Religious experience can conjure up a wide variety of images. Many claim having had experienced god in ways that ranges from saying a prayer, to attending a service in a place of worship, to hearing the voice of God. Through one perspective, religious experience is plausibly real and true especially for those who have experienced its reality. Through another view, validating any concept such as religious experience is an oxymoron of many possibilities that are subject to individual definitions of religious experience, their respective beliefs and many more.
William James in his book “Varieties of Religious Experiences” recognizes that religious or “mystical” experiences can be distinguished into having four characteristics or qualities namely Ineffability, Transiency, Noetic quality and Passivity. He distinguished an experience to possibly be one of a mystical occurrence if it is indescribable in normal language (Ineffable), is confined to last a period of time (Transcient), provides an insight into unobtainable truths or knowledge (having Noetic Quality) and is not under the control of the person who is experiencing it (Passivity). Looking at famed mystical experiences such as that of the conversion of St.Paul during his journey to Damascus, Saul was not in control of his experience of the voice of God and the event of him being blinded during the experience itself. Also with St Teresa of Avila who received visions over a period of two years stating “I wish I could give a description of at least the smallest part of what I learned, but, when I try to discover a way of doing so, I find it impossible”. These characteristics through one perspective only serve to distinguish an experience such as this from other ordinary experience which we may not associate with the divine. Yet having distinguished it to be a different and obviously distinguishable form of experience opens up the possibility that experiences with such qualities does in fact, exist in a category...