11.1 Spiritual experience

Spiritual experience lies at the heart of religion and without it religions cannot exist. Many of the traditions of the world are rooted in the religious experience of a single person. It was out of the experience of Muhammad that Islam grew and out of the experience of the Buddha, that Buddhism developed.

Without the overwhelming experience of the vision that Muhammad had in the desert cave when the archangel appeared to him, he would not have been inspired to teach those near to him. Without the experience that God was revealing his message through him, Muhammad would not have had the inner force and strength to lead his people through difficult times and even war.

In the same way the Buddha's experience of peace and brilliant emptiness under the Bodhi tree, when he became Enlightened, was what sustained him in order to teach his message for 40 years. It is also his example that led people to follow him and attempt his path in order to secure the experience of Nirvana for themselves.

These experiences changed the world and even today they still influence the lives of millions of ordinary people. In the footsteps of these extraordinary human beings there followed other individuals who had unique spiritual experiences which became guideposts to people seeking deeper spiritual insight.

In our own time, several surveys of large sectors of societies have shown that a remarkable number of people report that they have had (what they would interpret as) "spiritual experiences". It seems that these experiences are much more prevalent than one would think when one considers things such as church attendance figures.

While these experiences are not of the depth and breath or intensity of those of a Muhammad or a Buddha, they are nevertheless interpreted as being experiences of spiritual significance. Some of these experiences are often had in communal settings, such as during prayer meetings or church rituals, but they are also widespread during other times that are in no obvious way linked to religion. Many of these experiences are triggered by crisis circumstances or experiences related to illness and healing. Often it is also an experience of the awesome beauty of nature that can trigger such an experience.

One can therefore describe a spiritual experience as a feeling or state of mind that people have when they come into contact with whatever they understand to be the ultimate dimension of reality.

The great religious figures of all the various cultures and traditions always start their explanations of their experiences by pointing out that these experiences are ineffable – meaning that it cannot be described in words. The important thing here is to realise that when someone has such an experience it is not the experience that he or she will report on, but the interpretation of the experience. Scholars have categorised these interpretations and have found that there are three main categories into which these experiences fall. These categories have to do with the relationship with the ultimate reality that people report on. These can be transcendent, immanent or mystic unity.