Religious Experience

Answer : According to Plato, the soul consists of three basic energies which animate human beings: Reason, Emotion, and Appetite. Reason is given the greatest value, while Emotion and especially Appetite are regarded as the “lower passions”. The soul that is ordered is governed by Reason, and therefore keeps one’s emotions and one’s appetites under control. The lower passions must submit to the dictates of Reason. The psychic harmony of the soul, according to Plato, expresses itself in four cardinal virtues, which are each related to the three basic energies of the soul. In relation to Reason, the happy or just person possesses Wisdom (or prudence). In relation to Emotion, the just person has the virtue of Courage. In relation to Appetite, the just person owns the virtue of Temperance, which is the control of natural desires. Flowing outward from this psychic harmony is the fourth cardinal virtue, Justice. Wisdom, Courage and Temperance are directly related to one’s own self-control; Justice flows outward from this harmony, and is directed towards other people through acts of charity and kindness. In Indian context Atman is the immortal aspect of the mortal existence, the self, which is hidden in every object of creation including man. It is the microcosm, representing the macrocosm in each of us, imparting to us divine qualities and possibilities and providing us with the reason to exist and experience the pains and pleasures of earthly life. Atman is Brahman Itself, the very Self which descends down into the elements of nature through self-projection and participates itself in the game of self-induced illusion and pure Delight. But bound by the senses and limited by the sensory knowledge and sensory perceptions, we, the jivas, do not perceive the truth. We go out, get involved and in the process forget who we are. It is like a man who travels out into distant lands and forgets his roots or his homeland. The Self is the silent partner in all our deeds and experiences, the observer and the indweller of all embodied beings. Its nature cannot be explained or described in human language adequately, as it is beyond the senses and the mind. There the eyes cannot travel, nor speech nor mind. Nor do we know how to explain it to the disciples. It is other than the known and beyond the unknown. The connection between the outer and the inner worlds is not direct and straight. There are many intermittent stages to pass through and conditions to achieve and obstacles to over come before reaching the final goal. In Mandukya Upanishad, we are told that the self is four fold:

1. The wakeful Vaishwanara, the Universal Male (the ego),
2. The dreaming Taijasa, the enjoyer of subtle objects and the Lord of the luminous mind, (the astral),
3. The mysterious Pragna, the deep Sleeper and the Lord of Wisdom and
4. Atman the eternal, the Incommunicable, the end of phenomena, Brahman Itself.

Answer : A religious experience is when a person believes they have had an experience of God, or another religious figure. Religious experiences can range from God actually speaking to a person, to someone being aware of God’s presence, to an experience of another religious figure, or even a miracle. Therefore, religious experiences are not easily categorized as one thing or another. However, what we might say is common to all of them is that they are somewhat extraordinary events, and very different to ordinary everyday experiences. Religious experiences should be distinguished from paranormal events. Although both are considered to be extra-ordinary, they are different in terms of whom or what causes them. For example, a paranormal experience such as a chair moving across the floor on its own is not usually considered to be an act of God, but that of a poltergeist (or ghost). As such, a supernatural experience which has no religious connection is more likely to be a paranormal occurrence. Religious experiences can happen to anyone, anywhere and at any time. Although religious experiences are somewhat unique, it is not uncommon for them to occur in some very ordinary places. There are some features that make religious experience different from other experiences. These are:

Numinous: The sense of ‘awe and wonder’ a person may feel when they experience the presence of God in a certain place or building. It usually describes the feeling (or realization) that God is very different from us - powerful and awesome.

Miracles: A miracle occurs when God acts in the world in a special way. Miracles are said to be things God does, which go against the laws of nature. People who believe God exists, usually believe God can and does work miracles. For example, miracles which involve healing the sick are often believed to be the result of prayer.

Mystical Experiences: Some people claim to have experienced God in such an intense way, that they have literally been in the presence of God. Some people also believe they have become one with God at certain times. People who claims have such experiences are often called Mystics. It is common for Mystics to use a variety of spiritual techniques, such as meditation, to come into the presence of God in this special way. Evidence for religious experiences are:

1. People have often done amazing things because they believe God told them to.
2. People have sometimes converted to a different religion on the basis of a religious experience.
3. People have been miraculously healed, usually said to be God answering prayer.
4. Holy Books have many examples of religious experiences recorded in them.

