Religious Experience Flashcards
What is a religious experience(stanford dictionary definition)?
-subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework
-this concept originated in the 19th century, as a defence against the growing rationalism of western society
What are the 3 types of religious experience on the specification
1.visions
2.numinous experiences
3.mystical experiences
What are the 3 types of visions?
corporeal visions
imaginative visions
intellectual visions
What is a corporeal vision?
-empirical experiences(involve our 5 senses)
-involving sense experience particularly vision and hearing
-The experiencer can interact with what is seen and heard
Give an example of a corporeal vision
-St Bernadette experienced a vision of a ‘small young lady’
-She claimed to have experienced 18 visions in total in the course of which the lady identified herself as the ‘Immaculate Conception’(the Virgin Mary)
-The visionary experience was corporeal since Bernadette saw the physical body of Mary
What is an imaginative vision
-Seen by the eye of the mind rather than by direct sight, usually in dreams and are beyond the control of the experiencer
Give an example of an imaginative vision
Joseph’s dream on Matthew 2
The effects of the vision was dramatic; it lead Joseph to stay with Mary even though he was going to leave her as a result of her pregnancy out of wedlock
What is an intellectual vision?
-It has no image
-Those who experience this kind of vision claim to ‘see’ things as they really are
Give an example of an intellectual vision
St Teresa of Avila claimed to ‘see’ Jesus when she was in prayer.
Teresa was afraid at first but as Jesus spoke to her, she felt calm and comforted
She said she saw him as he really was, not as an image but as a presence
What is a numinous experience
An experience of awe and wonder in the presence of an almighty and transcendent God
It is an awareness of human nothingness when faced with a holy and powerful being
Who is Rudolph Otto?
He was a protestant theologian who used his vast knowledge of sciences, comparative religion and oriental traditions to try to analyse religion
In ‘The Idea of the Holy’-Otto tried to identify what it was about a religious experience that made it religious rather than just an experiment
He wanted to show that it was fundamental to religion that individuals should have a personal encounter with nature. That encounter would involve a sense of awe and mystery; a feeling of strangeness
What did Otto say regarding religious experiences ?
“There is no religion in which it does not live as the innermost core snd without it no religion would be worthy of the name”
Who is Otto influenced by?
Schleimacher
Who is Schleiemacher and what were his beliefs?
-a theologian
-religious experience is ‘self-authenticating’:
it requires no other testing to see if it is genuine.
-In the Roman Catholic tradition, the experiences of mystics had to be tested against the Church’s teaching and against Scripture before they were considered to be genuine, whereas in Schleiermacher’s view, the experiences should have priority and the statements of belief should be formulated to fit them.
What is a numinous experience?
-numinous feelings are even more beyond rational description. We are left, then, with a ‘mysterium tremendum et fascinans’ - a ‘tremendous and fascinating mystery.
-it is tremendous power can chill and numb. It inspires feelings of awe and majesty, alongside dread, fear and terror. Its energy is like the overpowering rush of a tide.
-it is a feeling of awe and holiness
How does Otto describe a numinous experience?
a “non rational, non sensory experience or feeling whose primary and immediate object is outside the self”-Rudolph Otto
Explain Otto’s idea of the holy
-Religious experiences are encounters with the Holy, as in the call experiences of Moses and Isaiah.
-Encounters with the Holy are numinous, which Otto claims is common to all religious experiences, regardless of religion or culture.
Explain how the story of the ‘Call of Moses’ in Exodus 3:3-6 encapsulates Otto’s idea of the holy.
This is the story of Moses and the burning bush. It is said that “Moses hid his face- for he was afraid to look at God”
Here, Moses is completely captivated and is in awe simply by the presence of God.
Explain the concept of the numinous as the ‘mysterium tremendum et fascinans’
The numinous focuses on God as transcendent: above and beyond space and time. God is so far removed from humanity that we have no choice but to approach God with numinous awe, dread, fear and terror. The creature is overwhelmed by its own nothingness by comparison with the Holy Spirit.
What are the 3 main qualities that Otto recognised God as having?
