Religious Experience
Numinosity
Mystical Experience
Feeling of presence of awesome power
Often contain voices or visions
Feeling of distinctly separate
Involves spiritual recognition of truths beyond
normal understanding
Some classify numinosity as a feature
Features
Some classify it as a type which can be contrasted
with mystical experience
Knowledge of ‘ultimate reality’ gained
Rudolph Otto
Sense of freedom from limitations of time and
space
The idea of the Holy (1936)
Sense of ‘oneness’ with divine
‘numinous’ = otherness
Sense of bliss or serenity
Religion must derive from a being totally separate
William James
In presence of that being numinosity is experienced
Famous commentator on religious experience
But many say God is not impersonal
The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)
Martin Buber (1878-1965)
Four characteristics of mystical experience
Stress personal relationship and concept of
numinous
Ineffability
God can reveal himself on personal level
Noetic Quality
Can understand God through other people and
nature
Transciency
Passivity
‘In each Thou we address the Eternal Thou.’
William James
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55)
Ineffability
Supported Buber position
Religious experiences tend to be private events
(or the other way round, note dates)
Consist of indescribable sensations
Saw faith as a miracle
St Teresa of Avila
Can only know God through leap of faith
Faith arises through experience, including religious
experience
‘I wish I could give a description of at least the
smallest part of what I learned, but, when I try to
discover a way of doing so, I find it impossible.’
Individual knowledge of God can vary
William James
Depends on:
Noetic Quality
Personal level of faith
Provide insights into unobtainable truths
Personal denomination of faith
Knowledge acquired through intuition and
perception
Type of faith
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Religious Experience
William James
The Mysticism of Knowledge and Understanding
Transciency
Another urge
Most religious experiences last between a few
minutes and 2 hours
We want to know the ‘secret of the universe’ (the
meaning of life)
But, the significance and effects are out of
proportion to duration
We can look for this through experiential knowledge
of God
Dreaming for a few minutes can seem like hours
William James
Whereas most philosophers play games of
‘conceptual counters’ this knowledge is gained
through intuition
Passivity
James’ idea of noetic quality
Sense of loss of control to higher being
F.C.Happold
Taking on of different personalities
As well as two ‘types’ of mysticism Happold says
there are three aspects
E.g. writing with wrong hand speaking in an
unlearned language
Soul-mysticism
F.C.Happold (1893-1971)
Nature-mysticism
Mysticism – A study and an Anthology (1963)
God-mysticism
Sought to provide context in which to discuss
mystical experiences
F.C.Happold
Soul-mysticism
Two types
Soul is hidden or numinous
The Mysticism of Love and Union
Mystical experience is therefore ‘finding the soul’
The Mysticism of Knowledge and Understanding
Looking for self-fulfilment
F.C.Happold
This form of mysticism does not deal with God
The Mysticism of Love and Union
F.C.Happold
The longing to escape ‘separateness’
Nature-mysticism
Or a desire for union with God
God is immanent
He is everywhere
We are governed by two urges
The desire to be an individual (separation)
A motion and a spirit
The desire to be accepted (to be part of something
bigger than ourselves)
That impels all thinking things
This is because we are sharers in ‘the Divine Life’
All objects of all thought
F.C.Happold
And rolls through all things
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Religious Experience
Wordsworth
Emotional excitement can change our primary aim
from day to day
F.C.Happold
God-mysticism
People prone to emotional excitement find it
difficult to focus on any one aim
A desire to return to ones ‘immortal and infinite
Ground, which is God’
If a permanent shift of focus is observed it may well
be a conversion experience
Idea that human soul is ‘deified’
If the excitement is caused by something religious
then it can be classed as a religious conversion
Becomes God whilst retaining own identity
Often neither the subject nor the observer can say
what caused the emotional excitement
E.g. Sufi Muslims
Voices and Visions
Conversion experiences
Mystical experiences often feature voices and or
visions
Prof. Edwin D. Starbuck
For example
Noted that all adolescents go through symptoms
similar to a religious experience
Conversion of St Paul (Acts 9)
Caused by feelings of
Julian of Norwich 14th 15th century female mystic
Incompleteness and imperfection, brooding
depression etc
And he showed me more, a little thing, the size of a
hazelnut, on the palm of my hand, round like a ball.
I looked at it thoughtfully and wondered, ‘What is
this?’ And the answer came, ‘It is all that is made.’
So adolescents who claim to have a religious
experience could simply be shifting their feelings to
religion
Conversion experiences
Conversion is
Starbuck noted though that theology shortened the
period of storm and stress
Regeneration
Conversion experiences
Assurance of divine truth
William James
Greater understanding of faith
Noted that some people will never turn to religion
Adopting religious attitudes and way of life
Maybe cynical
Conversion experiences
Hindered by pessimistic beliefs
Psychological Background to Conversion
Some are temporally inhibited
Each person has a number of aims/ideas in their
mind ranked by importance
Refuse to believe but change their mind
Conversion experiences
Which aim is of paramount importance at any one
time depends on circumstances
Types of conversion
Volitional
A Transformation is when one aim establishes
permanent priority
Gradual change
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Religious Experience
But may one day suddenly become aware of it
Revolves around lifestyle rather that intellectual
thought
Self-surrender
James H. Leuba gives an example
Involuntary
Usually two things are important in conversion
‘Swearing Tom’ went to church, took note of what
the preacher said, went home – avoiding the pup on
the way – and became ‘Praying Tom’.
Present sins with a desire to change
Conversion experiences
Positive changes to be made
Social conversion
Unconscious experience
Takes place slowly in subconscious
Conversion experiences
Followed by a rapid sudden change
Permanency
An example would be the conversion of St Paul on
the road to Damascus
Often converts have little knowledge of what they
have converted to
Conversion experiences
As knowledge is gained so problems are
encountered
William James’ conclusions
Some will effectively convert back to their old ways
The gradual volitional change is most like to hold
For Methodists, salvation only comes to those who
go through a conversion experience
Conversion experiences
A sudden conversion is like a miracle
Examples of conversion
Even a conversion that seems natural is inspired by
the divine
Sudden conversion is very real to the individual
Intellectual
Corporate Revelations
Moral
Toronto Blessing
Social
Started on 10 January 1994
Conversion experiences
Toronto Airport Vineyard Church
Intellectual conversion
Since then has spread around the world
Conflict between systems of thought
Said to be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit
One becomes ‘true’ and one ‘false’
Effects are
Can be between religious and non-religious ideas
Falling in the spirit
Can be between two different religious ideas
Shaking
Conversion experiences
Weeping
Moral conversion
laughter
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