Religious ecstasy is a reported type of altered state of consciousness
characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded
interior mental and spiritual awareness, frequently accompanied by
visions and emotional (and sometimes physical) euphoria.
Although the experience is usually brief in time,[1]
there are records of such experiences lasting several days or even
more, and of recurring experiences of ecstasy during one's lifetime.
A person's sense of time and space disappear during a religious ecstasy forsaking any senses or physical cognizance in its duration. Among venerated Catholic saints and mystics,
a person's physical stature, human sensory, or perception is completely
detached from time and space during an ecstatic experience.
In Sufism, the term is referred to as wajad and the experience is referred to as either jazbah (jadbah o jedbah for Maghreb) or majzoobiyat.
Context
The religious ecstasy of Saint Teresa of Avila of the Carmelite Order, here portrayed being pierced a thousand times in the heart by the Cherub (whose eternal youth is imaged by the form of a Putto).
The adjective "religious" means that the experience occurs in
connection with religious activities or is interpreted in context of a
religion. Marghanita Laski writes in her study "Ecstasy in Religious and
Secular Experiences", first published in 1961:
"Epithets are very often applied to mystical experiences
including ecstasies without, apparently, any clear idea about the
distinctions that are being made. Thus we find experiences given such
names as nature, religious, aesthetic, neo-platonic, sexual etc.
experiences, where in some cases the name seems to derive from trigger,
sometimes from the overbelief, sometimes from the known standing and
beliefs of the mystic, and sometimes, though rarely, from the nature of
the experience.
Ecstasies enjoyed by
accepted religious mystics are usually called religious experiences no
matter what the nature of the ecstasy or the trigger inducing it."[2]
Religious people may hold the view that true religious ecstasy occurs
only in their religious context (e.g. as a gift from the supernatural
being whom they follow) and it cannot be induced by natural means (human
activities). Trance-like
states which are often interpreted as religious ecstasy have been
deliberately induced with techniques or ecstatic practices; including, prayer, religious rituals, meditation, breathing exercises, physical exercise, sex, music, dancing, sweating, fasting, thirsting, and psychotropic drugs.
An ecstatic experience may take place in occasion of contact with
something or somebody perceived as extremely beautiful or holy. It may
also happen without any known reason. The particular technique that an
individual uses to induce ecstasy is usually one that is associated with
that individual's particular religious and cultural traditions.
As a result, an ecstatic experience is usually interpreted within the
particular individual religious context and cultural traditions. These
interpretations often include statements about contact with supernatural
or spiritual beings, about receiving new information as a revelation, also religion-related explanations of subsequent change of values, attitudes and behavior (e.g. in case of religious conversion).
Achieving ecstatic trances is a shamanic activity, inducing ecstasy for such purposes as traveling to heaven or the underworld, guiding or otherwise interacting with spirits, clairvoyance, and healing. Some shamans take drugs from such plants as Ayahuasca, peyote and cannabis (drug) or certain mushrooms in their attempts to reach ecstasy, while others rely on such non-chemical means as ritual, music, dance, ascetic practices, or visual designs as aids to mental discipline.
Examples
Athletes
may follow rituals in preparing for contests, which are dismissed as
superstition, but this sports psychology device may help them to attain
advantage in an ecstasy-like state[citation needed].
Yoga provides techniques to attain an ecstasy state called samādhi. According to practitioners, there are various stages of ecstasy, the highest being Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Bhakti Yoga especially, places emphasis on ecstasy as being one of the fruits of its practice.
In Buddhism, especially in the Pali Canon, there are eight states of trance
also called absorption. The first four states are Rupa or,
materially-oriented. The next four are Arupa or non-material. These
eight states are preliminary trances which lead up to final saturation.
In Visuddhimagga, great effort and years of sustained meditation are practiced to reach the first absorption, and that not all individuals are able to accomplish it at all.
Modern meditator experiences in the Thai Forest Tradition,
as well as other Theravadin traditions, demonstrates that this effort
and rarity is necessary only to become completely immersed in the
absorptions and experience no other sensations. It is possible to
experience the absorptions in a less intense state with much less
practice.
