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Mystical - Coggle Diagram
Mystical
William James (1842-1910)
Ideas
RE = primary + comes from a factually existing God - experiences are a genuine interaction with God + are positive
Religion = secondary
Don’t have REs because we belong to a religion, organised religion is the response of our ancestors to REs
‘God is real since he produces real effects’
Although God exists factually, he isn’t described by the Judaeo-Christian teaching
This teaching does say that God exists factually, but the conflict comes from the idea that God is necessary + omnipotent
James doesn’t necessarily see God as omnipotent, he is more likely to be finite than infinite
Also God doesn’t have to be a single entity, he could be multiple similar entities
God interacts with us in time so he is probably temporal (existing in time) + finite (not knowing the future) - this could be making things harder as this is not the God of classical theism
RE teaches that religious life includes 3 beliefs
1: Most significant thing about visible world = it draws chief significance from a more spiritual universe (realm of God)
2: True end of humanity = union with the spiritual universe
3: Prayer/inner communion with God works - creates psychological/material effects in this world
Psychological benefits include
Zest for life - can find ‘lyrical enchantment’/inspired to do heroic things
Assured safety, peace + loving affection
Personal RE has root + centre in mystical states of consciousness
There are 4 criteria ‘PINT’
Noetic quality - knowledge gained in the experience
Transciency - not sustained long
Ineffability - can't be described in words
Passivity - beyond person's control
Wide range of MEs from low religious significance to high
E.g. moving power of poetry/music, deja vu
Drug induced states where ‘depth beyond depth of truth seems revealed to the inhaler’
James - drug-induced states = genuine - they still give the experiencer access to different levels of consciousness
‘cosmic consciousness’ tapped into, these experiences = most powerful - where one’s understanding of the world/cosmos is heightened + understood
‘mysticism pure and simple...of sudden realisation of the immediate presence of God’
Purpose of ME = God meets the individual ‘on the basis of his personal concerns’
Religion ‘delights to dwell’ on the richer animistic + dramatic aspects of Nature
Reality for us = level of personal + private, NOT level of the cosmic + general
God is not found in one particular religion: each person perceives God etc. uniquely + receives from God uniquely
People have different needs - ‘sick souls’ need religion of deliverance, ‘healthy-minded’ souls don’t. Whatever is wrong can be dealt with by connecting with God
‘God’s existence is the guarantee of an ideal order that shall be permanently preserved’
St Teresa of Ávila: ‘expert of experts’ when describing conditions like union with the divine
'...God establishes himself in the interior of this soul, in such a way, that when she returns to herself, it is wholly impossible for her to doubt that she has been in God, and God in her.’
Walter Stace (1886-1967)
Can't believe God's existence can be proved with reason
Object of them is union with God