-A mysterious quality, a realisation that God is incomprehensible, that God can be met and his work can be seen and yet that God can never be captured, fully understood or described.
-God is recognised as being of ultimate importance.
-God has a quality that is both attractive and dangerous. Otto tried to explain the feeling that God cannot be controlled, but that at the same time the individual feels a sense of privilege during a religious experience.
What does the term “wholly other” mean?
He explores the idea of the numinous to describe an encounter with God, an encounter with the wholly other.
The term ‘wholly other’ signifies that God is not a being among beings but rather of a completely different order from anything in ordinary experience.
Who is William James?
An American philosopher who wrote the ‘The Varieties of Religious Experience’ which contains his analysis of mystical experiences
What does James’ analysis show?
-James asserted that the effects of religious experience prove the existence of God stating that “God is real since he produces real effects”
-It outlines four characteristics of mystical experiences that distinguish them from other religious experiences.
In James’ research what did he mean by: Religious experience is primary, and comes from a factually existing God
We do not have religious experiences as the result of belonging to any particular religion or Church; rather, organised religion is one response to the religious experiences of our ancestors
In James’ research what did he mean by: Although God exists factually, God is not the god being described by Judaeo-Christian teaching
-James’ views on God are not given as a structured study, but they become apparent by reading his various works on religion.
- does not see God as necessarily being omnipotent (all-powerful), so God is likely to be finite rather than infinite.
-God does not have to be a single entity, but could be a collection of god-like selves.
- interacts with ourselves in time, so is probably temporal (existing in time), and finite, not knowing the future
In James’ research what does experience teach us about religious life?
It involves 3 beliefs
-The most significant thing about the visible world we inhabit is that it draws its chief significance from a more spiritual universe (the realm of God).
-The true end of humanity is union (or harmonious relation) with that higher universe.
-Prayer or inner communion with God is efficacious (it works). Spiritual communion with God through prayer produces real psychological or material effects in this world.
In James’ research what do the psychological benefits of this kind of spiritual communion include?
-an energetic zest for life, from which people can feel a kind of ‘lyrical enchantment’ or can be inspired to do heroic deeds.
-an assurance of safety, peace, and loving affection.
What are the 4 ‘marks’ of mystical experiences according to William James?
PINT
Passivity
Ineffability
Noetic quality
Transiency
What is Passivity?
For William James - an aspect of mystical religious experiences, that the experiencer does not control the experience but is controlled by it.
What is Ineffability?
For William James - an aspect of mystical religious experience - that means the experience cannot be described in words. It cannot be transferred to others as it is a direct experience, just like no feeling can be understood by somebody else e.g. love.
What is Noetic quality ?
For William James - an aspect of mystical religious experience - that such experiences are states of knowledge as well as feelings, but the knowledge is spiritual and non-transferable as well as authoritative.
What is Transiency?
For William James - an aspect of mystical religious experience - that they generally last no more than half an hour, perhaps two hours at the most, although the effects are long-lasting, especially with recurrent experiences.
What are the 2 marks that are the most significant in describing a mystical experience?
Ineffability and noetic quality
In James’ research what did he mean by:There is a wide range of mystical experiences, ranging from those with little religious significance to those in which the religious element is extreme
-He uses the example of strangely moving power of bits of poetry or music. Has your scalp ever tingled when listening to one of these?
- He moves on to drug-induced states, which he sees as a special state of consciousness. While some would regard drug-induced religious experiences as necessarily false, for James they are clearly not, because they do what all mystical experiences do - they give the experiencer access to different levels of consciousness.
In James’ research what did he mean by: the point of mystical experiences is that God meets the individual ‘on the basis of his personal concerns’
-According to William James, reality for us is on the level of the personal and private, and not on the level of the cosmic and the general.
-For one kind of individual, for example, God will be the God of battles; for another, God will be the God of peace, heaven and home, and God will be whatever it is that ‘saves’ the individual.
When evaluating William James, how have recent researchers critiqued James’ four marks?
They have tried to demonstrate that these are not really adequate when describing religious experiences
What do scholars try to pick on to show the inadequacy of James’ four marks?
