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Religious Expereince - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Further challenges to religious experiences from Science and religious response to these challenges
        
        Sigmund Freud-Austrain neurologist Freud argued that religion is wish fulfilled by the unconscious mind. The idea of God helps us to control fear of the unknown. According to Freud where people claim to have religious visions and mystical experiences-these are simply hallucinations caused by our need to have some kind of control over our helpless state.
        
        Perople who suffer form temporal lobe eplilepsy are sometimes probe to have religious experiences and vision. This suggests that religious experiences are nothing more than an abnormal state of the brain. St Paul hints at suffering from this condition-which he call a “Thorn in the flesh” -2-Corinthians-12-17
        
        The Resarch findings on TLE-are supported by the science of Neurotheology-which suggests that religious experiences are caused by an electrical stimulation of the lobs of the brain. This is further by the studies of Michael Persinger-and his useage of the “God Helmet”
        
        Religious experiences can often be endured by certain Drugs-and substances -this shows that religious experiences are nothing more than the product of brain states. Drugs such as LSD’s are responsible for heavily enduced hallucinations.This is shown through the experiments of Walter Pahnke-who conducted a scientific experiment in a study of 20 theology students-where ten where given a Placebo-and the other ten psilocybin-those who took this drug experienced mystic like experiences-further showing how religious experiences can be enduced by the brain.
      - Religious responses
        
        With regard to the challenges that religious experiences are the product of conditions of the brain such as TLE-or that neurotheology shows them to be certain states of the brain or that they are caused by drugs, all three challenges are claiming that religious experiences can be brought about by they individual’s own mental state. However if God wants to give people religious experiences these have to be processed by the brain, because the brain is our only way of processing anything. So there has to be areas in the brain responsible for processing them. Finally as as our bodies, and structures are create din the image of God-then the structure of the brain is inspired divinly, and therefore these religious experiences are caused by God.
        
        The religious believers would have no difficulty in accepting that as well as receiving religious experiences, the mind can generate them and interact with God.
        
        As a response to Freud’s view that religion and religious experiences are wish-fulfilments. This is just a hypothesis and cannot be proven to be true-and does not prove God to be false
  - - - The Primciple of Credulity
        
        This is Swinburne Pirnciple that we ought to belive things as they seem-unless and until we have evidence that they are mistaken Therfore if you belive to see a religious experience-then this is what you have seen.
      - The Principle of Testiomny
        
        As opposed to the Principle of credulity-the principle of testimony is the idea that we should belive what people tell us, provided that there are no particular reasons not to. For example if someone says that they have had a religious experience, and they normally tell the truth then there is no reason we should not believe them.
- - - - Expereinces teaches us that the religious life involves the following three beliefs
        -The most significant thing about the visible wolrd is that it draws it’s significance from the realm of God
        -The true end of humanity is Union with the higher universe
        -Prayer or inner communion with God is effective-and produces effects in the world
        
        Expereince teaches us that the reliigious life involves the following three beliefs
        -People can be inspired to commit king and heroic acts
        -People are provided with safety and security
        
        Finally James believed this kind of personal religious experience has it’s roots and centre it’s mystical states of consciousness
  - - - For James Drug-induced religious experiences are valid as they do what all mystical experiences do-they give is access to different levels of consciousness.
        
        Finally, the point of Mystical experiences is that God meets the individual, on the basis of his personal concerns-For James God does not appear in one particular religion, or one set of religious dogmas. Instead God appears, each individual perceives God differently.
- - - - God is seen through or by the means of the object, a corporal vision, then comes through the physical sense of sight. The experiencer sees a supernatural vision of an object that is really present
        
        A well known example of a corporal-vision is Joan of Arc. From the ages of 12, she experienced visions of angels and saints, along with voices which told her to bring renewal to the French Nation.
        
        After experiencing these visions she led France to victory in the battle against the English-in the Hundred Years’ War.
        Another example of Corporal visions is shown through St Bernadette-who claimed to have experienced visions of the Virgin Mary. These visions were corporeal as Bernadette saw the physical body of Mary.
        
        The Visiosn Bernadette experienced were private and auditory-as only she experienced them, as well as them involving speech. As well as this the Visions had clear religious significance because of the identity of the Virgin Mary, as well in the instructions given by the figure-to wash in the spring-and to build a chapel.
    - - An example of this is shown through the Pharaoh’s dreams in Genesis. In this account, the Egyptian Pharaoh receives two powerful dream visions that he cannot interpret
        In the first, seven thin cows, devoir seven fat cows, and in the second seven withered ears of grain, devour seven fat ears.
        The Vision was a dream experience, beyond Pharaoh’s control, seen with the eye of the mind
        Pharaoh’s account of the dream is vivid, and the effect on him is dramatic,
        Pharaoh saw the things so realistically that when he awoke he first had to adapt himself to reality-being well aware that this is not an ordinary dream, Pharaoh knows that it needs to be interpreted
        The result of this the Pharaoh, and his aids discover that the dream is God depicting what is about to happen.
        So the Pharoah stores enough grain to avoid starvation in Egypt
        
        Another example of this is Example 2-Joseph’s dream-(Mathew-2-13-15)
        -In this account an angel appears to Joseph in a dream, and tells him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt because King Herd is searching for Jesus in order to kill him
        -Joseph instantly arises and obeys the angels commands staying Egypt till the death of Herod
        
        Joseph’s experience has similar feature to the dream of Pharaoh
        -The Vision of the angel appears as a dream in Joseph’s Mind
        -The effect is dramatic-he instantly arises and takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt
        -The vision is from God, by the agency of the angel
        -The Result is that Jesus is taken out of harm’s way and the prophecy is fulfilled
    - - The Intellectual vision has no image-however those who claim to experience it-claim to see things as they really are.
        They are Mystical visions which cannot be described using ordinary language
        
        Sometime before 1567-Teresa of Avilia-wrote an autobiography in which she describes her visions
        
        In her account Theresa says “I saw nothing with the eyes of the body”-This visions therefore cannot have been corporal
        -“I saw nothing with the eyes of the soul”-the vision was not imaginary, I saw no form-the vision was not imaginative
        -Theresa also states that “I had a most distinct feeling-of his near presence-she experienced Jesus through Presence, and not through an image,
        
        Teresa goes on to explain that the light of an intellectual vision is an illumination of the understanding of the soull.
  - - - In Rudolph Otto’s approach to mystical experience, God is wholly other from humanity.
- - - - Stace defines Mysticism as non-sensuous and non-intellectual union with the Divine. This occurs when the senses, and rational intellect cease to work.
        
        For Stace a genuine Mystical Expereince does not involve shape,form,or any colour.
        However Stace argues that the most important characteristic of Mystical expereinces is an apprehension of a higher deity.
  - - - The Extrovertive mystic still sees the wolrd of Normal objects, such as trees and tables, with his physical senses, but these objects are transfigured so that the non-sensuous unity shines through them.
    - - The Introvertive Expereince achieves the total suppression of sense-Expereince in which awareness of the world is completely obliterated. Our consciousness is replaced by a completely new form of Consciousness.