3B Mystical Experience

Question 1

What is the name of William James’ book regarding mystical experience? What is significant about it?

Answer 1

• ‘Varieties of Religious Experience’

* One of the most significant and influential studies of r. of the 20th century

Question 2

What are James’ four characteristics of r.e.?

Answer 2

• “Ineffability”
• “Noetic Quality”
• “Transiency”
• “Passivity”

Question 3

Explain James’ characteristic of ineffability.

Answer 3

• “No adequate report of its contents can be given in words”
• “Cannot be imparted or transferred to others”
• “More like states of feeling than states of intellect”
• So profound that mundane lang. cannot express it; Vardy compared this to being in love
• Just ∵ it cannot be proved does not detract from its value

Question 4

Explain James’ characteristic of noetic quality.

Answer 4

• “States of higher knowledge and insight”
• “Illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance”
• “curious sense of authority for after-time”

Question 5

Explain James’ characteristic of transiency.

Answer 5

• “Cannot be sustained for long”
• “But when they recur it is recognised [as an] inner richness and importance”
• May be very intense + have long-lasting consequences

Question 6

Explain James’ characteristic of passivity.

Answer 6

• “Feels as if his own will were in abeyance…held by a superior power”
• “Alternative personality…prophetic speech, automatic writing…mediumistic trance”
• “Some memory of their content always remains and a profound sense of their importance”
• The moment is governed by an external being or force

Question 7

What are James’ four conclusions?

Answer 7

• The world is part of something bigger and spiritual
• Union with the spiritual = ultimate purpose for r. ppl.
• Prayer creates real effects for some
• Ppl. want peace and security

Question 8

What did Rudolf Otto focus on?

Answer 8

• The ‘feelings’ of the recipient; the subjective aspect

Question 9

What three things did Otto draw upon when studying?

Answer 9

• History of r.
• Anthropology
• Naturalism

Question 10

What is Otto’s idea of the numinous?

Answer 10

• An expression of r. awe and wonder in the presence of a supernatural divine power
• Sets apart any ethical/moral connotations of ‘holy’

Question 11

What did Otto say about human existence?

Answer 11

• Sig. dimension of human exis. that yearns for the ‘non-rational’ - i.e. cannot be explained by non-empirical means
• He was not stating that the exp.s of the numinous were irrational, implying a lack of sanity/sensibility/stability
• Rather, it is entirely stable as an exp., just not definable in rational terms
• Part of our non-rational nature is to seek the numinous

Question 12

What does Otto outline in chapter 4 of ‘The Idea of the Holy’?

Answer 12

• Numinous exp. = “The deepest and most fundamental element in all strong and sincerely felt religious emotion.”
• It has a profound effect, only describable by the Latin expression, “Mysterium tremendum et fascinans” (awe-inspiring mystery)
• “[pervades] the mind with a tranquil mood of deepest worship”
• “May pass over into a more set and lasting attitude of the soul…until it dies away and the soul resumes its profane…mood of everyday experience”

Question 13

Explain Mysterium tremendum et fascinans.

Answer 13

• As mysterium, the numinous is “wholly other” - entirely different from anything we experience in ordinary life. It evokes a reaction of silence.
• But the numinous is also a mysterium tremendum. It provokes terror because it presents itself as overwhelming power.
• Finally, the numinous presents itself as fascinans, as merciful and gracious.