An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

Document Outline

• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 What is a Spiritual Experience?
• 2 Terminology
  • Religious Experience
  • Spiritual Experience
  • Transcendental Experience
  • Paranormal Experience
  • Exceptional Human Experience (EHE)
  • Peak Experience
  • Limit Experience
  • Ecstasy
  • Cosmic Consciousness
  • Mystical Experience
  • Absolute Unitary Being
  • Out of the Body Experience (OBE)
  • Near Death Experience (NDE)
• 3 Spiritual Experience and Religions
  • Founders/Messengers
  • Texts
  • Development
  • New Religious Movements
  • New Age Movements
  • Interfaith Movements
  • Quasi-Religions
    • Marxism
    • Humanism
• 4 Experiences of the Founders/Messengers of the Major Religious Traditions
  • Hinduism
  • Zoroastrianism
  • Jainism
  • Buddhism
  • Daoism (Taoism)
  • Confucianism
  • Judaism
  • Christianity
  • Islam
  • Sikhism
• 5 Experiences of the Founders/Messengers of Less Well-Known Religious Traditions
  • Brahma Kumaris
  • Brahmo Samaj
  • Baha'i
  • Quakers
  • Christian Science
  • Church of Scientology
  • Mormons
  • Theosophists
  • Anthroposophists
  • Unitarians
  • Gurus
    • Sai Baba (1835–1918)
    • Satya Sai Baba
    • Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950)
    • Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1911–2008)
    • Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533)
    • Prabhupada (1896–1977)
    • Mother Meera (1960– )
  • Alternative Paradigms
    • Neale Donald Walsch
    • Eckhart Tolle
    • Fritjof Capra (1939– )
    • Deepak Chopra (1946– )
• 6 Religious Triggers of Spiritual Experience
  • Worship
  • Festivals and Religious Ceremonies
  • Prayer
  • Contemplation
  • Meditation
  • Blessing
  • Silence
  • Darshan
  • Renunciation
  • Sacred places
  • Pilgrimage
  • Fasting
  • Chanting
  • Yoga
  • Interfaith
  • Search
• 7 Non-Religious Triggers of Spiritual Experience
  • Place
  • Illness and Prospect of Death
  • Accident
  • Despair
  • Depression
  • Fear
  • Anger
  • Nature
  • Music
  • Sound
• 8 Types of Spiritual Experience
  • Spiritual Experience in Childhood
  • Initiatory Experiences
  • Conversion
  • Regenerative Experiences
  • Healing
  • Miracles
  • Guidance
  • Solitary
  • Communal
  • Visions
  • Light
  • Love
  • Voices
  • Tongues
  • Angels
  • Dreams
  • Shamanic Journey
  • Shamanic Healing
    • Soul Retrieval via the Internet
  • Drugs and trips
  • Synchronicity
  • Sense of Presence
  • The Numinous
  • The Dark Night of the Soul
  • The Dark Side – Negative Spiritual Experiences
  • Dangerous Aspects of Spiritual Movements
    • The People’s Temple
    • Branch Davidians
  • Irreligious Experiences or De-Conversion
• 9 Dying and Death
  • Dying
  • End of Life Experiences
  • Out of the Body Experiences
  • Near Death Experiences (NDE)
  • Post-Death Experiences
• 10 Mystics
  • Dionysius the Areopagite
  • Dame Julian of Norwich (1342–Circa 1416)
  • Rumi (1207–1273)
  • Swami Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952)
  • Contemporary Accounts
  • Mysticism Across Religions
    • Hinduism and Christianity
    • Buddhism and Christianity
  • Mystical Experience within All Religions
  • Mysticism with No Religious Tradition
  • Direct Path
• 11 Spiritual and Mystical Experiences of Well-Known People
  • Plato (427–347 BCE)
  • St Paul (Circa AD 10–67)
  • C. G. Jung (1875–1961)
  • William Wilberforce (1759–1833)
  • Sir Francis Younghusband (1863–1942)
  • Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948)
  • Mother Teresa (1910–1997)
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945)
  • Chad Varah (1911–2007)
  • Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926–2004)
  • Dame Cicely Saunders (1918–2005)
  • His Holiness the Dalai Lama (1935– )
  • Nelson Mandela (1918– )
  • Aung San Suu Kyi (1945– )
  • Yusuf Islam (1948– )
  • Eric Clapton (1945– )
• 12 Fruits of Spiritual Experience
  • Paintings of Ken Butler-Evans
  • The World’s Largest Book: Kuthodaw Pagoda
  • Charities
    • The Müller Orphan Houses
    • The Prison Phoenix Trust
    • The Allan Sweeney International Reiki and Healing and Training Centre
  • Religious Orders
    • St Benedict (480–543)
    • St Francis of Assisi (1182–1226)
    • Outside the Walls: the Beguines
  • Repentance and Forgiveness
  • The Truth and Reconciliation Commission
• 13 Spiritual Experience Research
  • The Religious Experience Research Centre
    • Contemporary Research
  • Research Worldwide
    • China
    • Turkey
    • India
  • Consciousness Studies
• 14 The Interpretation of Spiritual, Religious and Mystical Experience
  • Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834)
  • Rudolf Otto (1869–1937)
  • William James (1842–1910)
  • Lynn Bridgers (1956–)
  • Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941)
  • Martin Buber (1878–1965)
  • Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
  • A. J. Ayer (1910–1989)
  • W. T. Stace (1886–1967)
  • Steven Katz (1944–)
  • Ninian Smart (1927–2001)
  • Robert Sharf (1953–)
  • Richard Swinburne (1934–)
  • Caroline Franks Davis
  • Pluralism
  • John Hick (1922–)
  • Keith Ward (1938–)
  • Implicit Religion
    • Edward Bailey (1935–)
    • Don Cupitt (1934–)
    • Daniel Dennett (1942–)
    • Richard Dawkins (1941–)
    • D’Aquili (1940–1998) and Newberg (1966–)
  • Recommended Reading
    • Peter Donovan
    • Paul Marshall
    • Grahame Miles
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
  • L
  • M
  • N
  • O
  • P
  • Q
  • R
  • S
  • T
  • U
  • V
  • W
  • Y
  • Z