Religious experience

William James Definition

The psychologist and philosopher William James in the book “ The Variety of Religious Experience ” described four main characteristics of religious / mystical experience ^[7] :

• Ineffability . The best criterion for recognizing mystical states of consciousness is the impossibility on the part of the survivor of choosing words to describe them due to the lack of words that can fully express the essence of this kind of experience.
• Intuitiveness (Noetic). Mystical states for those who experience them are a special form of cognition. With the help of these states, a person penetrates into the depths of truths, closed to sober reason. They are revelations, moments of inner enlightenment, immeasurably important for the one who survived them, and over whose life their power remains unshakable to the end.
• Short term (Transient). With rare exceptions, they last from half an hour to two hours, after which they disappear, giving way to ordinary consciousness. After their disappearance, it is difficult to recall their properties in memory, but when they visit a person again, he recognizes them.
• Inaction of the will (Passive). Although mystical states can be triggered arbitrarily, for example, by focusing attention, rhythmic movements, or in some other way, as soon as the state of consciousness has acquired the characteristics characteristic of a given experience, the mystic begins to feel his will as if paralyzed or even in the hands of some higher power .

Norman Habel's definition

The famous Australian theologian Norman Habel defines religious experience as a structured way in which a believer, within the framework of a certain religious tradition, enters into a relationship with the sacred, or acquires awareness of the sacred ^[8] . Religious experience, by its very nature, goes beyond the ordinary (transcends). In some cases, religious experience is difficult to distinguish based on observation from psychopathological conditions (such as psychosis , see also metempsychosis ) or from other forms of altered states of consciousness ^[9] . Not all experiences of the supernatural relate to religious experience. Based on the definition of Habel, religious experience does not include psychopathological conditions and conditions induced by psychoactive substances, since these conditions are mainly experienced outside the framework of a certain religious tradition.

Moore and Habel identified two types of religious experience: direct and indirect ^[10] .

• Mediated - The believer gains indirect experience through auxiliary means, such as rituals , special personalities, religious groups, totem objects, or nature.
• Immediate - Immediate experience comes to the believer without any intervention. In this case, a deity or divine is perceived directly.

Richard Swinburne Definition

The philosopher and Orthodox theologian Richard Swinburne in his book “Faith and Reason” formulated five categories into which religious experience is divided:

• Public - the believer sees the act of the hand of the Lord where other explanations are possible, for example, when contemplating a picturesque sunset
• Public - an extraordinary event that violates the laws of nature, for example, walking on water
• Personal - describable in common language, for example, Jacob's ladder
• Personal is indescribable in ordinary language, usually it is a mystical experience, for example, "white color has not ceased to be white, and black color has not ceased to be black, but black has become white and white has become black."
• Personal - an indefinite, widespread feeling of God's influence on one's life.

Swinburne also proposed two principles for assessing religious experience:

• The principle of trustfulness - in the absence of reasons for distrust, one should accept what seems true, for example, if someone sees walking on the waters with his own eyes, he must believe that this is really happening.
• The principle of testimony - in the absence of reasons for distrust, one should accept what observers or believers say about religious experience.

Classic Definitions

Numinous - the German thinker Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) argued that all varieties of religious experience, regardless of the cultural environment, have one common factor, which he defines as "numinous." The “numinous” experience includes, among other aspects, the following dichotomy: “mysterium tremendum” —the tendency to cause fear and awe — and “mysterium fascinans” —the tendency to attract, charm, and subdue. Otto considered the numinous experience to be the only possible religious experience, expressing this in the following words: “There is no religion in which it [numinosity] is not present as a true innermost essence, and without it, religion does not deserve the right to be called a religion” ^[11] . Otto did not take seriously any other type of religious experience, such as ecstasy and religious frenzy, and attributed them to the "threshold of religion."

Ecstasy - during ecstatic experiences, a person feels that his Soul or spirit leaves the body (see exit from the body ). The content of ecstatic experiences consists in travels to other worlds in which knowledge of higher realities is acquired, including the afterlife . This type of religious experience is characteristic of shamans .

