What is Religious Experience?
William James (1842-1910)
Prior to the 19th century the term “religious experience” was used primarily within a theological context. Religious experience was something that happened within the framework of established religion, and as such was not investigated by social scientists as a distinct phenomenon. The American psychologist and philosopher William James was one of the first to discuss religious experience from a perspective external to theology. James considered the religious experience to be a distinct class of experience defined by it’s fruits, that is an experience could be considered genuinely religious if its effects on the experient were seen to be both positive and morally transformative. He reasoned that the characteristics of "philosophical reasonableness and moral helpfulness", when resulting directly from a religious experience, as validational evidence in favour of defining that experience as genuinely religious in nature.
Prior to the 19th century the term “religious experience” was used primarily within a theological context. Religious experience was something that happened within the framework of established religion, and as such was not investigated by social scientists as a distinct phenomenon. The American psychologist and philosopher William James was one of the first to discuss religious experience from a perspective external to theology. James considered the religious experience to be a distinct class of experience defined by it’s fruits, that is an experience could be considered genuinely religious if its effects on the experient were seen to be both positive and morally transformative. He reasoned that the characteristics of "philosophical reasonableness and moral helpfulness", when resulting directly from a religious experience, as validational evidence in favour of defining that experience as genuinely religious in nature.
As a psychologist James was most interested in the private thoughts and feelings associated with religious experience. He did not consider religious experiences to be 'supernatural', but rather a natural fact of human life. In James' view religious tradtions developed around individuals who had encountered religious experiences directly, personal experience therefore lies at the heart of religion and not doctrine or theological speculation.
James took a phenomenological approach to his investigations; he compiled numerous narrative accounts of religious experiences in his classic book 'The Varieties of Religious Experience' (1902). The accounts he accumulated, however, were not representative of gerenal members of the population, instead he chose to analyse only the experiences of well respected and high status "men of genius"; poets, writers and so on. As part of his phenomenologica approach James undertook a comparative analysis of the experiential narratives he collected. In highlighting the similarities between different account of religious, spiritual and mystical experienes, James was proposing what has now been called the "common core hypothesis".
James took a phenomenological approach to his investigations; he compiled numerous narrative accounts of religious experiences in his classic book 'The Varieties of Religious Experience' (1902). The accounts he accumulated, however, were not representative of gerenal members of the population, instead he chose to analyse only the experiences of well respected and high status "men of genius"; poets, writers and so on. As part of his phenomenologica approach James undertook a comparative analysis of the experiential narratives he collected. In highlighting the similarities between different account of religious, spiritual and mystical experienes, James was proposing what has now been called the "common core hypothesis".
Theology
Rudolph Otto (1869-1937)
Rudolph Otto was a German theologian and philosopher who was particularly interested in the issue of religious experience. Having travelled extensively, Otto was aware of the role of religious experience in non-christian traditions and so had a wider perspective than many of his contemporaries. Arguably Otto's greatest contribution to the study of religious experience was his book 'The Idea of the Holy' in which he investigates the non-rational nature of the concept of the divine. In the book Otto attempts to explore the non-rational element of the concept of the 'holy', that is the element of the notion that is free from morality, goodness and other modern additions to the idea. Beneath these rational conceptualizations, Otto suggests, lies a "unique original feeling response, which can be in itself ethically neutral", Otto uses the term numen, or numinous, to describe this sensation:
"I shall speak, then, of a unique 'numinous' category of value and of a definitely 'numinous' state of mind, which is always found wherever the category is applied. This mental stateis perfectly sui generis and irreducible to any other; and therefore, like every absolutely primary and elementary datum,while it admits to being discussed, it cannot be strictly defined" (Otto, 1958, 7)
Otto goes on to attempt to describe the un-definable notion of the numinous through analogies and examples:
"'This X of ours is not precisely this experience, but akin to this one and the opposite of that other. Cannot you now realize for yourself what it is?'In other words our X cannot, strictly speaking, be taught, it can only be evoked, awakened in the mind; as everything that comes 'of the spirit' must be awakened" (ibid.)
