Comparative Analysis of the Religious Experience

When discussing religious experience, there are different ways of defining what that exactly means. Be it a “feeling of absolute dependence” (151) as mentioned by German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher or, as described by writer Rudolf Otto, containing an element in the experience known as the “numinous,” (151) religious experience is a complex and diverse concept which cannot be explained with simply one viewpoint. After exploring and describing Ninian Smart’s five types of religious experience, I will compare other explanations of said experience among three different people – Black Elk, Martin Buber, and D. T. Suzuki.

Beginning with Smart, he has subcategorized the concept of religious experience into the Numinous, the mystical, the mixed (as there was not distinct definition), the panenhenic, and shamanistic experiences. The numinous experience can be described, as Otto had put it, “as the experience of something that is… a mystery that is fearful, awe inspiring, and fascinating” to the point of allure as though one was drawn to it. The numinous experience is something inspiring and grand. This experience was one which, for Otto, would be a key aspect of a religion in general and involves a certain type of reverence by those who experience it at all. There is a reference in the text regarding the idea of looking over a cliff showing how “the great drop inspire[s] fear… yet aren’t you also drawn towards it?”(154) This feeling of awkward compulsion encompasses the concept of the numinous. The next experience is the mystical experience. This is more of a non-dual approach which means that it is not something that can be compared to everyday experiences. Unlike the numinous approach, the mystical does not require worship or reverence and does not center itself on a single “God.” The mystical is focused more on the introversion of the individual rather than through a secondary being or beings. The mixed approach to religious experiences is both focused upon the numinous and upon the mystical. My original thoughts were that this was more contradictory than anything, yet somehow his explanation makes sense. Smart expressed that the “divine being is not only out there but also within the heart” showing a duality of many different religions and their definitions of religious experience. The next experience is the panenhenic experience as introduced by writer R.C. Zaehner. This is, put shortly, an example of how one has little focus on the inner self, but has an overall feeling of connection and synergy with the world around him – in other words nature or the natural, physical world. This is found in such ideas as Taoism and Buddhism as well. The shamanistic viewpoint of religious experience shows a connection with the supernatural world; that is to say a connection with the dead and their universe through possession of the dead and/or of a numinous God or “other.” Shamanism has both right and left wing developments; the right being the experiencing of an “other” via the numinous and the left being more about the mystic practitioner or shaman him/herself.