Frenzy - in a frenzy ( obsession ) God appears to a believer from without. Holy power, being, or will enters and possesses the body or consciousness of the individual. People susceptible to obsession are sometimes called mediums . A deity , spirit, or supernatural being uses such an individual to communicate with the immanent world . Lewis argues that ecstasy and obsession are essentially the same experience, and ecstasy is just one form of obsession. The external manifestation of this phenomenon confirms this point of view, since shamans look like possessed by the spirits of mediums, and although they claim the ability to control spirits, in some cases shamans lose control ^[12] .

Mystical - the mystical experience is in many respects the opposite of the numinous experience. With a mystical experience, all differences for the adept disappear, and he merges with the cosmos, deity or other transcendental reality. British orientalist Robert Charles Zener identified two varieties of mystical experience: natural mystical experience and religious mystical experience ^[13] . Natural mystical experience includes, for example, merging with one's deeper “I” or experiencing unity with nature. Natural mystical experience is fundamentally different from religious, because it is not tied to any tradition, but it is a spiritual experience that can have a profound effect on the individual.

Spiritual awakening - spiritual awakening is a religious experience leading to self-realization or the establishment of a connection with the spiritual aspects of being. Very often, spiritual awakening transforms the whole life of an individual. The term “spiritual awakening” can mean any type of religious experience from a very wide spectrum, including rebirth in Christianity , near death experiences , as well as mystical experiences, including Hindu moksha and Buddhist enlightenment .

Religious experience in terms of materialistic and idealistic worldviews

From the point of view of the worldview of idealism, religious experience is seen as a real comprehension of an idea or the influence of the spirit . The possibility of the supernatural is not rejected, and supernatural manifestations are seen as the cause of the “real” religious experience. At the same time, some religious experience can be evaluated critically and evaluated in terms of the absence of supernatural manifestations in it, despite the presence of claims to this.

Idealistic and religious concepts of religious experience may express ideas about the accessibility of some or most forms of religious experience only to certain individuals who are ready for this or who are chosen to do so. For example, there are widespread ideas that the human person should be ““ ready ”and“ ripened ”to see God.” ^[14] . Unreadiness to accept this experience can be considered from the point of view of a person’s spiritual level or his sinfulness.

In materialistic concepts of religious experience, the emphasis can be shifted to the connection of religious experience with experiences and physiological phenomena in the human body (the result of sensory experience ), and the reality of the experience (supernatural component) is evaluated skeptically or completely rejected.

In materialistic concepts, religious experience can be considered as an illusion, self-deception in most cases, while in religious concepts, the possibility of self-deception is allowed, but does not apply to all cases of religious experience.

Religious and mystical views

In Hinduism

The diversity of religious experience in Hinduism is reflected in a huge number of outwardly dissimilar manifestations, however, behind all these manifestations lies a universal wisdom - comprehension of Brahman ^[15] . The oldest descriptions of Hindu religious experience are given in the Vedas and the Upanishads , where they are presented on behalf of the ancient sages ( rishis ) who contemplated the gods and other worlds, and priests who were under the influence of the sacred drink of catfish . In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , meditation techniques are described that allow you to achieve the state of samadhi , leading to the final liberation from the suffering of this world - kaivalya. The tradition of tantra is closely connected with the practice of yoga. Its numerous texts discuss in detail the significance and role of religious experience. Religious experience is also described in the Mahabharata and Ramayana . One of the most famous and important for Hinduism descriptions of religious experience is contained in the Bhagavad-gita ^[16] .

Personal religious experience has always played a huge role in Hinduism, which was promoted by the high status of psychotechnics in the culture of India. However, the dogmatic veneration of the Vedas in Hinduism somewhat diminishes the value of the yogic experience outside its correlation with the doctrine given by the Vedas. Although the yogic gnosis ( jnana ) in India was often regarded as the highest form of cognition, references to the yogic experience during philosophical disputes were forbidden because of its ineffability and the possibility of various interpretations of this experience in terms and doctrines of any of the disputing schools ^[17] .

