mystical experiences

Question 1

mystical experience

Answer 1

an experience of something beyond normal awareness

Question 2

William James’ definition of mystical experience

Answer 2

‘the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may call the divine.’

Question 3

common core of mystical experiences

Answer 3

PINT
passive
ineffable
noetic
transient

Question 4

passive

Answer 4

people feeling they weren’t in control of experience and as though another power was acting on them

Question 5

ineffable

Answer 5

experience difficult to put into words

Question 6

noetic

Answer 6

experience provided insight or knowledge, can be called a ‘revelation’

Question 7

transient

Answer 7

experience lasted a short duration but has a significant effect on the person, often life long

Question 8

‘fruits’ of religious experience

Answer 8

-conviction of something beyond the material world
-immense feeling of elation and freedom
-feeling of having met a friendly power and responding by self surrender
-change in emphasis of life- more spiritual, charitable, morally aware

Question 9

Julian of Norwich (c. 1342-1416)

Answer 9

saw christ bleeding in front of her, but felt God’s overwhelming unconditional love

Question 10

who saw christ bleeding in front of her, felt God’s overwhelming unconditional love?

Answer 10

Julian of Norwich (c. 1342-1416)

Question 11

Teresa of Avila (c. 1515-1582)

Answer 11

visions, one of most famous ones was of a spear with golden tip on fire piercing her side and leaving her with an immense feeling of elation and love

Question 12

who had visions of spear piercing her with golden tip on fire leaving feeling of elation and love?

Answer 12

Teresa of Avila (c. 1515-1582)

Question 13

strength of mystical experiences: common core

Answer 13

James argues although psychological elements, similarities could point to common source, the divine. reliable as share same four core (PINT)

Question 14

strength of mystical experiences: passive

Answer 14

not desired or expected suggests there’s something external acting on the person

Question 15

strength of mystical experiences: noetic

Answer 15

could indicate presence of divine as difficult to explain gaining new knowledge or insight otherwise

Question 16

strength of mystical experiences: ineffable

Answer 16

shows unlike any other normal experience

Question 17

strength of mystical experiences: transiency

Answer 17

only last short time, but significant impact often life-long. To have such an impact shows such importance of experience and effects are observable. person could be more charitable or compassionate

Question 18

strength of mystical experiences: Schleiermacher (also Calvin)

Answer 18

S- more to our existence than physical and if we stop to reflect we encounter something other. this deep-seated sense of divine also argued by Calvin with sensus divinitatis

Question 19

weakness of mystical experiences: could be all in the mind

Answer 19

common features evident bc they all originate in the human mind, which reacts in much the same way each time

Question 20

weakness of mystical experiences: passivity

Answer 20

could be the unconscious mind deluding the conscious self. Pinker’s god helmet had feelings of something beyond themselves but this was electromagnetic fields in the helmet not God

Question 21

name of helmet experiment and researcher

Answer 21

Pinker’s God Helmet

Question 22

weakness of mystical experiences: ineffability

Answer 22

difficult to describe, could be a lack of suitable language to describe them rather than an indication of similarity

Question 23

weakness of mystical experiences: change in character

Answer 23

character change could be due to several factors or non-religious influences. its possible for novel or film to have a similar impact, can’t determine what caused the change.