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    William James' Four Characteristics of Mystical Experience: Ineffable

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    Ruel Arances
    William James described four key characteristics of mystical experiences: 1. They are ineffable, meaning they cannot be fully expressed in words. 2. They provide a noetic insight or heightened knowledge. 3. They are transient and ephemeral in nature. 4. The subject feels a loss of self and is overcome by "the Other". Rudolf Otto introduced the concept of numinous religious experiences. These involve an encounter with a mysterium tremendum - an awe-inspiring, fearful power. They provoke dread, fascination and a sense of being in the presence of a "wholly other". Examples include Moses at the burning bush and Paul's conversion on the road

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    William James' Four Characteristics of Mystical Experience: Ineffable

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    Ruel Arances
    69 views11 pages
    William James described four key characteristics of mystical experiences: 1. They are ineffable, meaning they cannot be fully expressed in words. 2. They provide a noetic insight or heightened knowledge. 3. They are transient and ephemeral in nature. 4. The subject feels a loss of self and is overcome by "the Other". Rudolf Otto introduced the concept of numinous religious experiences. These involve an encounter with a mysterium tremendum - an awe-inspiring, fearful power. They provoke dread, fascination and a sense of being in the presence of a "wholly other". Examples include Moses at the burning bush and Paul's conversion on the road

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    3-b-mysticism-james-and-otto

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    William James described four key characteristics of mystical experiences: 1. They are ineffable, meaning they cannot be fully expressed in words. 2. They provide a noetic insight or heightened knowledge. 3. They are transient and ephemeral in nature. 4. The subject feels a loss of self and is overcome by "the Other". Rudolf Otto introduced the concept of numinous religious experiences. These involve an encounter with a mysterium tremendum - an awe-inspiring, fearful power. They provoke dread, fascination and a sense of being in the presence of a "wholly other". Examples include Moses at the burning bush and Paul's conversion on the road

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    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    69 views11 pages

    William James' Four Characteristics of Mystical Experience: Ineffable

    Uploaded by

    Ruel Arances
    William James described four key characteristics of mystical experiences: 1. They are ineffable, meaning they cannot be fully expressed in words. 2. They provide a noetic insight or heightened knowledge. 3. They are transient and ephemeral in nature. 4. The subject feels a loss of self and is overcome by "the Other". Rudolf Otto introduced the concept of numinous religious experiences. These involve an encounter with a mysterium tremendum - an awe-inspiring, fearful power. They provoke dread, fascination and a sense of being in the presence of a "wholly other". Examples include Moses at the burning bush and Paul's conversion on the road

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 11

    3 B.

    Mystical experience:

    William James’ four characteristics of mystical experience: ineffable,


    noetic, transient and passive. PINT

    Rudolf Otto – the concept of the numinous; mysterium tremendum; the


    human predisposition for religious experience.
    William James
    • William James described four features of mystical
    experiences in Varieties of Religious Experience
    (1902).
    Gifford Lectures – Edinburgh 1900-1902
    • ‘In lectures 16 and 17, the concept of mysticism is
    addressed. By its nature as a personal occurrence,
    mystical experience cannot be defined in an absolute
    and universal way, although there are some general
    attributes. The experience is not usually predictable
    and as such might be defined as ephemeral in nature.
    The experience is often described by the subject as
    losing a sense of the self and being overcome by the
    Other. The subject of a mystical experience is left
    feeling a heightened insight or knowledge. In this
    sense, it is ‘noetic’ and rooted in the mind.’
    Unutterable or too
    great for words. The
    experience a mystic has
    cannot be easily
    articulated. It is not
    easily understood by
    anyone else who has
    not experienced it.
    3B
    Definitions : Otto and the numinous
    • A religious experience is an
    encounter with the numinous
    • Numinous: being in the presence of
    an ‘awesome power’
    • A numinous experience has three
    parts to it – these are often referred
    to using a Latin phrase… o
    The numinous:
    Mysterium, tremendum et fascinans
    Numinous experience

    Mysterium Tremendum Fascinans


    The experience is The experience The experience has
    ‘wholly other’, out- provokes terror, charm, fascination
    side the ordinary. dread, awe attractiveness despite
    It is experienced its terror
    with blank wonder
    An example of the numinous – C.S. Lewis
    C.S. Lewis on the Numinous
    The numinous grips or stirs the mind powerfully and produces the following
    responses: Numinous dread. Otto calls the feeling of numinous dread, aka awe or
    awe-fullness, the mysterium tremendum. C.S. Lewis's illustration makes clear the
    nature of numinous dread and its difference from ordinary fear:
    'Suppose you were told that there was a tiger in the next room: you would know
    that you were in danger and would probably feel fear. But if you were told "There
    is a ghost in the next room," and believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often
    called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be based on the knowledge of
    danger, for no one is primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but of the
    mere fact that it is a ghost. It is "uncanny" rather than dangerous, and the special
    kind of fear it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny one has reached the
    fringes of the Numinous. Now suppose that you were told simply "There is a
    mighty spirit in the room" and believed it. Your feelings would then be even less
    like the mere fear of danger: but the disturbance would be profound. You would
    feel wonder and a certain shrinking–described as awe, and the object which
    excites it is the Numinous.'
    C.S. Lewis, 'The Problem of Pain' 1940.
    • Discuss:

    - Is there a difference in the type of fear being experienced


    when someone is ‘afraid’ of i) a tiger ii) a ghost?
    - What is ‘the uncanny’?
    - How could the sense of ‘uncanny’ be explained? Try to
    account for it in both atheistic and theistic terms.
    C.S. Lewis on the Numinous
    Examples of a religious experience which is numinous

    • Moses and the burning


    bush ‘At this Moses hid
    his face, because he was
    afraid to look at God’
    • Exodus 3: 6
    Biblical examples of numinous experiences
    • Acts 9: 1-10
    • Isaiah 6:5

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