In the Dionysian Mysteries,
initiates used intoxicants and other trance-inducing techniques (like
dance and music) to remove inhibitions and social constraints,
liberating the individual to return to a natural state.
In the monotheistic tradition, ecstasy is usually associated with communion and oneness with God.
However, such experiences can also be personal mystical experiences
with no significance to anyone but the person experiencing them. Some charismatic Christians practice ecstatic states (such as "being slain in the Spirit") and interpret these as given by the Holy Spirit. The firewalkers of Greece dance themselves into a state of ecstasy at the annual Anastenaria, when they believe themselves under the influence of Saint Constantine.[3][4][5]
Historically, large groups of individuals have experienced religious ecstasies during periods of Christian revivals, to the point of causing controversy as to the origin and nature of these experiences.[6][7]
In response to claims that all emotional expressions of religious
ecstasy were attacks on order and theological soundness from the Devil,
Jonathan Edwards published his now-famous and influential Treatise on
Religious Affections. Here, he argues, religious ecstasy could come
from oneself, the Devil, or God, and it was only by observing the fruit,
or changes in inner thought and behaviour, that one could determine if
the religious ecstasy had come from God.[8]
In modern Pentecostal, charismatic and spirit-filled
Christianity, numerous examples of religious ecstasy have transpired,
similar to historic revivals. These occurrences however, have changed
significantly since the time of the Toronto Blessing
phenomena and several other North American so-called revivals and
outpourings from the mid 1990s. From that time, religious ecstasy in
these movements has been characterized by increasingly unusual behaviors
that are understood by adherents to be the anointing of the holy spirit
and evidence of God 'doing a new work'. One of the most controversial
and strange examples is that of spiritual birthing [9]
- a practice during which women, and at times even men, claim to be
having actual contractions of the womb while they moan and retch as
though experiencing childbirth.[10]
It is said to be a prophetic action bringing spiritual blessings from
God into the world. Many believe spiritual birthing to be highly
demonic in nature and more occult-like than Christian. Religious
ecstasy in these Christian movements has also been witnessed in the form
of squealing, shrieking, an inability to stand or sit, uttering
apocalyptic prophecies, holy laughter, crying and barking. Some people
have made dramatic claims of sighting 'gold dust', 'angel feathers',
'holy clouds', or the spontaneous appearance of precious gem stones
during ecstatic worship events.[11]
Others have claimed to have received spontaneous gold tooth fillings.
The Range Christian Fellowship in the conservative Australian city of
Toowoomba demonstrates such displays of religious ecstasy on an almost
weekly basis.[12]
In addition to all of the above, worshippers there also use textile
banners and during moments of religious ecstasy believe these banners
carry special powers of 'anointing' as a result of divinely inspired
artwork.[13]
In hagiography (writings about Christian saints) many instances are recorded in which saints are granted ecstasies. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia[14]
religious ecstasy (called "supernatural ecstasy") includes two
elements: one, interior and invisible, in which the mind rivets its
attention on a religious subject, and another, corporeal and visible, in
which the activity of the senses is suspended, reducing the effect of
external sensations upon the subject and rendering him or her resistant
to awakening. The witnesses of a Marian apparition often describe experiencing these elements of ecstasy.
Modern Witchcraft traditions may define themselves as "ecstatic traditions," and focus on reaching ecstatic states in their rituals. The Reclaiming Tradition and the Feri Tradition are two modern ecstatic Witchcraft examples.[15][16]
As described by the Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba, God-intoxicated souls known as masts
experience a unique type of spiritual ecstasy: "[M]asts are desperately
in love with God – or consumed by their love for God. Masts do not
suffer from what may be called a disease. They are in a state of mental
disorder because their minds are overcome by such intense spiritual
energies that are far too much for them, forcing them to lose contact
with the world, shed normal human habits and customs, and civilized
society and live in a state of spiritual splendor but physical squalor.
They are overcome by an agonizing love for God and are drowned in their
ecstasy. Only the divine love embodied in a Perfect Master can reach
them."