Answer : Religious experience means an encounter with the divine in a way analogous to encounters with other persons and things in the world. In the second case, reference is made not to an encounter with a divine being but rather to the apprehension of a quality of holiness or rightness in reality or to the fact that all experience can be viewed in relation to the ground from which it springs. In short, religious experience means both, special experience of the divine or ultimate and the viewing of any experience as pointing to the divine or ultimate.

“Religious experience” was not widely used as a technical term prior to the publication of The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) by William James, an eminent U.S. psychologist and philosopher, but the interpretation of religious concepts and doctrines in terms of individual experience reaches back at least to 16th-century Spanish mystics and to the age of the Protestant Reformers. A number of controversial issues have emerged from these studies, involving not only different conceptions of the nature and structure of religious experience but also different views of the manner in which it is to be evaluated and the sort of evaluation possible from the standpoint of a given discipline. Four such issues are basic:

1. whether religious experience points to special experiences of the divine or whether any experience may be regarded as religious by virtue of becoming related to the divine;
2. the kinds of differentia that can serve to distinguish religion or the religious from both secular life and other forms of spirituality, such as morality and art;
3. whether religious experience can be understood and properly evaluated in terms of its origins and its psychological or sociological conditions or is sui generis, calling for interpretation in its own terms; and
4. whether religious experience has cognitive status, involving encounter with a being, beings, or a power transcending human consciousness, or is merely subjective and composed entirely of ideas and feelings that have no reference beyond themselves.

Proponents of mysticism, such as Rudolf Otto, Rufus Jones, and W.T. Stace, have maintained the validity of immediate experience of the divine; theologians such as Emil Brunner have stressed the self-authenticating character of man’s encounter with God; naturalistically oriented psychologists, such as Freud and J.H. Leuba, have rejected such claims, explaining religion in psychological and genetic terms as a projection of human wishes and desires.

Philosophers such as William James, Josiah Royce, William E. Hocking, and Wilbur M. Urban have represented an idealist tradition in interpreting religion, stressing the concepts of purpose, value, and meaning as essential for understanding the nature of God. Naturalist philosophers, of whom John Dewey was typical, have focused on the “religious” as a quality of experience and an attitude toward life that is more expressive of the human spirit than of any supernatural reality. Logical Empiricists, of whom A.J. Ayer has been typical, have held that religious and theological expressions are without literal significance, because there is no way in which they can be either justified or falsified (refuted). On this view, religious experience is entirely emotive, lacking all cognitive value. Analytic philosophers following the lead of Ludwig Wittgenstein, an Austrian-British thinker, approach religious experience through the structure of religious language, attempting to discover exactly how this language functions within the community of believers who use it.

Answer : The German thinker Rudolf Otto argues that there is one common factor to all religious experience, independent of the cultural background. He identifies this experience as the numinous in his book The Idea of the Holy. Otto, not be strictly defined since the numinous is that in which all religious experiences are defined. The numinous can only be evoked or awakened in the mind. The numinous is a realm or dimension of reality, which is mysterious, awe-inspiring and fascinating. Otto states that the best expression for the numinous is the Latin phrase ‘mysterium tremendum’ - a magnificent mystery. The mystery is the ‘Wholly Other’, beyond apprehension and comprehension. It is expressed in the idea of ‘the wrath of God’ in the Old Testament and is connected with the consciousness of the absolute superiority and supremacy of a power other than oneself.

Otto sees the numinous as the only possible religious experience. He states: “There is no religion in which it [the numinous] does not live as the real innermost core and without it no religion would be worthy of the name”. Mystical experiences are in many ways the opposite of numinous experiences. In the mystical experience, all ‘otherness’ disappear and the believer becomes one with the transcendent. The believer discovers that he or she is not distinct from the cosmos, the deity or the other reality, but one with it. Zaehner has identified two distinctively different mystical experiences: natural and religious mystical experiences. Natural mystical experiences are, for example, experiences of the ‘deeper self’ or experiences of oneness with nature. Zaehner argues that the experiences typical of ‘natural mysticism’ are quite different from the experiences typical of religious mysticism. Natural mystical experiences are not considered to be religious experiences because they are not linked to a particular tradition, but natural mystical experiences are spiritual experiences that can have a profound effect on the individual.

Answer : A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates (laity) and, in some traditions, ordained clergies. Religious orders exist in many of the world's religions. To believe in religion or being religious is the first prerequisite to be a part of a religious order. By being religious or having faith in some or the other for of religion takes one to obey a particular religious order.

