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Religious experiences - Coggle Diagram

- - - - St Paul had a conversion experience where he was blinded by a light and fell off his donkey
      - He heard a voice say 'Why do you persecute me?' and 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting'
      - His self surrender conversion experience was passive, as he did not initiate the event and had a feeling of having met a friendly power and responded by self surrender
    - - The argument wrongly assumes that conversion experiences are similar to sensory experiences, but sensory experiences are caused by the object of experience itself, whereas conversion experiences are caused by electromagnetic signals
      - So conversion experiences aren't caused by a union with God
      - Conversion experiences are not caused by God, as there is no link between the two
      - Religious experiences are caused by electromagnetic signals
      - This helmet caused electromagnetic signals
      - He had people wear a 'God helmet', and 80% felt a God like presence while wearing it
    - - Principle of credulity argues that unless there is overwhelming contrary evidence, then we should believe that things are as they seem
      - There is no overwhelming evidence to counter the idea that conversion experiences are caused by a union with God
      - So if it seems that God is present in conversion experiences, then He probably is, as there is no overwhelming counter evidence
      - Persinger only explains how conversion experiences are caused when wearing the God helmet, but not when they aren't
  - - - Guru Nanak's religious experience involved going underwater for 3 days, where he was with God
      - It was ineffable as he spent 3 days there, but only came out with a short description, forming the Mool Mantra
      - It was transient as the experience was only 3 days, but the effects were long lasting, as he founded a religion and practised it for the rest of his life, and had a change in the emphasis of life
      - Due to these differences, his experience must be caused by God, as it can't have the same cause as sensory experiences
    - - Argued that religious experiences are caused by mental illnesses like temporal lobe epilepsy, which causes seizures due to random firing of neurons
      - This can be seen in St Paul's experience, as he experiences blindness, which is also common in TLE
      - Religious experiences are caused by things like TLE
      - TLE isn't caused by a union with God
      - So religious experiences aren't caused by a union with God
      - Disagrees with the idea that they are difference from other experiences, as they are similar to mental illnesses
    - - Simpler explanations are more likely to be true
      - It is simpler to argue that religious experiences are caused by a union with God rather than different physiological explanations
      - As this is easier, it is more likely to be true
      - So religious experiences are likely to be caused by a union with God
      - There are many individual experiences, and not all are explicable by TLE