A religious experience (sometimes known as a spiritual experience, sacred experience, or mystical experience) is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the growing rationalism of Western society. William James popularised the concept.
Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences (particularly that knowledge which comes with them) as revelations caused by divine agency rather than ordinary natural processes. They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware.[3]
Skeptics may hold that religious experience is an evolved feature of the human brain amenable to normal scientific study.[note 1]
The commonalities and differences between religious experiences across
different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic
study.[4]
Transient – the experience is temporary; the individual
soon returns to a "normal" frame of mind. Feels outside normal
perception of space and time.
Ineffable – the experience cannot be adequately put into words.
Noetic –
the individual feels that he or she has learned something valuable from
the experience. Feels to have gained knowledge that is normally hidden
from human understanding.
Passive – the experience happens to the individual, largely
without conscious control. Although there are activities, such as
meditation (see below), that can make religious experience more likely,
it is not something that can be turned on and off at will.
Norman Habel
Norman Habel
defines religious experiences as the structured way in which a believer
enters into a relationship with, or gains an awareness of, the sacred
within the context of a particular religious tradition (Habel,
O'Donoghue and Maddox: 1993). Religious experiences are by their very
nature preternatural;
that is, out of the ordinary or beyond the natural order of things.
They may be difficult to distinguish observationally from
psychopathological states such as psychoses
or other forms of altered awareness (Charlesworth: 1988). Not all
preternatural experiences are considered to be religious experiences.
Following Habel's definition, psychopathological states or drug-induced
states of awareness are not considered to be religious experiences
because they are mostly not performed within the context of a particular
religious tradition.
Moore and Habel identify two classes of religious experiences:
the immediate and the mediated religious experience (Moore and Habel:
1982).
Mediated – In the mediated experience, the believer experiences the sacred through mediators such as rituals, special persons, religious groups, totemic objects or the natural world (Habel et al.: 1993).
Immediate – The immediate experience comes to the believer without any intervening agency or mediator. The deity or divine is experienced directly.
Richard Swinburne
In his book Faith and Reason, the philosopher Richard Swinburne formulated five categories into which all religious experiences fall:
Public – a believer 'sees God's hand at work', whereas other explanations are possible e.g. looking at a beautiful sunset
Public – an unusual event that breaches natural law e.g. walking on water
Private – describable using normal language e.g. Jacob's vision of a ladder
Private – indescribable using normal language, usually a
mystical experience e.g. "white did not cease to be white, nor black
cease to be black, but black became white and white became black."
Private – a non-specific, general feeling of God working in one's life.
Swinburne also suggested two principles for the assessment of religious experiences:
Principle of Credulity – with the absence of any reason
to disbelieve it, one should accept what appears to be true e.g. if one
sees someone walking on water, one should believe that it is occurring.
Principle of Testimony – with the absence of any reason to
disbelieve them, one should accept that eyewitnesses or believers are
telling the truth when they testify about religious experiences.
Rudolf Otto
The German thinker Rudolf Otto
(1869–1937) argues that there is one common factor to all religious
experience, independent of the cultural background. In his book The Idea of the Holy (1923) he identifies this factor as the numinous. The "numinous" experience has two aspects:
mysterium tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling;
mysterium fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel.
The numinous experience also has a personal quality to it, in that
the person feels to be in communion with a holy other. 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"
(Otto: 1972). Otto does not take any other kind of religious experience
such as ecstasy and enthusiasm seriously and is of the opinion that
they belong to the 'vestibule of religion'.
Related terms
Ecstasy – In ecstasy the believer is understood to have a soul or spirit
which can leave the body. In ecstasy the focus is on the soul leaving
the body and to experience transcendental realities. This type of
religious experience is characteristic for the shaman.
