Religious Experience Flashcards
Psychological of physiological
Even if there is a natural cause there may be a supernatural one
Ineffable
The experience is beyond proper description
Noetic quality
The person who has the experience feels that they have gained a deep and direct knowledge of God
Transient
It passes with time, usually lasting for half an hour or less but the effects of the experience may be long lasting
Sense of passivity
The experiencer has a sense that something is acting upon them
Pragmatism
What is ‘true’ is whatever has value for us and works in real life
Empiricism
Although we cannot empirically verify the experience, the result of the experience is empirical data
Pluralism
Similarities even if these experiences may be interpreted differently
Centre of energy
A conversion involves someone altering their beliefs and way of life. (A shifting of energies
Psychology
Subconscious may be active in a similar way to when someone is in a hypnotic state
A basis for god?
Two assumptions need to be made:
1.Experiences are genuine and cannot be explained in a natural way.
2.It is God that is causing these experiences.
Interpretation and conflicting truth claims:
Particularity: Is God showing favouritism?
Logical problems: Kant suggested that religious experience is logically impossible because God is ‘wholly other’.
Psychological explanation
Feuerbach (1804 – 1872) argued that the idea of God is a human invention. All the attributes of God – such as power, knowledge and goodness – can be seen in human nature. We create God in our image – ‘God is man written in large letters’.
•Freud (1856 – 1939) who argues that religious behaviour
was a neurosis caused by childhood insecurities. Religious experiences are hallucinations that are caused by a deep subconscious desire.
A response to psychological explanation
•James argues that even if religious experiences have a psychological explanation, this does not rule out supernatural explanations.
•Jung (1875 – 1961) accepted religious experience. He claimed that each of us has the archetype (idea) of God from within a shared collective unconscious.
•See also Hick ‘experiencing as’ and perception
Physiological explanation
Dawkins (1941-) has suggested that religious ideas may be ‘memes’. These are ideas that as we have evolved have been useful to our survival. Dawkins refers to religious as a ‘virus of the mind’.
•Newberg and D’Aquili: They refer to the ‘causal operator’ and the ‘holistic operator’ which operate within the brains. These seem to show an increased level of activity during meditation.
•Michael Persinger’s experiment involving the ‘God helmet’ has also aroused interest. In this experiment, volunteers wore a helmet that generated a magnetic field around their brain. A significant proportion of the participants reported feelings that were similar to those in religious experiences.
•A response: It may be that God is causing our experiences, and using our brain or ‘holistic operator’ to do it.
