Have you ever had a "religious experience"?

Lonewulf

Humanistic Cyborg
Lonewulf
Joined
Nov 12, 2005
Messages
10,375
Yo.

In this thread, a poster named Verum stated that he had a religious experience:

Verum said:
I would agree that it is arguably pointless to discuss whether the Bible is the Word of God unless the question of God's existence is settled. On the other hand, many have been converted through reading it. While I personally believe that the existence of God can be proved by reason, I have never seen an unbeliever converted by reason. The problem is that awareness of the existence of God comes through experience of him, something which I imagine few people in this forum will have any use for. Reason and science are extremely important, but they are not the only paths to knowledge or experience. Try to explain love or altruism or beauty away by referring to science and you just get in a mess.
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So, I'm asking anybody, whether they are or were Buddhist or Christian, Hindu or Muslim, if they've ever had what they would describe as any kind of a "religious experience" -- whether or not you are currently an atheist, and have come to question said experiences.

I'm curious about this phenomenon, though I am beginning to feel that it's somewhat exaggerated. Thank you. :)
 
I believe I've had a few of what would classify as 'religious experiences' in the decade or so I practiced Zen Buddhism. Mostly they would occur during long retreats of silent meditation I would attend. I can assure you that such experiences are real. I don't buy into the 'woo' factor of them however.

The book 'Zen & the Brain' put out by MIT Press goes into great detail about the scientific and neurological basis for altered states of consciousness that occur during deep periods of intensive meditation. Its really quite fascinating.

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Brain-Understanding-Meditation-Consciousness/dp/0262011646
 
I've had feelings of euphoria and a special sense of something powerful many times:

1. During multiple orgasms, and for a half hour after them.
2. When I had second row seats for Duran Duran in 1984 and John Taylor's sweat landed on me.
3. On mushrooms
4. On mushrooms while having multiple orgasms watching Amelie.
5. At a predominently black pentacostal church where the gospel music and energy was incredible.
6. During many "psychic readings" I gave where I thought I was really connecting with the dead, and seeing into the lives of people. (Even the ones I documented for myself and later proved false)
7. The first time I held my newborn children.
8. The first time I stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon.

All had similar qualities of a religious experience. All have explanations and roots in brain chemistry and emotion. None were god.
 
The problem with "religious experiences" is that their significance is subjective and completely in the eye of the beholder. A true believer might, say, accidentally spill a bag of Jelly Bellies on his coffee table, see the image of Jesus and shout "hallelujah!" whereas I would just scoop them up and put them back in the bag. Except I would toss out the black ones. I don't like licorice.
 
VanillaCone said:
The problem with "religious experiences" is that their significance is subjective and completely in the eye of the beholder. A true believer might, say, accidentally spill a bag of Jelly Bellies on his coffee table, see the image of Jesus and shout "hallelujah!" whereas I would just scoop them up and put them back in the bag. Except I would toss out the black ones. I don't like licorice.
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Only 20 posts and already nominated!:pibiggrin:
 
I have never had a 'religious moment' in my life, even during the attepted indoctrination to xtianity.
 
I had a very, very intense and powerful "religious experience" when I was 20.
In retrospect, I was extremely sleep deprived and basically had a nervous breakdown of some sort. (I was under a whole lot of stress). It was the product of total psychological desperation. When you really, really need something to be true, your mind will make it true.

I'm an atheist now.
 
I have had what I believe would be "religious experiences" if I had been indoctrinated into the cult of G. As mentioned previously, feelings of euphoria and the sensation of something important or greater than myself going on. Most often when singing and happen to nail the part (I like to sing, but don't do it very well). I have heard descriptions from believers that match my own when singing "Oh Holy Night"*. I can certainly see how someone with a particular idea already in mind could view them as being touched by god. I treat them for what they are: chemistry messing with my emotions.

* Is it sacreligious for an atheist to like sacred music?
 
Yep, I had a religious experience.

My thinking became flawless. This aligned the axis of my mind such that it was pointing directly towards truths, rather than still being dependent upon beliefs.

In the structure of reality, there are 2 planes of reality. One plane everyone is familiar with, is the Relativistic plane of reality. The second plane is the Holistic plane of reality, which is at a 90 degree angle relative to the Relativistic plane of reality. With this being the case, the Holistic plane of reality extends across Time, rather than being stuck in the present time, as is the Relativistic plane.

Both of these planes of reality make up the complete construct of reality, the complete truth. With the axis of the mind pointing towards the complete truth, this also forces one to tap into the Holistic plane of reality, since it too is part of the complete truth.