Enthusiasm – In enthusiasm – or possession –
God is understood to be outside, other than or beyond the believer. A
sacred power, being or will enters the body or mind of an individual and
possesses it. A person capable of being possessed is sometimes called a
medium. The deity, spirit or power uses such a person to communicate to the immanent
world. Lewis argues that ecstasy and possession are basically one and
the same experience, ecstasy being merely one form which possession may
take. The outward manifestation of the phenomenon is the same in that
shamans appear to be possessed by spirits, act as their mediums, and
even though they claim to have mastery over them, can lose that mastery
(Lewis: 1986).
Mystical experience –
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 (Charlesworth: 1988). 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 (Charlesworth: 1988). 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.
Spiritual awakening – A spiritual awakening usually involves a realization or opening to a sacred dimension of reality and may or may not be a religious
experience. Often a spiritual awakening has lasting effects upon one's
life. The term "spiritual awakening" may be used to refer to any of a
wide range of experiences including being born again, near-death experiences, and mystical experiences such as liberation and enlightenment.
History
Origins
The notion of "religious experience" can be traced back to William James, who used the term "religious experience" in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience.[5]
It is considered to be the classic work in the field, and references to
James' ideas are common at professional conferences. James
distinguished between institutional religion and personal religion.
Institutional religion refers to the religious group or organization,
and plays an important part in a society's culture. Personal religion,
in which the individual has mystical experience, can be experienced regardless of the culture.
The origins of the use of this term can be dated further back.[2]
In the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, several historical figures put
forth very influential views that religion and its beliefs can be
grounded in experience itself. While Kant held that moral experience justified religious beliefs, John Wesley in addition to stressing individual moral exertion thought that the religious experiences in the Methodist movement (paralleling the Romantic Movement) were foundational to religious commitment as a way of life.[6]
Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of "religious experience" to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher
(1768–1834), who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the
infinite. The notion of "religious experience" was used by
Schleiermacher and Albert Ritschl
to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique,
and defend the view that human (moral and religious) experience
justifies religious beliefs.[2]
The notion of "religious experience" was adopted by many scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential.[7][note 2]
According to the Perennial philosophy, the mystical experiences in
all religions are essentially the same. It supposes that many, if not
all of the world's great religions, have arisen around the teachings of
mystics, including Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tze, and Krishna.
It also sees most religious traditions describing fundamental mystical
experience, at least esoterically. A major proponent in the 20th century
was Aldous Huxley, who "was heavily influenced in his description by Vivekananda's neo-Vedanta and the idiosyncratic version of Zen exported to the west by D.T. Suzuki. Both of these thinkers expounded their versions of the perennialist thesis",[13] which they originally received from western thinkers and theologians.[14]
Transcendentalism and Unitarian Universalism
Transcendentalism was an early 19th-century liberal Protestant movement, which was rooted in English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher, and the skepticism of Hume.[web 1] The Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive, experiential approach of religion.[web 2] Following Schleiermacher,[15] an individual's intuition of truth was taken as the criterion for truth.[web 2]
In the late 18th and early 19th century, the first translations of
Hindu texts appeared, which were also read by the Transcendentalists,
and influenced their thinking.[web 2] They also endorsed universalist and Unitarianist ideas, leading to Unitarian Universalism,
the idea that there must be truth in other religions as well, since a
loving God would redeem all living beings, not just Christians.[web 2][web 3]
New Thought
New Thought promotes the ideas that Infinite Intelligence, or
God, is everywhere, spirit is the totality of real things, true human
selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness
originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.[web 4][web 5]
New Thought was propelled along by a number of spiritual thinkers and
philosophers and emerged through a variety of religious denominations
and churches, particularly the Unity Church, Religious Science, and Church of Divine Science.[16] The Home of Truth,
which belongs to the New Thought movement has, from its inception as
the Pacific Coast Metaphysical Bureau in the 1880s, disseminated the
teachings of the Hindu teacher Swami Vivekananda.[web 6]
Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society was formed in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge and others to advance the spiritual principles and search for Truth known as Theosophy.[17][note 3]
The Theosophical Society has been highly influential in promoting
interest, both in west and east, in a great variety of religious
teachings:
"No single organization or movement has contributed so many components to the New Age Movement as the Theosophical Society [...] It has been the major force in the dissemination of occult literature in the West in the twentieth century.[17]
The Theosophical Society searched for 'secret teachings' in Asian
religions. It has been influential on modernist streams in several Asian
religions, notably Hindu reform movements, the revival of Theravada Buddhism, and D.T. Suzuki, who popularized the idea of enlightenment as insight into a timeless, transcendent reality.[web 7][web 8][11] Another example can be seen in Paul Brunton'sA Search in Secret India, which introduced Ramana Maharshi to a western audience.
