality

• religious experiences from different religious can be genuine without requiring only one religion to be completely correct

Challenges to religious experience from science - Freud (3)

• Freud argues that religions can arise from psychological needs

1. Fear of death

2. God as father

3. Mirage

Freud - fear of death

• humans know they are going to die

• religion provides: God ,protection and an afterlife

• religious experiences may be wish fulfilment

Freud - God as Father

• Freud argues that people may project their desire for a protective father figure onto God

Freud - Mirage analogy

• humans are desperately searching for meaning

• security may psychologically create God

Challenges to religious experience from science - Persinger

• Persinger argues that religion can arise from the physiological challenge

• he developed the God helmet

• the helmet manipulated brain activity where some participants reported the presence of an unseen being

• this suggests that religious experiences can potentially have neurological explanations

religious responses to scientific challenges (3)

1. Brain activity doesn’t disprove God

2. Explanation of mechanism is not an explanation of the cause

3. Ockham’s Razor

religion response to scientific challenges - Brain activity

• brain activity doesn’t disprove God

• even if the brain is involved God could use the brain as the mechanism through which the experience occurs

• brain activity ≠ proof that god is absent

religious response to scientific challenges - explanation of mechanism

• the explanation of the mechanism isn’t the explanation of the cause

• science might explain how the experience occurs in the brain but not why the person experienced God

• a neurological explanation doesn’t automatically disprove a supernatural cause

response to scientific challenges - Ockham’s razor

• if a naturalistic explanation can explain the experience a supernatural explanation may be unnecessary

principle of credulity - Swinburne

• we should generally believe that things are as they appear to us unless we have reason to doubt them

• if someone experiences god we should initially accept that is is genuine unless there is evidence against it

principle of testimony - Swinburne

• we should generally believe what other people tell us unless we have reason to doubt them

• it someone tell us they have experienced God they’re testimony should count as evidence

the influence and value of religious experiences

• James argues that the effect of religious experiences are important - pragmatism

• if an experience produces significant positive change it can support its value - eg. a conversion , overcoming addiction or moral addiction

St Paul’s conversion

• Saul persecuted christians

• he was visited by jesus on the road to damascus

• he changed his name to Paul and became a christian apostle and one of the biggest influences on Christianity

• this demonstrates the influence of religious experiences

criticism of the influence and value of religious experiences

• a religious experience being life-changing doesn’t prove that it was caused by God

• positive consequences demonstrate the psychological value of an experience but don’t necessarily demonstrate it’s super nature truth