Verifying religious experiences & their value for faith

• Challenges from philosophy and theology:

  1. We only have the word of the experient that the experience took place.
  2. The experiences are highly subjective, so are not objectively real. They are just 'interpretation'. This is the view of many philosophers, e.g. Hick.
  3. The inability to describe mystical experiences suggests that they are not real- James also claimed there was a fine line between mysticism and insanity.
  4. Mystical experiences are elitist. Only a few have that intimate connection with God.
• Religious and secular response to the challenge that 'we only have the word of the experiment that the experience took place'.

  Some are group experiences, so the evidence is wider. James' pragmatic approach claimed that the transforming effect of such experiences on people's lives was testimony to their genuineness.
• Religious and secular response to the challenge that 'experiences are highly subjective and personal, so are not objectively real'.

  People who have had religious experiences are likely to claim that they were objectively real.
• Religious and secular response to the challenge that 'the inability to describe mystical experiences suggests they are not real and there is a fine line between mysticism and insanity'.

  Ineffability is a key characteristic of mystical experiences is all religions. It is difficult to investigate them, but that does not mean that they are false.

  Likewise, the possibility that some mystics were unbalanced does not mean all were or are.
• Religious and secular response to the challenge that 'mystical experiences are elitist'.

  According to Vatican II, mysticism is a gift that is open to all. Few, however, are prepared to engage in the discipline and effort required.
• Challenges from psychology and medical science:

  1. Freud claimed visions were just illusions created by subconscious fears and desire- at best signs of immaturity, at worse mental illness.
  2. Neurotheology and the God Helmet- Its stimulation of the temporal lobes leads to experiences akin to those of religion and suggests that the latter are due simply to particular states of the brain. Taking entheogen produces similar results to those induced by the God Helmet.
  3. Temporal lobe epilepsy has been suggested for Paul's vision on the road to Damascus
• How does the God Helmet work?

  Its stimulation of the temporal lobes leads to experiences akin to those of religion and suggests that the latter are due simply to particular states of the brain.
• What produces similar results to those of the God Helmet?

  Taking entheogens.
• What part of the brain does the God Helmet stimulate?

  The temporal lobe.
• Religious and secular response to the challenge that 'Freud claimed visions were just illusions created by subconscious fears and desires'.

  Jung challenged Freud, arguing that the visions of sane people were not necessarily delusions. In his view they often had beneficial results for the experient.
• Who challenged Freud?

  Jung.
• Religious and secular response to the challenge that 'Neurotheology shows that religious experiences can be simulated through devices such as the God Helmet'.

  However, when God chooses to communicate with someone it has to be processed by the brain, so evidence of neurotheology and hallucinogenic drugs doesn't mean that religious experiences are just states of mind.

  The mind can also generate such experiences. Spiritual discipline such as those set out in Teresa of Avila's writings train the brain to focus exclusively on God, resulting in mystical experiences.
• Religious and secular response to the challenge that 'Temporal lobe epilepsy could explain some religious experiences'

  Perhaps God works through people's conditions. The 'torn in the flesh' that Paul said he suffered from can be explained in other ways; there is no way of knowing for sure the cause of the Acts 9 experience. 
• Entheogens

  Hallucinogenic drugs that are known to generate religious experiences.