Can We Know God Through Experience?: Brain and Religious Experiences, The
Many believe that the actual origins of reported personal religious experiences are more human than divine. The brain is capable of lots of illusory and hallucinatory activity which undercuts any attempt to prove God through such experiences. For ex...
Can We Know God Through Experience?: Divine Experience or Illusion?
It is useful to keep in mind that mystics are self conscious about the possibility of self deception. Saint Teresa was convinced that experiences which genuinely produce love cannot be deceptions. As William Craig reveals in relation to his own expe...
Can We Know God Through Experience?: Religious Experiences and Their Recurrent Features
People who report having had a religious experience often say that the encounter provides meaning and direction to their lives. It even gives proof of a Higher Being despite the fact that some may question the validity of the experience. In his book...
Can We Know God Through Experience?: Will to Believe, The
Nineteenth century philosopher William James does not advocate ignoring evidence, but he does suggest three conditions in which you should believe even though there is not sufficient proof: when it is a forced option, there is no other choice;when i...
Can We Know God Through Experience?: Extrovertive and Introvertive Mystical Experiences
The highest form of mystical experience seems to be one in which there is a sense of flowing together and becoming one with God. In an extrovertive mystical experience the world around us is transfigured and transformed. But in an introvertive exper...
Can We Know God Through Experience?: Religious Experiences Reflect Cultural Differences and Traditions
Followers from different religions proclaim their own visions of the Divine. In Christianity, the person in prayer comes in contact with God or Jesus Christ, whereas in Eastern traditions the experience is a meeting with nothingness, an impersonal s...
Can We Know God Through Experience?: Matter of Faith, A
Ordinary devotional experiences guide most people of faith. But those who have mystical experiences find that analytical discussions are beside the point. As William James said, "feeling is the deeper source of religion, and that philosophic and the...
Can We Know God Through Experience?: Principle of Credulity
Philosopher Richard Swinburne says that "apparent perceptions ought to be taken at their face value in the absence of positive reason for challenge." He applies this Principle of Credulity to religious experiences and places the burden of proof on ...
Does the Mind Shape the World?: Does the Mind Shape the World?
Immanuel Kant, born in 1724 sought to resolve a controversy that had been brewing for over a century. Rationalists argued that knowledge is based on reasoning inside our minds. Empirists disagreed saying that all knowledge must come from the senses....