-Some have tried to show that ordinary experiences can be passive, noetic, transient and ineffable (examples might be giving birth or experiencing intense pain).
-If an ‘ordinary’ experience can be shown to share the qualities of a ‘religious’ experience then, it is argued, William James has failed to capture anything specific about a religious experience.
-Other scholars pick on one of the four markers and try to show that some religious experiences do not share this quality.
Who is Walter Stace?
-He was a British philosopher who was well known for his ideas on mysticism
-In common with William James, Stace saw little point in trying to prove the existence of God through reason.
What did Walter Stace say about asking for proof of the existence of God?
‘Either God is a mystery or He is nothing at all. To ask for proof of the existence of God is on par with asking for proof of the existence of beauty’
What is the list that Stace produced in 1960 of what he claims are universal features of religious experiences?
-Includes the experience of a unifying vision, timelessness and spacelessness, a sense of reality, a feeling of blessedness, joy or peace, a feeling of the sacred, something which defies logic and the sense of loss of self.
What are Stace’s 8 arguments about mysticism?
Explain Stace’s ‘non sensuous and non intellectual’ argument about mysticism
Stace defines mysticism as ‘non-sensuous and non-intellectual union with the divine. In its highest form, the senses cease to work, and the rational intellect - the conscious I’- ceases to work as well, being replaced by ‘pure consciousness’
Explain Stace’s ‘mysticism has nothing to do with mystery ’ argument about mysticism
a ‘parapsychological phenomena’, such as telepathy, telekinesis and clairvoyance wouldn’t count
Explain Stace’s ‘Visions and voices are not mystical experiences ’ argument about mysticism
A genuine mystical experience is non-sensuous, having no form, shape, colour, smell or sound. A vision, by definition, includes visual experiences including colour and shape, and a voice includes auditory experience. So visions and voices are sensuous experiences.
Explain Stace’s ‘they involve the apprehension of an ultimate non-sensuous unity ’ argument about mysticism
-They have an appreciation that everything is interwoven and connected in the same way
-They have a oneness to which neither the senses nor the reason can penetrate
Explain Stace’s ‘extrovertive and introvertive’ argument about mysticism
-The extrovertive mystic still sees the world of normal objects, such as trees and tables, with his physical senses, but these objects are transfigured so that the non-sensuous unity shines through them.
- The introvertive mystic, by contrast, achieves the total suppression of sense-experience in which awareness of the world is completely obliterated.
-Stace therefore interprets extrovertive mysticism as a kind of ‘half-way house’ towards the introvertive experience.
Briefly describe Stace’s example of an extrovertive experience
Sense experience is still active, but the objects are transfigured so that the non-sensuous unity shines through them.
Briefly describe Stace’s example of an introvertive experience
There is a total suppression of sense experience: the river ceases to exist, and ordinary consciousness ceases to exist. There is no ‘T’, with the ‘l’ being replaced by ‘the peace that passeth all understanding’.
Explain Stace’s ‘common characteristics of an introvertive mystical experience’ argument about mysticism
-The Unitary Consciousness; the One; the Void; pure consciousness
-Nonspatial, nontemporal
-Sense of objectivity or reality
-Blessedness, peace, etc.
-Feeling of the holy, sacred, or divine
-Paradoxicality (seeming to be self-contradictory)
-Alleged by mystics to be ineffable.
What are some challenges of religious experiences?
-Freud, TLE, The God Helmet, Drugs
Explain the ‘Freud’ challenge of religious experiences
-Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and physiologist who argued that religion is wish-fulfilment by the unconscious mind. -The idea of God helps us to control fear of the unknown and of death, but such fears, according to Freud, are infantile and neurotic.
-Where people claim to have religious visions and mystical experiences, these are simply hallucinations caused by our need to have some kind of control over our helpless state.
