Can experience be properly categorized in the academic study of religion? Can an experience’s significance be determinate and/or meaning derived? Fundamentally speaking, what is the definition of religious experience? These supporting cast members serve to support the overarching question: how does and/or can one properly study the concept of religious experience? This paper comprises conversations from two persons engaged in this fundamental concern, Robert Sharf1 and Matthew Kapstein, about the
The very act of discussing ineffability questions whether anything can be truly ineffable in the first place. Religion almost always critically depends on the ineffability of some experience or entity. This is a widespread tendency, but some would argue that it is a rule for all religions. That there must be the recognition of something “beyond,” “transcendent” or “pure.” Prior to judging Christian or Buddhist beliefs, it is necessary to understand ineffability itself. Generally speaking
To attempt to advance a theory of ethics corresponding with Wittgenstein’s philosophy is to faced with what initially seems an impossible task. The author of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus does not seem to mince his words when he says that “ethics cannot be put into words” (TLP 6.42). Nonetheless, Wittgenstein wrote (and spoke) extensively on the nature of ethics in his Notebooks, 1914-1916 and in a 1929 lecture he gave to the Heretics Society in Cambridge titled A Lecture on Ethics. It would
distain for organized and institutional religion. James’ focus on the mystic experiences that religion entails was characterized by four circumstances. These four circumstances were ineffability, a noetic quality, mystical states are transient, and people can’t control when the experiences come and go. For ineffability, the experience must be had by a person and cannot be transferred to another. By noetic quality he was stating that the mystical state came as a state of knowledge to the individual
A religious experience is an event which brings about an encounter between God and the experient. It is a communication between God and the individual which brings about an overwhelming awareness of God. As a result, the experient may undergo a conversion, may believe they have received a revelation or feel called to fulfil a divine commission or spiritual responsibility. But a question that would arise is whether there are strong grounds that suggest that such experiences prove the existence of
Call Me You Claudia Rankine’s Citizen is the blood flowing out from a bleeding, injured America. Only a tragic symptom of a larger trauma, one can trace this blood and book back to the greater issue: the deep gash of racism. Overt and obnoxious, the gash screams for attention; it is large and apparent and seen by all. It exists in the public space, displayed for any to see, undeniable and visible and rambunctious. But Rankine’s Citizen is not that gash. It is none of these things, yet calls attention
duo is described as feeling “speechless and amazed” (5). These words imply a very exciting new relationship. They are so enamored with the physical part of their encounters that they have no words to be said, and no words need to be said. This ineffability implies a relationship that does not grow emotionally, but strictly physically. For two parties to be emotionally invested in each other they must appreciate each other's personalities. This is not something that is currently present in the pair
Kyle Fitta Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information known about Zeami’s early birth or even early life. However, his father introduced him to Noh at a very young age, and not soon after, he became a well-known actor who possessed superb adaptability – mastering a variety of complex roles such as elegant women, young child and even alpha males. When he originally displayed his work to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Zeami was portrayed a child actor in his play around the age of 12. Yoshimitsu thought
opinion about the role of language among the human society. She uses a simple fable to carry her speech from beginning to end, with various discussion towards the value of language. Her speech is elegant and profound, which skillfully presents the ineffability of language. Throughout her speech, even though she does not make a clear thesis statement, she has done a great job on trigger people to discover their own language. Morrison comes straight to the fable that young men questioned a wise but blind
8th largest Christian body which was developed by Ellen G White whose writings is held highly in what they believe, in the 9th century during the Millerite movement. Some of the theology goes along with the evangelic beliefs of the Trinity and ineffability of scripture, believing that the bible is free of errors on issues of faith and practice. Some of the main teachings are the unconscious state of the dead which is the belief that the soul sleeps unconsciously during death of the body and its resurrection
Life After Life What is it like we living another life after our death? How it feels leaving one life and entering another life? Life after life is a beautiful explanation of above questions written by Raymond A. Moody, Jr. He has both Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Virginia and M.D. from the Medical college of Georgia. He is presently practicing Psychiatry and doing further research, writing, and lecturing on the near-death experiences. “The book is about the investigation of phenomenon
"What is madness but a translation out of essence but into the abysses of the exterior interior?" - Antonin Artaud In his 1901 essay entitled "Magic", the Irish poet William Butler Yeats formulated a conception of aesthetic work directly rooted in the ancient labors of the magician and the priest. His fundamental beliefs, beliefs which would shape the entirety of his life and literary career, can be summarized in the following points: (1) That the borders of our mind are ever shifting, and
T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land “Both the hysteric and the mystic transgress the linear syntax and logic governing the established symbolic order.” -Helen Bennett It is perhaps part of the unique genius of T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” that both critics and lay readers have repeatedly felt forced to look outside the published text of the poem for clues as to its meaning. The text’s fragmented, seemingly violated body seems to exhibit wounds through which its significance has slipped, creating
True Epistemic Value of Religious Experiences For many years, the idea of what it means to have a “religious experience” has been greatly debated. Philosophers and great thinkers alike have grappled with many questions, such as what constituted a “religious experience” and the difference between that and a mystical experience. Part of this great debate involves two philosophers from a similar time period, William James and C.D Broad, who each saw these experiences, despite some similarities, as having
The problem with religious and secular worldviews in Martin Buber’s I and Thou is that their conceptions of the highest good, in other words, the possibility of loving well, are clouded by teleological ways of interaction. For Buber, the possibility of loving well, an authentic existence, lies in one’s relation to God but God is only relatable through relations with other people. In this essay, I argue that Buber responds adequately to the problem posed by modern religion and society by providing
Love Lost - Female Submission in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream After first seeing a performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I would have called it a love story. After reading it several times, I am less sure what it is. I will take a closer look at the behavior and context of the characters to understand how a comedy with three marriages and as many as seven lovers almost concludes without a portrayal of love that satisfies me. The pairings I consider are: Theseus and
Plato’s Unwritten Doctrines from a Hermeneutical Point of View* ABSTRACT: In this paper, I will show the deep roots of dialogue in Plato’s thought, in order to examine the validity of the so-called ‘esoteric Plato’. The confrontation between dialogicity and unwritten doctrines is the main theme of this article. These two views — Hermeneutics and Tübingen School — are not far away on concrete contents, with more or less variations. But it must be noticed that both conceptions of Platonic thinking
Women Travel Writers After my own presentation, I wanted to dig a little deeper and see how women travel writers were representing nature in the 18th century. I wondered if the women's descriptions differed far from the men that I studied in my presentation. I want to focus on Dorothy Wordsworth (William's sister), Ann Radcliffe and Helen Maria Williams. I'm curious to know if they were guilty of over-representing women in landscape and nature scenes. At the very end, I'll put in my two cents
Hazlitt wryly observed in 1816 that "the fault of Mr. Coleridge is that he comes to no conclusion." This is never more evident than in Coleridge 's three fragment poems, all of which are offered to the public as emphatically unresolved, exemplifying an anxiety that runs throughout Coleridge 's entire poetic career. Fragment poems were an increasingly popular genre in the early nineteenth century, and attempts to mimic the structure were often poorly done: the construction of the 'fragment ' was
Comparing Billy and Christ in Billy Budd Herman Melville's Billy Budd provides us with a summation and conclusive commentary on the ambiguities of moral righteousness and social necessity. The conflict that arises pitting natural justice in opposition to military justice essentially deliberates over whether the sacrifice of the individual is required for the continuum and conservation of social order. The deep allegorical theme of the passion of Christ that resides in Billy Budd illustrates