In Buddhism

Buddhism has close historical and cultural ties with Hinduism, but diverges significantly from Hinduism in matters related to religious experience. Its main difference from Hinduism is that the basis of Buddhist teaching is the religious experience of one person - Siddhartha Gautama , nicknamed Buddha because of the experience of this experience. The followers of the Buddha sought to experience the same religious experience as he. It was psychotechnics and yogic experience that have always played a determining and dominant role in Buddhism ^[18] . With the development of Buddhism and the emergence of many Buddhist schools, the basis of this or that direction lay precisely the results of contemplation, and they became the criteria of its truth. It should be borne in mind that not a single Buddhist system has ever been considered by the Buddhists themselves as a teaching proclaiming the ultimate truth. The Buddhist view is that truth cannot be comprehended discursively, described in categories of discursive thinking and be expressed by means of discourse. This attitude towards doctrine and philosophy is clearly expressed in Buddhist texts. For example, the two leading Mahayana schools - Madhyamika (Shunyavada) and Yogachara (Vijnanavada) - were evaluated by the followers of Buddhism purely pragmatically in terms of their usefulness for the spiritual improvement of different types of personality. Madhyamika, categorically rejecting any substantialism and proclaiming the voidness of not only the personality ( pudgala ), but also the elements constituting the personality ( dharma ), was considered the most suitable way to cure the psyche for people attached to their own "I", while the yogachara, who rejected the impossibility of consciousness forming the content data experience, recommended to people attached to external things. With this approach, the question of what is “true in reality” turns out to be incorrect, since truth is not expressed in theory, but experienced in yogic experience.

In Sufism

Although all Muslims believe that they go to God and come closer to him in paradise after death and the Day of Judgment , the Sufis consider it possible, even in life, to become closer to God and experience unity with him ^[19] .

The spiritual path of the Sufis consists of three stages in accordance with the tradition, based on the words of Muhammad : “ Sharia is my words, tarik is my deeds, hakikat is my inner states.” Sharia, tariq and hakikat are interconnected.

The tarikat, the path of knowing God, is described as "the path that comes from the Sharia, on the broad road it is called the ball, on the path - the tarik." Mystical experience is unattainable without first zealously fulfilling the restrictions imposed by Sharia. However, the tariff is a narrow path that is more difficult to follow. He leads an adept called “salik” (traveler), on a pilgrimage “suluk”, through different sites (“ makam ”), until reaching the final goal called “ tawhid ” - faith in the unity and uniqueness of Allah ^[20] .

In Christian Mysticism

Christian doctrine as a whole supports the idea that God abides in all Christians, and that they can feel it in themselves, believing in Jesus ^[21] . Christian mysticism seeks by imitation of Christ to comprehend spiritual truths inaccessible to the intellect. Anglican priest William Ralph Indge divides the “ladder of perfection” (scala perfectionis) into three stages: “ purifying ” or ascetic , “ enlightening ” or contemplative, and “ unifying ”, on which God can be seen ^[22] . The third stage in a sense means merging with God. It can occur in different ways, but is primarily associated with divine love in accordance with the words of the First Epistle of John : “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” ^[23] . Some interpretations of classical mysticism consider the first two stages to be preparation for the third, while others claim that all three stages intersect and intertwine.

In Hesychasm

Hesychasm is a spiritual practice based on the commandment of Christ from the Gospel of Matthew “enter your room and, shutting your door, pray to your Father, who is secret” ^[24] , and consisting in withdrawing into yourself by ceasing the activity of the senses in order to know God .

In the fourteenth century, the possibility of understanding God was disputed by the monk Varlaam from Calabria , who, although formally belonged to the Orthodox Eastern Church, received a scholastic education and criticized hesychasm based on rationalistic philosophy. Gregory Palamas defended Hesychasm, and after a long theological discussion, the teachings of Barlaam were condemned by the Eastern Church as heretical.