Orientalism and the "pizza effect"
The interplay between western and eastern notions of religion is an
important factor in the development of modern mysticism. In the 19th
century, when Asian countries were colonialised by western states, a
process of cultural mimesis began.[14][18][2]
In this process, Western ideas about religion, especially the notion of
"religious experience" were introduced to Asian countries by
missionaries, scholars and the Theosophical Society, and amalgamated in a
new understanding of the Indian and Buddhist traditions. This amalgam
was exported back to the West as 'authentic Asian traditions', and
acquired a great popularity in the west. Due to this western popularity,
it also gained authority back in India, Sri Lanka and Japan.[14][18][2]
The best-known representatives of this amalgamated tradition are Annie Besant (Theosophical Society), Swami Vivekenanda and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Neo-Vedanta), Anagarika Dharmapala, a 19th-century Sri Lankan Buddhist activist who founded the Maha Bodhi Society, and D.T. Suzuki, a Japanese scholar and Zen-Buddhist. A synonymous term for this broad understanding is nondualism. This mutual influence is also known as the pizza effect.
Criticism
The notion of "experience" has been criticised.[19][20][21]
"Religious empiricism" is seen as highly problematic and was – during the period in-between world wars – famously rejected by Karl Barth.[22]
In the 20th century, religious as well as moral experience as
justification for religious beliefs still holds sway. Some influential
modern scholars holding this liberal theological view are Charles Raven and the Oxford physicist/theologian Charles Coulson.[23]
Robert Sharf points out that "experience" is a typical Western
term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western
influences.[19][note 4]
The notion of "experience" introduces a false notion of duality between
"experiencer" and "experienced", whereas the essence of kensho is the
realisation of the "non-duality" of observer and observed.[25][26] "Pure experience" does not exist; all experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity.[27][28]
The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may even
determine what "experience" someone has, which means that this
"experience" is not the proof of the teaching, but a result of the teaching.[1] A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleansing the doors of perception",[note 5] would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence.[30]
Questioning or investigating (self)representations/cognitive schemata, such as Self-enquiry, Hua Tou practice, and Douglas Harding's on having no head.
Drugs: religious experiences may also be caused by the use of entheogens, such as:
Neoplatonism is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists.
Neoplatonism teaches that along the same road by which it
descended the soul must retrace its steps back to the supreme Good. It
must first of all return to itself. This is accomplished by the practice
of virtue, which aims at likeness to God, and leads up to God. By means of ascetic
observances the human becomes once more a spiritual and enduring being,
free from all sin. But there is still a higher attainment; it is not
enough to be sinless, one must become "God", (henosis). This is reached through contemplation of the primeval Being, the One – in other words, through an ecstatic approach to it.
It is only in a state of perfect passivity and repose that the
soul can recognize and touch the primeval Being. Hence the soul must
first pass through a spiritual curriculum. Beginning with the
contemplation of corporeal things in their multiplicity and harmony, it
then retires upon itself and withdraws into the depths of its own being,
rising thence to the nous, the world of ideas. But even there it
does not find the Highest, the One; it still hears a voice saying, "not
we have made ourselves." The last stage is reached when, in the highest
tension and concentration, beholding in silence and utter forgetfulness
of all things, it is able as it were to lose itself. Then it may see
God, the foundation of life, the source of being, the origin of all
good, the root of the soul. In that moment it enjoys the highest
indescribable bliss; it is as it were swallowed up of divinity, bathed
in the light of eternity. Porphyry tells us that on four occasions
during the six years of their intercourse Plotinus attained to this
ecstatic union with God.
