An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

Darwin’s Angel
253
cosmic consciousness 16
Cosmic Rose 65
counter-culture 23
creative spirituality 23
crucifixion of Jesus 36
Cruise, Tom, actor, a Scientologist 44
Cupitt, Don
Mysticism After Modernity
 253
The Sea of Faith
 253
D’Aquili, Eugene, 
The Mystical 
Mind
 254 
Dadi Prakashmani 40
Dalai Lama, His Holiness 148, 171, 
213– 14
and Buddhism 99–100
exile 213
inspiring leader 196
on meditation 63
world-wide influence 18
Damascus road conversion of 
St Paul 198–9
Daoism (Taoism), China 32–3
Dark Night of the Soul 138–9
Darshan, Mother Meera 67–8
Darshan, silent communication of 
light 49
Darwin, Charles, Theory of 
Evolution 254
Dawkins, Richard, atheist, 253–4
The God Delusion
 253–4
taught by Hardy 3
website 143–5
De Klerk, F. W., Nobel Peace Prize 
215
Death Bed Visions 17
death, prospect of, as trigger 79–80
decline of religious observance 252
de-conversion 143–5
Dennett, Daniel, atheist, 
Breaking the 
Spell
 253
dependence, feeling of 241
depression 83–5
despair 82–3
Dionysius the Areopagite 62, 243
converted by St Paul 199
Syrian monk 173–4
direct experience 23
dreams 125–7
drink, drugs, smoking, Eric 
Clapton 218
drug-induced trips 131–2
Durkheim, Emile
Elementary Forms of Religious 
Life
 22
strength from God 220
dying and death 146–70

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Index
278
Eastern Orthodox Christianity 36
ecstasy 15
of Sri Ramakrishna 192
Eddy, Mary Baker 43
Eid-al-Fitr 73
end of Ramadan fast 55
Einstein, Albert, Theory of 
Relativity 137
Eliot, T. S., poem, 
Four Quartets
 177
‘Emanation’ doctrine 244–5
emotional dimension 12
empiricists 16
End of Life Experience (ELE) 151–3
energy in universe 33
Enlightenment of Buddha 31–2, 213
enlightenment, 
kevala
, in Jainism 31
essentialists 16
Eucharist celebration 54
exceptional human experience 
(EHE) 15
execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer 207
Exodus of Jews 34
experience In depth 12
effect of 221, 222
of Hajj 71–2
when clinically dead 17
experiential dimension 12
faith in drugs, cure by 43
faith-inspired works of art 2
fasting 73–4
and meditation 177
Fatima, Portugal, Virgin Mary 111
fear 85–6
Feast of the Passover 36
feng shui
 33
festivals 54–5 
Findhorn Community, Moray Firth, 
Scotland 70, 107–8
fire sacrifices 28
Five Pillars of Islam 38, 71
five-fold path 47
flowers in nature 10
football as religion 25
founders of religion 18–19
Fox, George 42–3 
Francis of Assisi 18
Franciscans, founded by St Francis 228
Franks Davis, Caroline, 
The Evidential 
Force of Religious 
Experience
 249–50
Friedrich, Caspar David, Romantic 
painter 87
funeral of young girl, Chad Varah 209
Gandhi 
see
Mahatma Gandhi
Ganges river at Banaras (or Varanasi) 71
garden at Findhorn 70
Genesis, Book of 33–4
German bombs in war 9
German Theosophical Society 46
Gifford Lectures 3
Gita 
(Bhagavad Gita As It Is
) English 
translation 49
glossolalia 122
Gnosticism 45
God 
description of 173
in everyday life 252
as Mind 43
as religious ideal 253
God-consciousness 192
Golden Rule of 
jen 
(virtue) 33
Golden Rule, ‘do as you would be 
done by’ 18
Golden Temple at Amritsar 39, 71
gongs 90
good and evil forces in world, 
choice 30
Gopin, Marc, Rabbi 229
Gospels 
and Hebrew Scriptures 36
illuminated manuscripts 19
written by followers of Jesus
Great Renunciation of Buddha 31
greed, hatred, delusion 32
Griffiths, Fr Bede
mystic experience 186–9
Prison Phoenix Project 225
on religious text 21
guidance 107–8
from Christian God 8
Guru Gobind Singh 38
Guru Granth Sahib
 19, 39

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Index
279
Guru Nanak 18, 38
gurus
(teachers) 2
Hindu tradition 47
Guyana jungle, Jonestown 142
Hajj
(pilgrimage), Mecca 37, 71–2
Handel, Georg Friedrich, ‘Messiah’ 89
Hardy, Sir Alister 96, 224, 231–3
The Spiritual Nature of Man
 5, 
232–4
contact with power 220–1
Darwinian biologist 3
Hare Krishna
 29, 49
, 
74
harmony with nature 32
harmony with others 12
Harrison, George, (Beatles), 
My Sweet 
Lord
 49
Harvey, Andrew, and Ramakrishna 194
Hasidim of Judaism 16 
Hay, David 
Religious Experiences Today
 233
The Spirit of the Child
 94
healing 23, 103–4
in Japanese religion 106
powers of Shaman 129
prayers for 60
spring water 112
Hick, John, valid paths to same 
goal 64, 250–1
meditation experience 64
Hijra
 37
Hindu Goddess Kali 49
Hindu gods and goddesses 28
Hindu teachings, 
sanatana dharma
 188
Hindu Thaipusam 55 
Hindu Unitarian, Rammohun Roy 41
Hinduism 27–9, 47
and Christianity 186–9
merging with absolute 148
and yoga 172
Hindus and Muslims, killings at