The main practice of Hesychasm is to do cleverly , that is, to constantly repeat the Jesus prayer : "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." At the same time, the Hesychasts used the Jesus Prayer simply as a sequence of syllables, bearing a deep mystical meaning, and did not attach importance to its literal interpretation. EA Torchinov points out that the practice of constant prayer, involving the repetition of divine names, is universal for various religions. A huge role in the effectiveness of its use to achieve religious experience is played by the attitude of consciousness, expressed in faith in the sacredness of the pronounced name and in the soteriological effectiveness of its repetition ^[25] .

In Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism is a modern term for religious and mystical philosophy , which was formed in the III century on the basis of Platonism .

Neoplatonism postulates that the soul must return to the higher Good in the same way as it descended from it. First of all, she needs to return to herself. This is achieved by the practice of virtue , aimed at becoming like God and leading to God. The practice of austerities makes a person a more spiritual and steadfast being, freeing him from sins. But becoming sinless is not enough, because the ultimate goal is to merge in God ( enosis ). This goal is achieved by contemplation of the primordial Being - the One (Good) - in mystical ecstasy.

The soul can comprehend the primordial Being and approach it only in a state of complete peace and humility. Therefore, she needs to go through spiritual preparation. Starting with the contemplation of material things, the soul goes into itself and plunges into the depths, from where the world of ideas ( nus ) becomes attainable for it. But there she does not find the One. Through concentration and tension, being in silence and forgetting about all things, the soul gains the ability to contemplate God, the basis of being, the source of all beings, the beginning of the soul. At this moment she experiences the highest indescribable happiness, merging with the divine and basking in the radiance of eternity. Porfiry reports that Plotinus, during their six-year fellowship, four times experienced a mystical union with God.

History of Modern Scientific and Religious Views

The term “religious experience” became widespread in science after the publication in 1902 of William James 's book “ The Variety of Religious Experience ”. However, studies of this subject in Western theology began many centuries earlier - scientists consider the works of St. Augustine (V century) to be the starting point for understanding religious experience in theology ^[26] . In Western philosophy, religious experience became an independent subject of study around the second half of the 19th century.

In the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, several very influential Western thinkers came up with the idea that religion and religious beliefs can be based on religious experience. Immanuel Kant believed that the moral imperative justifies religious beliefs, and John Wesley argued that the religious experience of the Methodists became the basis of this religious movement as a way of life ^[27] . In the 19th century, Friedrich Schleiermacher and Albrecht Richel developed and expanded the view that human experience (moral and religious) justifies religious beliefs. Later, such religious empiricism became highly problematic and was rejected by Karl Barth between the two world wars ^[28] . However, in the 20th century, the justification of religious beliefs on the basis of religious and moral experience retained its influence. In particular, adherents of liberal theology were such famous scientists as Coulson, Charles and Raven, Charles . In the XX — XXI centuries. Many outstanding scholars experienced the mystical experience, and this had a significant impact on their scientific views. South African philosopher John Findley in his book “The Logic of Mysticism” expressed the importance of investigating mystical experience in the following words ^[29] :

Mystical utterances reflect a very peculiar and important way of looking at things that is as specific and characteristic as any other ...

This mystical worldview, far from being a special gift of strange people called mystics, is rather part of the experience of most people at all times, just as the ideas of the horizon and the open sky are included in most ordinary ideas of the world. On the horizon, objects become obscure or very elongated, parallel lines converge, and so on; in the same way, in the mystical areas of experience, some things look and behave quite differently than in the near or middle limits of experience ... There are people who, due to their inability to mathematics, develop an aversion to this whole subject, and there are people who have similar disgust develops due to the inability to mysticism, but it does not follow from this that one or another of these abilities is not a kind of ordinary human talent, which is expressed in a peculiar type of utterance and discourse, essentially with akonomernostyu that deserves to be called "logic".

Currently, studies are being conducted at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences regarding the influence of religious experience on the genesis and structure of science ^[30] .