Though it may not be obligatory on the part of a religious person to get identified with a religious order but without having associated with any such order he may fail to be recognized on the religious basis. This may give rise to a problem for him in the society in one way or the other. Therefore it is commonly seen that believers in God usually tend to associate themselves with a sect whichever it is. Moreover there is one more aspect of this story. An individual may willingly keep himself aloof from any religious order but the people belonging to the other faith brand the individual of a particular faith. Thus logically it is possible to remain religious without being a part of a particular religious order, pragmatism says otherwise. In day to day life it is practically really difficult for a person to remain aloof from a religious order.

Answer : Mystical experiences tend to be experiences felt or experienced beyond the realms of ordinary consciousness. Occasionally they are referred to as states of altered consciousness. Such states may involve ineffable awareness of time, space, and physical reality. Mystical experiences often defy physical description, and can best be only hinted at. Such experiences are universal and share common characteristics, despite the culture or religion in which they occur. They are invariably spiritual, yet they may not be religious; that is, they are not limited to monks or priests. However, all personal religious experiences are rooted in mystical states of consciousness, and all mystical experiences are part of religions. Although mystical experiences are common in occurrence, they occur unbidden to a person perhaps once or twice in a lifetime, if at all. William James, psychologist and philosopher, identified four general characteristics of mystical experiences:

1. Ineffability: Mystical states are more like states of feeling than intellect, subtle shaded with fine nuances that are difficult to convey in their import and grandeur to another. Consequently, much mystical literature is filled with paradoxes and symbolism.
2. Noetic quality: Mystical experiences are states of knowledge, insight, awareness, revelation, and illumination beyond the grasp of the intellect. There is awareness of unity with the Absolute, of immorality of the soul, of great truths. Time and space are transcended.
3. Transiency: Mystical experiences are fleeting in linear time, though they seem to be eternal. Most last a few seconds, some perhaps up to ten minutes. It is rare to sustain a mystical state for more than a half-hour, or perhaps one to two hours at best. Eastern adepts are able to sustain prolonged periods of Samadhi, a mystical state of one-pointed concentration; and some reportedly are able to sustain the highest states of nirvana and even the rarely attained Nirodh.
4. Passivity: The individual feels swept up and held by a superior power. This may be accompanied by a sensation of separation from bodily consciousness (similar to an out-of-body experience, trance, or such phenomena as automatisms, mediumistic trance, healing powers, visions, and voices. Such phenomena are regarded in Eastern thought as states of pseudo-enlightenment, partway up to the real thing, but not quite there.

According to James and others mystical experiences vary in intensity. In their simplest form they appear to the individual as a sudden burst of intelligence or insight; similar to the way the significance of a maximum or formula becomes clear, to a person, which causes him to express an aha! James also classed déjà vu as a simple mystical experience. Other insights have increased meaning such as the bursts of truths that are accompanied by dreamy states and reveries, and then there is the maximum state when the individual experiences the ecstasy of being in union with the Absolute, or God. Like mysticism, the union with the Absolute may be sought either as monistic mysticism or theistic mysticism. In the first category both unity and identity with God is sought, while in the latter only unity is sought. However, others have defined this maximum state of mysticism as being aware of the "cosmic consciousness," or being aware of the consciousness of the cosmos and of the life and order of the universe. Some mystical experiences, which are in the minority, occur spontaneously. They usually occur when the person is alone and in a relaxed mental state.

Many things can produce mystical experiences such as dreams, words, phrases, music, art, sounds, smells, daydreaming, the play of light upon land and sea, nature, or a near-death experience. Other techniques including hypnosis, autohypnosis, floatation tanks and sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, fasting, chanting, dancing, breath control, sexual rites, yoga, and meditation are used to produce mystical experiences. Most are caused for spiritual and/or religious reasons. Various cultures, religions and sects have their own similar and diverse reasons for wanting to attain mystical experiences. As it is controversially argued that mystical experiences achieved through the use of alcohol and psychedelic drugs have no lasting value, it might also be argued that self-induced mystical experiences serve little purpose. It might be prudent to examine such instances on a case-to-case basis to determine both the cause and legitimacy of the experience. For example, one person might join in the use of a psychedelic drugs so he might experience seeing colors differently, which has a profound effect on him because he has experienced a difference sphere of vision that he does not forget. Another person may experience a similar experience but receives no profound effect because he feels the experience just places him in the same status as his peers. The basis for determining the legitimacy or value of a mystical experience seems to be the after effect. Frequently this is seen by a change in the lifestyle of the person who had the mystical experience. After the experience the individual is filled with a sense of well-being, joy, and optimism. Such ecstasy, claim some Christian mystics, can reach such heights that it becomes almost unbearable when changing into torment and pain.

with severe qualifications. We cannot say when the church will be victorious or when the second coming of church will inoculate a new era. And it is impossible to be sure that one has prayed in the right spirit. In any event the issue of whether belief about god is empirically testable to some extent is by no means easily answered.

