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8. Types of Spiritual Experience
Some people, like William James, think of spiritual experience taking
place in solitude, while others might think of shared worship or group
activities such as dance or singing. Some practices, like prayer or medita-
tion can be either solitary or communal. There is a vast range of experi-
ences and they are impossible to categorize. In general one would probably
think of a spiritual experience as a beneficial event, leading to an increase
of goodness and love of one’s fellow man. Yet things are not so simple.
There are also negative accounts, visions of evil or even experiences of a
hellish nature.
One feature which of many of these accounts have in common is the
utter conviction of the experient that what took place is somehow very
‘real’ indeed, despite the unusual nature of the event.
The specific occasions mentioned all had the quality of being more
‘real’ than ‘ordinary’ reality that is, that in them I had got nearer to an
experience of the true state of affairs. In contrast to this, I have to state
that in my more positivist moods, when reflecting on these experi-
ences, I wonder if I am mad. My other self replies that I have in all
cases been better able to operate in the everyday world, following the
experience. [from 003519]
These experiences have not been fitted into any fixed categories but are
simply listed under their principal features.
Spiritual Experience in Childhood
It has been found that children often seem to have a natural spiritual
response which, due to lack of encouragement, withers as they grow up,
often leading to denial of the spiritual impulse or dismissal of this side
of their nature as childish. Often religion itself serves to put adolescents
in particular off any kind of recognition of the spiritual side of life, as
formal religion is dropped with relief as soon as possible, or completely
ignored. However, the awareness of a greater reality often returns to the
Religious and Spiritual Experience
94
adult perhaps triggered by some kind of extreme state of mind, perhaps a
wonderful sunset, great music or even a tragedy or period of depression.
This is at times accompanied by a sense of something having been lost
and then found again.
However, many experiences gathered by the RERC refer to events in
childhood and research has been done on childhood spirituality by
Edward Robinson in
The Original Vision
and David Hay with Rebecca
Nye in
The Spirit of the Child.
Rebecca Nye interviewed children from
two primary schools and concluded that their spirituality, which she elic-
ited in individual conversations, was best described by ‘relational con-
sciousness’ meaning a deep, reflective awareness of themselves in relation
to their own selves, others, the world and God. Children were often con-
scious that their feelings and experiences were difficult to put into ordi-
nary language, as they were different from everyday life, and many had
recourse to religious language when describing their experiences.
John (aged six) had been explaining his religious beliefs to me. These
were clearly Christian and supported by his family, though neither they
nor John attended church more than twice a year, at Christmas and
Easter. I asked how he came to hold his beliefs. In his response he
described a religious experience:
‘I worked about it and I received . . . one day . . . I was with my mum
and I begged her . . . um . . . for me to go to um . . . some church. And
we did it and I prayed . . . and after praying . . . I knew that good was
on my side. And I heard him in my mind say this: ‘I am with you. Every
step you go. The Lord is with you. May sins be forgiven.’
84
John had another experience, which he accepted as true despite his
mother dismissing his interpretation of it.
Well once I went um . . . in the night and I saw this bishopy kind of
alien. I said, ‘Who are you?’ And he said, ‘I am the Holy Spirit.’ I did
think he was the Holy Spirit.
When in his shock, he called out to his mum and explained what
had just happened, John was told that the Holy Spirit looks like a ball
of fire, and his version of events was rejected. He seemed to accept his
mother’s authority concerning this sighting, though he added, ‘But
I often felt the Holy Spirit in me.’
85
However, many children accepted spiritual aspects of life as quite nor-
mal, did not report special experiences and did not need to use religious
language, although they were aware of a different level of perception in
this area.
Types of Spiritual Experience
95
A survey of older children was undertaken by Dr Paul McQuillan, who
looked at the spirituality of predominantly Catholic high school students
in Australia, finding 76% of his sample of students reporting what he
termed a limit experience. He used the term ‘limit experience’ to avoid
reference to religion, but to focus on everyday experiences extended
beyond the normal he used the Hardy Question and also Hay and Nye’s
concept of relational consciousness. His work is published in RERC
Occasional Paper No. 34,
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