Alcoholics Anonymous Twelfth Step
The
twelfth step of the Alcoholics Anonymous program states that "Having
had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to
carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all
our affairs".[47] The terms “spiritual experience” and “spiritual awaken-ing” are used many times in "The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous"[48] which argues that a spiritual experience is needed to bring about recovery from alcoholism.[49]
Christian doctrine generally maintains that God dwells in all
Christians and that they can experience God directly through belief in
Jesus,[50]
Christian mysticism aspires to apprehend spiritual truths inaccessible
through intellectual means, typically by emulation of Christ. William Inge divides this scala perfectionis into three stages: the "purgative" or ascetic stage, the "illuminative" or contemplative stage, and the third, "unitive" stage, in which God may be beheld "face to face."[51]
The third stage, usually called contemplation in the Western
tradition, refers to the experience of oneself as united with God in
some way. The experience of union varies, but it is first and foremost
always associated with a reuniting with Divine love. The underlying theme here is that God, the perfect goodness,[52] is known or experienced at least as much by the heart as by the intellect since, in the words of 1 John
4:16: "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in
him." Some approaches to classical mysticism would consider the first
two phases as preparatory to the third, explicitly mystical experience;
but others state that these three phases overlap and intertwine.
Hesychasm
Based on Christ's injunction in the Gospel of Matthew to "go into your closet to pray",[53]hesychasm
in tradition has been the process of retiring inward by ceasing to
register the senses, in order to achieve an experiential knowledge of
God (see theoria).
The highest goal of the hesychast is the experiential knowledge
of God. In the 14th Century, the possibility of this experiential
knowledge of God was challenged by a Calabrian monk, Barlaam,
who, although he was formally a member of the Orthodox Church, had been
trained in Western Scholastic theology. Barlaam asserted that our
knowledge of God can only be propositional. The practice of the
hesychasts was defended by St. Gregory Palamas.
Islam
While all
Muslims believe that they are on the pathway to God and will become
close to God in Paradise – after death and after the "Final Judgment" – Sufis believe that it is possible to become close to God and to experience this closeness while one is alive.[54]
Sufis believe in a tripartite way to God as explained by a tradition attributed to the Prophet,"The Shariah are my words (aqwal), the tariqa are my actions (amal), and the haqiqa is my interior states (ahwal)". Shariah, tariqa and haqiqa are mutually interdependent.
The tariqa, the ‘path’ on which the mystics walk, has been
defined as ‘the path which comes out of the Shariah, for the main road
is called shar, the path, tariq.’ No mystical experience can be realized
if the binding injunctions of the Shariah are not followed faithfully
first. The path, tariqa, however, is narrower and more difficult to
walk. It leads the adept, called salik (wayfarer), in his suluk
(wandering), through different stations (maqam) until he reaches his
goal, the perfect tauhid, the existential confession that God is One.[55]
Asia
Buddhism
The Buddha demonstrating control over fire and water. Gandhara, 3rd century CE
In Theravada Buddhism practice is described in the threefold training of discipline (śīla), meditative concentration (samādhi), and transcendent wisdom (prajñā). Zen-Buddhism emphaises the sole practice of meditation, while Vajrayana Buddhism utilizes a wide variety of practices. While the main aim of meditation and prajna is to let go of attachments, it may also result in a comprehension of the Buddha-nature and the inherent lucidness of the mind.
Different varieties of religious experience are described in detail in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. In its section on the fifty skandha-maras,
each of the five skandhas has ten skandha-maras associated with it, and
each skandha-mara is described in detail as a deviation from correct
samādhi. These skandha-maras are also known as the "fifty skandha
demons" in some English-language publications.[56]
It is also believed that supernormal abilities are developed from meditation, which are termed "higher knowledge" (abhijñā), or "spiritual power" (ṛddhi). One early description found in the Samyutta Nikaya, which mentions abilities such as:[57]
... he goes unhindered through a
wall, through a rampart, through a mountain as though through space; he
dives in and out of the earth as though it were water; he walks on water
without sinking as though it were earth; seated cross-legged, he
travels in space like a bird; with his hands he touches and strokes the
moon and sun so powerful and mighty; he exercises mastery with the body
as far as the brahmā world.