That is when you meet those on what is sometimes referred to as " the other side ".

See http://www.outersecrets.com/real/biblecode2.htm

I learnt a whole lot. Then I discovered that I can not share it with others, no matter how much it will help others.

If one is to look at the complete truth, then one must step back and look off to the side to be able to look at a belief, since a belief is an exposure to less than a complete truth, hence it is a belief.

Therefore, complete truths are beyond the capacity of mere beliefs. In short, TRUTH is BEYOND BELIEF !

And so, if you then present the complete truth to a believer, meaning someone who even as an adult still uses the primitive mental function of belief / disbelief, they will instantly reject the complete truth since naturally it lies outside of the boundaries of belief systems.

With this being the case, you can have information that would save billions of lives, but no one will be interested in it at all !

On the web site noted above I even offered a $100,000 dollar reward if someone could prove that the code info I have revealed is just coincidental.

I even checked with one of James Randi's staff to see if James could prove me wrong, and the answer was ...

.... However, there is not enough evidence to support a bible code, therefor, I don't believe there is one. It's been shown that any book contains "codes" if one looks hard enough. ....

So, can James Randi prove anything? Nope. And neither can anyone else. But he can help us examine the data dispassionately, which I believe is the best way to determine truth.

Jeff Wagg
JREF
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My bible code info was not examined dispassionately by any on the staff.

Apparently, one must provide the complete supporting evidence that the Bible codes are valid, BEFORE there will be any examination of the complete supporting evidence that the Bible codes are valid. In other words, one must force an event to happen somewhere in the future, before an event can be allowed to happen in the present time.

I told you that truth is not accepted !
 
tsg said:
* Is it sacreligious for an atheist to like sacred music?
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I hope not. I'm very fond of choral music, and there's very little of that that isn't religious. Personally I think that Handel's Hallelujah Chorus is one of the most incredible pieces of music ever written.
 
Nope. Although I have had experiences that seem to be similar to what religious people refer to when they describe religious experiences.
For example: Aurora Borealis, Meteor Crater, Shuttle launch, 1970 Hemi Challenger, Barret .50, Max Effort Takeoff. All gave me the feeling of being in the presence of a higher power, none gave me religion.

Robert
 
MINISTERofTRUTH said:
Yep, I had a religious experience.

My thinking became flawless. This aligned the axis of my mind such that it was pointing directly towards truths, rather than still being dependent upon beliefs.

In the structure of reality, there are 2 planes of reality. One plane everyone is familiar with, is the Relativistic plane of reality. The second plane is the Holistic plane of reality, which is at a 90 degree angle relative to the Relativistic plane of reality. With this being the case, the Holistic plane of reality extends across Time, rather than being stuck in the present time, as is the Relativistic plane.

Both of these planes of reality make up the complete construct of reality, the complete truth. With the axis of the mind pointing towards the complete truth, this also forces one to tap into the Holistic plane of reality, since it too is part of the complete truth.

That is when you meet those on what is sometimes referred to as " the other side ".

See http://www.outersecrets.com/real/biblecode2.htm

I learnt a whole lot. Then I discovered that I can not share it with others, no matter how much it will help others.

If one is to look at the complete truth, then one must step back and look off to the side to be able to look at a belief, since a belief is an exposure to less than a complete truth, hence it is a belief.

Therefore, complete truths are beyond the capacity of mere beliefs. In short, TRUTH is BEYOND BELIEF !

And so, if you then present the complete truth to a believer, meaning someone who even as an adult still uses the primitive mental function of belief / disbelief, they will instantly reject the complete truth since naturally it lies outside of the boundaries of belief systems.

With this being the case, you can have information that would save billions of lives, but no one will be interested in it at all !

On the web site noted above I even offered a $100,000 dollar reward if someone could prove that the code info I have revealed is just coincidental.

I even checked with one of James Randi's staff to see if James could prove me wrong, and the answer was ...




My bible code info was not examined dispassionately by any on the staff.

Apparently, one must provide the complete supporting evidence that the Bible codes are valid, BEFORE there will be any examination of the complete supporting evidence that the Bible codes are valid. In other words, one must force an event to happen somewhere in the future, before an event can be allowed to happen in the present time.

I told you that truth is not accepted !
Click to expand...

Wow, the Web page Minister of Truth cites has got to be one of the most elaborately constructed practical jokes I've seen in a long time. I guess the joke is to get people to keep reading and reading until they ultimately realize it says absolutely nothing, and makes no assertions whatsoever. It's really not that funny, but still kind of impressive. In sort of a pointless way.
 
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