An introduction to religious and spiritual experience

Development
The experiences of the founders or key figures at the origin of the major 
religious traditions not only took place within a certain civilization and 
historical and cultural context but also often within the context of an 
existing religion. The aim of many of those who had the revelatory 
experience was often not to found a new tradition at all, but rather to 
amend the existing order. However, there were times when the overwhelm-
ing insights gained by a few extraordinary individuals led not merely to a 
reappraisal of the existing religious tradition but to the creation of a new 
religion. Jesus, a Jew, did not intend to found Christianity.
Many of the great religious traditions owe their inspiration to people 
who had experiences so profound that they appeared to their contempo-
raries to have extraordinary spiritual insight and authority. They attracted 
followers during their lifetime and after their deaths, movements of 
people emulating their lives and following their teachings emerged. Often, 
however, as these movements develop and the organization grows, human 
dynamics take over and schisms arise. There is a tendency to rely too 
heavily on texts, ritual and doctrine rather than on the original vision. 
There is a risk of stagnation, what Durkheim calls ‘the routinisation of 
charisma’ in his 
Elementary Forms of Religious Life
. New insights are 
then needed to revitalize the tradition and these sometimes come to 
saints and mystics who may find themselves on the edge of their tradition. 
Yet their influence often moves the religion in a different direction. 
In a few cases this may actually lead to the establishment of another 
tradition. This can also happen as a result of traditions affecting each 
other, absorbing insights and practices from one another. Religions are 
fluid and evolving entities.

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Spiritual Experience and Religions
23
Apart from the mainstream religions, there are groupings or move-
ments which are of interest as they blend spiritualities in new, innovative 
ways and are often more concerned with the experiential side than with 
the more formal aspects of faith.