Hinduism
Building on European philosophers, Radhakrishnan reduced religion "to the core experience of reality in its fundamental unity".
[58] According to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, "Hinduism is not just a faith. It is the union of reason and intuition that cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced."[59] This emphasis on experience as validation of a religious worldview is a
modern development, which started in the 19th century, and was
introduced to Indian thought by western Unitarian missionaries.[12] It has been popularized in Neo-Vedanta, which has dominated the popular understanding of Hinduism since the 19th century.[60][note 6] It emphasizes mysticism.[60][61][62][63]Swami Vivekanada presented the teachings of Neo-Vedanta as radical nondualism, unity between all religions and all persons.[64][65]
Meher Baba
According to the syncretistic Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba,
"Spiritual experience involves more than can be grasped by mere
intellect. This is often emphasised by calling it a mystical experience.
Mysticism is often regarded as something anti-intellectual, obscure and
confused, or impractical and unconnected with experience. In fact, true
mysticism is none of these. There is nothing irrational in true
mysticism when it is, as it should be, a vision of Reality. It is a form
of perception which is absolutely unclouded, and so practical that it
can be lived every moment of life and expressed in every-day duties. Its
connection with experience is so deep that, in one sense, it is the
final understanding of all experience."[66]
Psychedelic drugs
Dr. R.R. Griffiths and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University had
done a double blind study evaluating the psychological effects of
psilocybin comparing with methylphenidate(Ritalin). 36
hallucinogen-naive adults were recruited. 22 of the 36 reported mystical
experience. The effect persisted even at 2 and 14 months follow-up.[67][68] The group continued to do studies in evaluating the effect with different dosing[69] and the resulting mystical effect on personality.[70]
Neurophysiology
Psychiatry
A
2012 paper suggested that psychiatric conditions associated with
psychotic spectrum symptoms may be possible explanations for revelatory
driven experiences and activities such as those of Abraham, Moses, Jesus
and Saint Paul.[71]
Neuroscience
Neuroscience of religion
Neuroscience of religion, also known as neurotheology, biotheology or spiritual neuroscience,[72] is the study of correlations of neural phenomena with subjective experiences of spirituality and hypotheses to explain these phenomena. Proponents of neurotheology claim that there is a neurological and evolutionary basis for subjective experiences traditionally categorized as spiritual or religious.[73]
The neuroscience of religion takes neural correlates as the basis
of cognitive functions and religious experiences. These religious
experience are thereby emergent properties
of neural correlates. This approach does not necessitate exclusion of
the Self, but interprets the Self as influenced or otherwise acted upon
by underlying neural mechanisms. Proponents argue that religious
experience can be evoked through stimulus of specific brain regions and/or can be observed through measuring increase in activity of specific brain regions.[74][note 7]
An alternate approach is influenced by personalism, and exists contra-parallel to the reductionist approach. It focuses on the Self as the object of interest,[note 8] the same object of interest as in religion.[citation needed] According to Patrick McNamara, a proponent of personalism, the Self is a neural entity that controls rather than consists of the cognitive functions being processed in brain regions.[78][79][note 9]
Neurological evolutionary basis
A biological basis for religious experience may exist.[80][79] References to the supernatural or mythical beings first appeared approximately 40,000 years ago.[81][82] A popular theory posits that dopaminergic brain systems are the evolutionary basis for human intellect[83][82] and more specifically abstract reasoning.[82]
The capacity for religious thought arises from the capability to
employ abstract reasoning. There is no evidence to support the theory
that abstract reasoning, generally or with regard to religious thought,
evolved independent of the dopaminergic axis.[82]
Religious behavior has been linked to "extrapersonal brain
systems that predominate the ventromedial cortex and rely heavily on
dopaminergic transmission."[84]
A biphasic effect exists with regard to activation of the dopaminergic
axis and/or ventromedial cortex. While mild activation can evoke a
perceived understanding of the supernatural, extreme activation can lead
