Religious Experience: The Theoretical Aspect Of Religion

The theoretical aspect of religion is something that has been touched upon by many scholars in the field with each attempting to explain religion and certain aspects from within. In this case theorist of experience concerned with the theoretical aspects of the religious experience. Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences considered real encounters with God or gods or higher being. Countless amount of scholars have to give their take on how this should be approached or studied. Scholars like William James claiming that the religious experience is the most important aspect of religion and that religion can be analyzed by what those religious experiences bring to an individual's life. In this paperwork with the works of

James viewed the spiritual value of religious experience as viable even as if there was no way for each and every one to understand the experience as long as the host of the religious experienced understood the experience. Whether it was someone imagining God or gods talking to them, James believed that experience while it is specific to that person still holds value in understanding religion; rejecting Freud’s take on religion as an illusion of the inner child in us need of a father figure that overlooks the many things we can’t seem to control in our lives. “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine” – William

Breaking down religious experience into certain categories starting with the ineffable an experience so beyond that it was impossible to put into words. Noetic the sense of knowing God in a deeper sense sort of an enlightenment. Transient which is a temporary experience with the ability to influence you for the rest of your life, which can also be built upon with similar experience, for example, talking to God. This is a conventional aspect can only be temporary but one can learn more and more as they go through this experience. Lastly “passive” is an experience outside of one’s control. To James, any religious experience is a sign of their belief or the God manifesting in their life. This proves the ethical values in his approach to the study of religion as James belief in the individual experience means that his approach transcends through different religions and traditions. No two experience can be the same to categorized specific experiences would mean to toss out all other experiences which didn’t fit the mold. Secondly, a key feature in James’s approach is also pragmatism which he believes that the things which make sense to us speak to our own subjective mindset. This approach fails when it comes to people of the weaker faith in their own religion as they search for proof in the common perspective. The