Otto identifies two distinct aspects of the numinous, what he terms: mysterium tremendum (the element associated with overwhelming fear and awe of the unknown)and mysterium fascinans (associated with feelings of love, mercy and so on).
Rudolph Otto was a German theologian and philosopher who was particularly interested in the issue of religious experience. Having travelled extensively, Otto was aware of the role of religious experience in non-christian traditions and so had a wider perspective than many of his contemporaries. Arguably Otto's greatest contribution to the study of religious experience was his book 'The Idea of the Holy' in which he investigates the non-rational nature of the concept of the divine. In the book Otto attempts to explore the non-rational element of the concept of the 'holy', that is the element of the notion that is free from morality, goodness and other modern additions to the idea. Beneath these rational conceptualizations, Otto suggests, lies a "unique original feeling response, which can be in itself ethically neutral", Otto uses the term numen, or numinous, to describe this sensation:
"I shall speak, then, of a unique 'numinous' category of value and of a definitely 'numinous' state of mind, which is always found wherever the category is applied. This mental stateis perfectly sui generis and irreducible to any other; and therefore, like every absolutely primary and elementary datum,while it admits to being discussed, it cannot be strictly defined" (Otto, 1958, 7)
Otto goes on to attempt to describe the un-definable notion of the numinous through analogies and examples:
"'This X of ours is not precisely this experience, but akin to this one and the opposite of that other. Cannot you now realize for yourself what it is?'In other words our X cannot, strictly speaking, be taught, it can only be evoked, awakened in the mind; as everything that comes 'of the spirit' must be awakened" (ibid.)
Otto identifies two distinct aspects of the numinous, what he terms: mysterium tremendum (the element associated with overwhelming fear and awe of the unknown)and mysterium fascinans (associated with feelings of love, mercy and so on).
Mysticism
Walter T. Stace (1886-1967)
W.T. Stace was a philosopher with a special interest in mysticism, and the mystical experience in particular. Indeed from his perspective mysticism is the mystical experience itself:
"This is therefore the basic thing on which we have to fasten attention and in terms of which we have to understand the whole subject. Our question "What is mysticism?" really means "What is mystical experience?" (1960, 9)
Stace distinguishes between the mystical experience, as a distinct phenomenological event, and the interpretation that is subsequently placed on that experience by the experient:
"On a dark night out of doors one may see something glimmering white. One person may think it is a ghost. A second person may take it for a sheet hung out on a clothesline. A third person may suppose that it is a white-painted rock. Here we have a single experience with three different interpretations. The experience is genuine but the interpretations may be either true or false. If we are to understand anything at all about mysticism, it is essential that we should make a similar distinction between a mystical experience and the interpretations which may be put upon it eiher by mystics themselves or by non-mystics" (1960, 10)
W.T. Stace was a philosopher with a special interest in mysticism, and the mystical experience in particular. Indeed from his perspective mysticism is the mystical experience itself:
"This is therefore the basic thing on which we have to fasten attention and in terms of which we have to understand the whole subject. Our question "What is mysticism?" really means "What is mystical experience?" (1960, 9)
Stace distinguishes between the mystical experience, as a distinct phenomenological event, and the interpretation that is subsequently placed on that experience by the experient:
"On a dark night out of doors one may see something glimmering white. One person may think it is a ghost. A second person may take it for a sheet hung out on a clothesline. A third person may suppose that it is a white-painted rock. Here we have a single experience with three different interpretations. The experience is genuine but the interpretations may be either true or false. If we are to understand anything at all about mysticism, it is essential that we should make a similar distinction between a mystical experience and the interpretations which may be put upon it eiher by mystics themselves or by non-mystics" (1960, 10)
Natural Theology
Sir Alister C. Hardy (1896 – 1985)
Alister Hardy was an eminent marine biologist whose interest in man's spiritual nature led him to pursue a scientific approach to the study of religious experience. Hardy founded the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre (AHRERC) at the University of Oxford in 1969, which since 2000, has been based at the University of Lampeter. The AHRERC continues Hardy's work through collecting accounts of religious and spiritual experiences.
