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Religious Experience after reading scripture or other religious material
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Confirmation bias happens to everyone. :-)
Also, what are the symptoms you experience in the hours leading up to a religious experience?
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@ludofl3x
Whatever dude.
I have never had one from reading but during meditations I have had some weird stuff happen that has left me disoriented, euphoric, feeling out of body, that kind of thing. YOu have to sort of ground back into your body.
Read, Out‐of‐body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin by Blanke,Landis , Spinelli and Seeck.
Abstract
During an out‐of‐body experience (OBE), the experient seems to be awake and to see his body and the world from a location outside the physical body. A closely related experience is autoscopy (AS), which is characterized by the experience of seeing one’s body in extrapersonal space. Yet, despite great public interest and many case studies, systematic neurological studies of OBE and AS are extremely rare and, to date, no testable neuroscientific theory exists. The present study describes phenomenological, neuropsychological and neuroimaging correlates of OBE and AS in six neurological patients. We provide neurological evidence that both experiences share important central mechanisms. We show that OBE and AS are frequently associated with pathological sensations of position, movement and perceived completeness of one’s own body. These include vestibular sensations (such as floating, flying, elevation and rotation), visual body‐part illusions (such as the illusory shortening, transformation or movement of an extremity) and the experience of seeing one’s body only partially during an OBE or AS. We also find that the patient’s body position prior to the experience influences OBE and AS. Finally, in five patients, brain damage or brain dysfunction is localized to the temporo‐parietal junction (TPJ). These results suggest that the complex experiences of OBE and AS represent paroxysmal disorders of body perception and cognition (or body schema).
We suggest that OBE and AS are related to a failure to integrate proprioceptive, tactile and visual information with respect to one’s own body (disintegration in personal space) and by a vestibular dysfunction leading to an additional disintegration between personal (vestibular) space and extrapersonal (visual) space. We argue that both disintegrations (personal; personal–extrapersonal) are necessary for the occurrence of OBE and AS, and that they are due to a paroxysmal cerebral dysfunction of the TPJ in a state of partially and briefly impaired consciousness.Weakeredge, are you reading this?
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@janesix
You would have to define religious experience before I could answer with any confidence but if you mean a genuine supernatural event then no o do not believe so.
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@secularmerlin
Experiencing the presence of God.
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@janesix
Experiencing the presence of God.
How do you differentiate this from simple confirmation bias? Seems like you are inviting a sharpshooter fallacy.
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@secularmerlin
You know it.
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@janesix
You know it.
Ok. How? What specifically is the evidence where by I as an outside observer can tell the difference between someone experiencing the presence of some god(s) and someone who is in fact just experiencing something they are genuinely but incorrectly convinced is the presence of some god(s)?
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@secularmerlin
Why do you think an outsider would observe it?
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@janesix
I only ask because I am an outsider. How would I know the difference between the two?
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@secularmerlin
It's a subjective experience. There's no way you could know.
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@janesix
Then why would you bother asking if any one else has had a religious experience? It stands to reason that you cannot tell if they have either.
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@secularmerlin
I ask because I am interested in people and their experiences.
Do you only believe what people say if they can scientifically prove it to you?
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@janesix
It depends on the (extra)ordinary nature of the claim. I am willing to take your word that you are a human and about your choice of breakfast foods. Once you start making claims about things that are by definition undemonstrable and for which humans have only anecdotal experience of it becomes more difficult for me to maintain credulity.
I can only say in my experience that spirits or the dead come through as a feelings or images. Same for land spirits. We do mediumship exercises and you get a quick image of a room or flower, you might smell a smell. Maybe some static electricity on your skin. If you know the person you might feel they are around. Just like when you know a certain person if walking around the house. You recognize the sound of their walking. Guides have appeared as solid people. Usually very quick. I have met three guides and have only two names. But you many not get names either. Gods are different in that they create in a change in air around your body. You feel what I can only call a pressure in your chest and you feel like your not where you are physically. Sometime it stops at the feeling but I have seen gods. Specifically Jesus, Odin, Holda and Mani. Sometimes what I saw matches others sometimes it doesn't. I don't expect my experience to be like someone else's. People can take the information as they will. I don't use drugs to induce visions so I can trust them more but that doesn't mean much to anyone either, it's just my personal preference. I would one day love to do a group experience like a sauna or sweat lodge kinda thing.
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@secularmerlin
That's ok. But it seems like more of a problem for you than for me.
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@Polytheist-Witch
When I've experienced it, it is like being put into a state of deep meditation, without trying. And my breathing is regulated. It is like my body knows exactly what to do in these situations.
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@janesix
That's ok. But it seems like more of a problem for you than for me.
Provided you don't mind if I dismiss your claims it isn't really a problem for either of us.
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@janesix
What is a religious experience?
The Bible tends to make me yawn with indifference....Is that what you mean?
And Jehovah's Witness booklets make me smile....All those smartly dressed people stroking tigers in paradise.
Perhaps some people shudder with delight.
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@secularmerlin
I don't mind. I expect it.
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@zedvictor4
A religious experience is an experience with the presence of God. A spiritual experience is different, it doesn't have to involve God.
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@janesix
Apologies....But the term "religious experience" made me smile.
But I would suggest that both assumptions/reactions, are in fact the same thing...A self induced physiological response to a favourable stimulus.
In other words,....Brain chemistry.
An actual GOD isn't necessary at all.......You are quite capable of instigating stimuli and producing experiences, all by your self.
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@janesix
@zedvictor4
A religious experience is an experience with the presence of God. A spiritual experience is different, it doesn't have to involve God.
I wouldn’t even say spiritual experience. I would say awe. It comes down to what we associate it with i.e. spirituality, nature, God, etc.
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@Reece101
A spiritual experience is not just "awe". There are multiple effects such as prana and spontaneous yoga which are involved. Kriyas to be technical.
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@janesix
Awe is in its own league. It’s the peak of what someone feels when they’ve pushed past a threshold of how they normally perceive the world.
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@Reece101
Yeah. It's not spirituality though.
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@janesix
Spirituality falls under it.
What do you mean by “Religious Experience after reading scripture or other religious material“ then?
A 30 second prayer?