Mystical experience - B

• William James’ book on mystical experiences ‘Varieties of Religious Experience (1902)’ is regarded as one of the most significant works on mysticism. In this work he broke religious experiences into four characteristics
• Four characteristics of mystical experience


  • Ineffability
  • Noetic quality
  • Transiency
  • Passivity
• Ineffability


  It is not possible to explain the mystical experience to other people because it is overwhelmingly and transforming. Unless someone else has had a similar experience, it is not possible for others to understand. Mundane language cannot express it.
• Mystical experience cannot be proved


  But it is a valuable experience
• Noetic quality


  A mystical experience allows an insight into faith. These insights would not be available to a person simply by intellectual investigation e.g. Bible Study. The gaining of a special kind of knowledge, or insight, is common in the work of mystics down the ages.
• 1. Ineffability - It is not possible to explain the mystical experience to other people because it is overwhelmingly

  and transforming. Unless someone else has had a similar experience, it is not possible for others to understand. Philosopher Peter Vardy compares this with the experience of being in love. Moreover, the mystical experience is so profound, that mundane language cannot express it. James accepts such experiences cannot be proved but just because it cannot be ‘proved’ should not mean it is not a valuable experience.
• Transiency


  The mystical experience does not last long. It rarely lasts more than 30 minutes, but the effects remain for a lifetime.
• Passivity


  When the experience reaches its highest form, the individual is left with a feeling of helplessness. The experience is 'done to' the mystic, the actual moment of mysticism appears to be governed by a being/force external to the mystic. The transformative effect on the passive individual is massive, and often the mystics life will often be changed after the experience.
• Noetic quality – A mystical experience also allows an insight into faith. These insights would not be available to a person simply by intellectual investigation e.g. Bible Study. The gaining of a special kind of knowledge, or insight, is common in the work of mystics down the ages e.g. Teresa’s four stages of prayer studied above.
• Transiency - The mystical experience does not last long. James noted in his observations that the experiences rarely lasted more than 30 minutes, but the effects remain for a lifetime
• Passivity - When the experience reaches its highest form, the individual is left with a feeling of helplessness. Some subjects in James' observations spoke of being lost in the experience. James’ observed the experience is ‘done to’ the mystic, the actual moment of mysticism appears to be governed by a being/force external to the mystic. The transformative effect on the passive individual is massive, and often the mystics life will often be changed after the experience.
• • Otto’s studied religious experiences from the perspective that they are beyond the realms of rational thought and/or the empirical sciences, for his book ‘The Idea of the Holy’.

  • Instead he focused on the ‘feelings’ of the person involved in the mystical experience. Therefore, he accepted that his research was subjective.
• tto starts his investigation by looking into the concept of the term ‘holy’

  • The word ‘holy’ has several meanings, but he focused on one specific meaning of the term ‘holy’ which was

  ‘numinous’.

  • Numinous definition: This word comes from the Latin word ‘numen’: which refers to a supernatural Godly

  power. Therefore, the person who experiences the ‘numinous’ feels the presence of a supernatural Godly

  power as part of their religious/mystical experience.
• Otto believed that human beings naturally seek out the numinous, as it is part of humanities natural inclination to seek spiritual.

  • Everyday human experience is often described as ‘rational’: particularly when dealing with the everyday aspects of human existence. However, Otto believed that there was also a part of human existence that wants the ‘non- rational’ i.e. those things that cannot be explained by empirical means – think UFO’s or superheroes.
• Otto makes a distinction between an irrational being (which refers to a lack of sanity) and a non-rational being (who is stable but wants an experience that is not definable in rational terms).
• Numinous experience


  The deepest and fundamental element of all religious emotions