Suggest a response to the ‘Freud’ challenge of mystical experiences
-God can work through psychological and mental disorders
Explain the ‘TLE’ challenge of religious experiences
People who suffer from temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are sometimes prone to have religious visions and mystical experiences. This suggests that religious experiences are nothing more than abnormal states of the brain
Suggest a response to the ‘TLE’ challenge of religious experiences
God can work through conditions
Explain the ‘drug’ challenge of religious experiences
-Religious experiences can be caused by certain types of drugs
-This is further evidence that religious experiences are nothing more than the product of brain states
Suggest a response to the ‘drug’ challenge of religious experiences
The evidence of neurotheology and hallucinogenic drugs does not mean that the religious experiences are simply states of the brain. God could be choosing to communicate with someone through this as all communication has to be processed by the brain.
Explain the ‘God Helmet’ challenge of religious experiences
The ‘God Helmet’ stimulates the brain in order to create a mystical experience. The implications are that if neuroscience can duplicate several aspects of religious experiences, then this suggests that religious experiences are specific states of the brain and are not experience of God or from God.
Suggest a response to the ‘God Helmet’ challenge
God could have chose for the individuals to have an experience in that way
Suggest some more challenges of religious experiences
-Experiences can be explained medically or psychologically
-The inability to describe mystical experiences suggests they are not real, even James said there was a fine line between mysticism and insanity
Suggest some responses to the challenges of religious experiences
-Just because experiences can be explained medically or psychologically does not mean they are not real
-Ineffability is a key characteristic of mystical experiences in all religions. They are difficult to investigate, but that doesn’t mean they are false.
What does Swinburne say on the probability of God existing?
Swinburne says our experiences of the world suggest that God probably exists and religious experiences are part of this probability argument.
How does Swinburne come up with the principle of credulity ?
Swinburne begins by talking about our ordinary sense experiences, and then moves from these to religious experiences, which is an interesting leap.
How does Swinburne come to the conclusion in the principle of credulity?
-Having an experience of seeing a chair or a table, or of listening to a lecture, is good evidence that I do experience seeing the table and the chair and listening to the lecture.
-From this, Swinburne concludes the following: if it seems… to someone that ‘x’ is present, then ‘x’ probably is present; ‘what one seems to perceive is probably so.’
What does Swinburne say?
‘From this it would follow that, in the absence of special considerations, all religious experiences ought to be taken by their subjects as genuine’
What are the special considerations for the principle of credulity?
-the reliability of the claim
-the truth of the claim
-the difficulty of showing that God was present in the experience
-the possibility that what is claimed can be accounted for in other ways.
Explain the special consideration of the reliability of the claim.
If someone has lied in the past, this is a good basis for presuming they could be lying again
Explain the special consideration of the truth of the claim.
If somebody makes unlikely perceptual claims, such as being able to read text of the size you are reading now at a distance of 100 yards, then his claims about a religious experience are not likely to be true.
Explain the special consideration of the difficulty of showing that God was present in the experience.
The third is the difficulty of showing that God was present in the experience. How can the experiencer do this?
Explain the special consideration of the possibility that what is claimed can be accounted for in other ways.
To use an example from what we have said about scientific challenges to religious experiences, someone who claims to have had a religious experience may be suffering from TLE.
What are Swinburne’s rejections of the special considerations?
-Just because someone has lied in the past, this does not mean that they are Iving now about having a religious experience.
-Again, someone making one claim that is false does not mean that any claim to a religious experience is likely to be untrue.
-God is presumably everywhere, so rather than the onus being on the experiencer to show that God was present, the onus is on the doubter to show that he was not.
-As the Creator, God underpins all processes including those that go on in the brain, so if Go causes an experience through the temporal lobes that would be perfectly normal (as William James would argue).
What is the principle of testimony?
-The counterpart to the Principle of Credulity.
-Swinburne argues that: ‘the experiences of others are (probably) as they report them’:
- if someone tells us they have had a religious experience, it they are normally reliable and honest in what they say, we should believe them
-Again, it is the sceptic’s job to show that religious experiences should be rejected rather than the believer’s job to show that they are true.
What are Swinburne’s conclusions?
-Someone who has had a religious experience of what seems to be God has, by the Principle of Credulity, good reason for believing that there is a God.
-The testimony of others who report similar experiences supports such a claim.
-Without religious experience, the probability of the existence of God is about 50/50. If we add the testimony of religious experience, it becomes greater than 50/50. God probably exists.