Answer : The term "mysticism" is used to refer to beliefs and practices which go beyond the liturgical and devotional forms of worship of mainstream faith, often by seeking out inner or esoteric meanings of conventional religious doctrine. For example, Kabbalah (based in Judaism) seeks out deeper interpretations of the Torah, Sufism (in Islam) extends and amplifies the teachings of the Quran in the spirit of universal love, Vedanta reaches for the inner teachings of Hindu philosophy encapsulated in the Vedas. Mystics hold that there is a deeper or more fundamental state of existence beneath the observable, day-to-day world of phenomena, and that in fact the ordinary world is superficial or epiphenomenal. Often mysticisms center on the teachings of individuals who are considered to have special insight, and in some cases - Christianity, Buddhism, Mosaic Law, entire non-mystical (doctrine-based) faiths have arisen around these leaders and their teachings, with few or no mystical practitioners remaining. Different faiths have differing relationships to mystical thought.

Hinduism has many mystical sects, in part due to its historic reliance on gurus (individual teachers of insight) for transmission of its philosophy. Mysticism in Buddhism is largely monastic, since most Buddhists consider Dhyana (meditation) to be an advanced technique used only after many lifetimes. Mysticisms generally hold to some form of immanence, since their focus on direct realization obviates many concerns about the afterlife, and this often conflicts with conventional religious doctrines. Mystical teachings are passed down through transmission from teacher to student, though the relationship between student and teacher varies: some groups require strict obedience to a teacher, others carefully guard teachings until students are deemed to be ready, in others a teacher is merely a guide aiding the student in the process. Logic on the other hand is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and inference. Logic concerns the structure of statements and arguments, in formal systems of inference and natural language. Topics include validity, fallacies and paradoxes, reasoning using probability and arguments involving causality. Logic is also commonly used today in argumentation theory. Therefore mysticism has no place one tries to fit into the realm of logic. Mystic claims can't give any objective proof for their mystic feelings or experiences though they claim it to be objective and true also.

Answer : This is a belief in or the pursuit in the unification with the One or some other principle; the immediate consciousness of God; or the direct experience of religious truth. Mysticism is nearly universal and unites most religions in the quest for divinity. It can also be a sense of mystical knowledge. In areas of the occult and psychic it denotes an additional domain of esoteric knowledge and paranormal communication. Even though it is thought that just monks and ascetics can become mystics, mysticism usually touches all people at least once in their lives. The term "mysticism" comes from the classical Greco-Roman mystery cults. Perhaps it came from myein meaning "to close the lips and eyes, and refers to the sacred oath of the initiates, to keep secret about the inner workings of the religion." In Neo-platonism "mysticism" came to be associated with secrecy of any kind. Despite the various approaches to mysticism it seems to possess some common characteristics. Such were the findings of the philosopher W. T. Stace, who discovered seven common themes of mysticism when studying Roman Catholic, Protestant, ancient classical, Hindu, and American agnostic mystical experiences.

They were (1) a unifying vision and perception of the One by the senses and through many objects; (2) the apprehension of the One as an inner life; (3) and objective and true sense of reality; (4) feelings of satisfaction, joy, and bliss; (5) a religious element that is a feeling of the holy and sacred; (6) a paradoxical feeling; (7) and inexpressible feelings. From the above it can easily be seen that mysticism is not the same to every person experiencing it. Therefore, there are various kinds or types. Various mystics subscribe to one of two theories of Divine Reality: emanation or immanence. In the emanation view, all things in the universe are overflowing from God. In the immanence view, the universe is not projected from God, but is immersed in God. Mysticism is usually thought of as being of a religious nature, which can be either monistic or theistic. The objective of monistic mysticism is to seek unity and identity with a universal principle; while theistic mysticism seeks unity, but not identity, with God. The ultimate expression of monistic mysticism is perhaps best displayed in the Upanishads of India, as in the concepts of "I am Brahman" (the all-pervading principle) and tat tram asi "that thou art," meaning that the soul is the eternal and Absolute Being. Monistic mysticism is also found in Taoism,, which seeks unity with Tao, the ineffable way. Theistic mysticism, unity with God, characterizes Christianity, Judaism (in the Kabbalah), and Islam (the Sufi sect), and is also found in Hinduism.