The archive, by now, houses well over 1,000 descriptive experience narratives collected over the course of the past 40 years. In the early years of the Research Centre, Hardy would send out calls for experience accounts in newspapers and magazines, asking the question:
"Have you ever been aware of or influenced by a presence or power, whether you call it God or not,which is different from your everyday self?"
This question has become known as 'The Hardy Question', and is still utilised (despite slight alterations) by the AHRERC. Today the website of the Research Centre (http://www.lamp.ac.uk/aht/) provides a means for experients to send in accounts of their own experiences with minimal effort. Hardy understood spirituality as an inherent and fundamental aspect of being human, and as such considered spiritual experiences a fact of nature, like any other in biology, that could be investigated using the scientific method:
"science itself, as we know it, cannot deal with the real essence of religion any more than it can touch our appreciation of art, our joy in the beauties of nature or the poetry of human love. We can, however, use the methods of science to make a systematic natural history study of religious experience"
Hardy had an evolutionary perspective on religious experience, suggesting that "the roots of religion" go "much deeper down into biological history than is generally conceded, and that it is part of the very nature of the living stream".
Alister Hardy was an eminent marine biologist whose interest in man's spiritual nature led him to pursue a scientific approach to the study of religious experience. Hardy founded the Alister Hardy Religious Experience Research Centre (AHRERC) at the University of Oxford in 1969, which since 2000, has been based at the University of Lampeter. The AHRERC continues Hardy's work through collecting accounts of religious and spiritual experiences.
The archive, by now, houses well over 1,000 descriptive experience narratives collected over the course of the past 40 years. In the early years of the Research Centre, Hardy would send out calls for experience accounts in newspapers and magazines, asking the question:
"Have you ever been aware of or influenced by a presence or power, whether you call it God or not,which is different from your everyday self?"
This question has become known as 'The Hardy Question', and is still utilised (despite slight alterations) by the AHRERC. Today the website of the Research Centre (http://www.lamp.ac.uk/aht/) provides a means for experients to send in accounts of their own experiences with minimal effort. Hardy understood spirituality as an inherent and fundamental aspect of being human, and as such considered spiritual experiences a fact of nature, like any other in biology, that could be investigated using the scientific method:
"science itself, as we know it, cannot deal with the real essence of religion any more than it can touch our appreciation of art, our joy in the beauties of nature or the poetry of human love. We can, however, use the methods of science to make a systematic natural history study of religious experience"
Hardy had an evolutionary perspective on religious experience, suggesting that "the roots of religion" go "much deeper down into biological history than is generally conceded, and that it is part of the very nature of the living stream".
Neurotheology
Michael Persinger
Neuroscientist Michael Persinger has taken the psychological study of religious experience to new levels in his attempt to uncover the neurophysiological basis of these experiences. In searching for the biology of religious experience Persinger has, to some extent, taken a logical step forward from the ideas of Alister Hardy. Working with the Neuroscience Research Group at Laurentian University, Persinger's work has focused on the simulation of religious and paranormal experiences through stimulating the brains of experimental participants with weak complex magnetic fields. This is achieved with a device known as the 'Koren helment', also known as the 'God helmet'.
Neuroscientist Michael Persinger has taken the psychological study of religious experience to new levels in his attempt to uncover the neurophysiological basis of these experiences. In searching for the biology of religious experience Persinger has, to some extent, taken a logical step forward from the ideas of Alister Hardy. Working with the Neuroscience Research Group at Laurentian University, Persinger's work has focused on the simulation of religious and paranormal experiences through stimulating the brains of experimental participants with weak complex magnetic fields. This is achieved with a device known as the 'Koren helment', also known as the 'God helmet'.
Participants wearing the 'God Helmet' experienced a variety of effects resembling both religious and paranormal experiences. These experiences usually take the form of a sense of presence, e.g. of a spirit, alien or light being, and are often associated with a feeling of fear or unease.