William James Mystical experiences
- Created by: daisybalsh
- Created on: 23-05-18 20:42
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- William James Mystical experiences
- Mystical experiences
- Direct & intimate experience of God
- Spiritual recognition of truths beyond normal understanding
- Closest a person can get to actually meeting God
- Knowledge of ultimate reality is gained - knowledge normally hidden from human intellect
- Sense of freedom for the limitations of time, space and the human ego is experienced
- Sense of oneness or unity with the divine
- Sense of bliss or serenity is experienced
- William James
- Sympathetic to religion but not religious
- Applied insights of science - particularly psychology
- Conclusion
- Cause of experiences which people seem to have & are affected by is real; if that cause is believed to be God - then God exists
- Does not prove God of classical theism, but just God in sense of source of the religious experience
- Those who have claimed to have religious experiences seem to be generally more fulfilled and purposeful in their understanding of world & their place in it, than those who subscribe to atheist theories
- If something is true it is likely to improve someone's life, whereas if something is false is more likely to restrict and damage a person's life
- Characteristics
- Ineffability
- The experience cannot be communicated in normal speech
- Descriptions offered are meaningless to a listener who has no experienced mystical experience
- Private events
- Example - Tennyson - after a religious experience - 'I am ashamed of my feeble description. This state is utterly beyond words.
- Noetic quality
- Bring the mind knowledge & understanding
- Insights into unobtainable truths - not through intellect but through intuition & perception
- Intuitive understanding & realisation of truth
- Example - Julian of Norwich
- Transciency
- Most religious experiences only last a limited amount of time - between a few minutes & 2 hours
- With time, it becomes more difficult to remember
- Has a life transforming effect
- Passivity
- While undergoing experiences, one loses control to a more powerful being (God) and is overwhelmed
- May result in unusual activity e.g. Teresa of Availa is said to have levitated
- Ineffability
- Mystical experiences
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