to delusions characteristic of psychopathy.[82] Stress can cause the depletion of 5-hydroxytryptamine, also referred to as serotonin.[85]
The ventromedial 5-HT axis is involved in peripersonal activities such
as emotional arousal, social skills, and visual feedback.[82]
When 5-HT is decreased or depleted, one may become subject to
"incorrect attributions of self-initiated or internally generated
activity (e.g. hallucinations)."[86]
Studies of the brain
Early studies in the 1950s and 1960s attempted to use EEGs to study brain wave patterns correlated with spiritual states. During the 1980s Dr. Michael Persinger stimulated the temporal lobes of human subjects[87] with a weak magnetic field. His subjects claimed to have a sensation of "an ethereal presence in the room."[88] Some current studies use neuroimaging to localize brain regions active, or differentially active, during religious experiences.[89][90][91] These neuroimaging studies have implicated a number of brain regions, including the limbic system, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, superior parietal lobe, and caudate nucleus.[92][93][94]
Based on the complex nature of religious experience, it is likely that
they are mediated by an interaction of neural mechanisms that all add a
small piece to the overall experience.[93]
According to the neurotheologist Andrew B. Newberg,
neurological processes which are driven by the repetitive, rhythmic
stimulation which is typical of human ritual, and which contribute to
the delivery of transcendental feelings of connection to a universal
unity.[clarification needed]
They posit, however, that physical stimulation alone is not sufficient
to generate transcendental unitive experiences. For this to occur they
say there must be a blending of the rhythmic stimulation with ideas.
Once this occurs "...ritual turns a meaningful idea into a visceral
experience."[95]
Moreover, they say that humans are compelled to act out myths by the
biological operations of the brain due to what they call the "inbuilt
tendency of the brain to turn thoughts into actions."
Temporal lobe epilepsy
Temporal lobe epilepsy has become a popular field of study due to its correlation to religious experience.[96][97][98][99] Religious experiences and hyperreligiosity are often used to characterize those with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.[100][101] Visionary religious experiences, and momentary lapses of consciousness, may point toward a diagnosis of Geschwind syndrome.
More generally, the symptoms are consistent with features of Temporal
Lobe Epilepsy, not an uncommon feature in religious icons and mystics.[102] It seems that this phenomenon is not exclusive to TLE, but can manifest in the presence of other epileptic variates[103][104][82] as well as mania, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia, conditions characterized by ventromedial dopaminergic dysfunction.[82]
Integrating religious experience
Several psychologists have proposed models in which religious experiences are part of a process of transformation of the self.
Carl Jung's
work on himself and his patients convinced him that life has a
spiritual purpose beyond material goals. One's main task, he believed,
is to discover and fulfil deep innate potential, much as the acorn
contains the potential to become the oak, or the caterpillar to become
the butterfly. Based on his study of Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Taoism,
and other traditions, Jung perceived that this journey of
transformation is at the mystical heart of all religions. It is a
journey to meet the self and at the same time to meet the Divine. Unlike
Sigmund Freud, Jung thought spiritual experience was essential to
well-being.[105]
The notion of the numinous
was an important concept in the writings of Carl Jung. Jung regarded
numinous experiences as fundamental to an understanding of the
individuation process because of their association with experiences of synchronicity in which the presence of archetypes is felt.[106][107]
McNamara proposes that religious experiences may help in
"decentering" the self, and transform it into an integral self which is
closer to an ideal self.[108]
Transpersonal psychology is a school of psychology that studies the transpersonal, self-transcendent or spiritual aspects of the human experience. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology
describes transpersonal psychology as "the study of humanity’s highest
potential, and with the recognition, understanding, and realization of
unitive, spiritual, and transcendent states of consciousness" (Lajoie
and Shapiro, 1992:91). Issues considered in transpersonal psychology
include spiritual self-development, peak experiences, mystical experiences, systemic trance and other metaphysical experiences of living.
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