Following theologians and philosophers, religious experience began to be studied by representatives of various branches of science - religious scholars, psychologists, historians, anthropologists, sociologists, etc. ^[31]

In the psychology of religion, the study of religious experience, begun by William James with an analysis of the causes and effects on a person of his conversion, mystical experiences, righteousness and prayer, was continued by scientists through the study of glossolalia , the religious content of dreams, meditation, the influence of religious conviction and ritual, altered states of consciousness , the influence of confession, the influence of occult and cult phenomena, the use of narcotic drugs in order to provoke religious experiences, religious influences in the field of psychopathology. The psychology of religion also sometimes explores parapsychological phenomena, but it nevertheless focuses on such forms of religious experience as prayer, conversion, mystical experiences, worship, and participation in religious communities and cults ^[32] .

Psychologists make extensive use of statistical methods to study religious behavior and states of consciousness and interpret data obtained through questionnaires and surveys. One of the main goals of the psychology of religion is to identify the effects that religious experience has on the behavior of individuals and groups, that is, the study of the interaction of personal and social factors. At the same time, however, difficulties arise associated with the inability to fully translate the individual’s inner experiences into the language of scientific concepts or even everyday communication. Mass survey data and attempts at an experimental physiological study of mystical states also provide rather poor information ^[33] . The main problem in studying religious experience is that it is difficult to formalize ^[34] .

Researchers suggest that the difficulties of studying religious experience can also be overcome with less common approaches ^[35] , such as analytical psychology and transpersonal psychology ^{[36] [37]} . In addition, hopes are pinned on promoting research on religious experience in a new interdisciplinary field - neurotheology , which studies the relationship of religious experiences with brain activity ^{[38] [39] [40]} .

There are various ways to achieve states of consciousness inherent in religious experience. Many religious texts describe meditative techniques leading to religious experiences. The texts of yoga and tantra mention special methods leading to certain types of religious experience, including: physical exercise, ethical guidelines, nutritional guidelines, psychotechnical procedures. The tradition of the Mantra Marga (Path of the mantra ) emphasizes the special importance of constantly repeating aloud or inwardly the special mantras received from the teacher ^[41] . There are many practices that use yantras . Methods for achieving religious experiences that are not limited to any religious tradition include the following:

• Meditation
• Prayer
• Music ^[42]
• Dance , including:
  • Herself
• Fast
• Intense pain , for example, with:
  • mortification of the flesh ^[43]
• Sexual Arousal, ^[44]
• Entheogen use, including:
  • Ayahuasca ( Dimethyltryptamine ) ^[45]
  • Bhang ( Cannabinoids )
  • Sage of the Fortune Teller ( Salvinorin A ) ^[46]
  • Lofofora Williams ( Mescaline ) ^[47]
  • Psilocybe cubensis ( Psilocybin ) ^[48]
  • Amanita muscaria ( Muscimol ) ^[49]

The causes of religious experiences are also psychological or neurophysiological anomalies, for example:

• Deep Depression ^[50] or Schizophrenia
• Temporal Epilepsy ^[51]
• Stroke ^[52]
• Near Death Experience ^[53]
• Excitation of neurons in certain parts of the brain, for example, by an alternating magnetic field ^[54]

In Abrahamic religions, attempts to artificially provoke religious experiences, achieve inspiration or revelation from spiritual strength can be negatively assessed (associated with demonism and spiritualism ) and contrasted with “true” spiritual experience.

• Торчинов Е. А. Религии мира: Опыт запредельного. Психотехника и трансперсональные состояния.— СПб.: Центр «Петербургское востоковедение», 1997.
• Ильин И. А. Аксиомы религиозного опыта.— М.: АСТ, 2002.— 592 стр.— ISBN 5-17-011518-0
• Забияко А. П. Религиозный опыт // Религиоведение: Энциклопедический словарь.— М.: Академический проект, 2006.— С. 866—867

• «Self-transcendence enhanced by removal of portions of the parietal-occipital cortex» Article from the Institute for the Biocultural Study of Religion
• Peru: Hell and Back National Geographic explores the uses of Ayahuasca in Shamanic healing
• Is This Your Brain On God? (May 2009 week long NPR series)