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Christianity Today, May, 2009 |

Science and the Mystic

What are we to make of the variety of spiritual experiences?

Review by Mark Galli | posted 5/26/2009 09:29AM

Michael Hughes was 22 years old when he had a mystical experience at a Maryland Catholic church. "It was almost as if I had wandered into the magical place," he recalls. "I sat down and felt a really ...

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Richard Morgan

Posted: June 05, 2009 4:57 PM


My (favourable) reaction was a bit lengthy. Check it out here: http://therepentantgene.blogspot.com/

Johann

Posted: May 29, 2009 7:25 AM

Isn't faith enough? Why do Americans NEED to hearken after EXPERIENCES and FEELINGS like primitve Africans? In the old days, I wouldn't think twice about hearing someone talk about a miracle that happened to them or a feeling of God that they experienced. Now, after the Pentecostal Revolution, in which EXPERIENCE has become the base coin of the realm, and a tool to raise oneself up and put down those who haven't had as many "spiritual" experiences as you, I despise hearing about all these hokey miracles and feelings. I think 99% of them are phony anyway.

kostya

Posted: May 28, 2009 7:31 PM

I suggest that the star rating be abolished or modified. What are we rating, the review or the book? About mystical experiences: Everyone assumes that they cannot be analysed critically or that they are by definition completely devoid of content that can be assessed as true or not. All the mystical experiences that I as an evangelical Christian have had, and there were very many, were as a direct result of the gospel heard (my initial conversion) , the scriptures read, prayers uttered, or not uttered but directed to a person I knew -Christ and the Father. We have devalued mystical experience to either a brain fuzz or emotion empty of reason. But we are told in Scripture that we must discern spiritual experiences. These are discerned by both the Spirit in us (a spiritual gift) and by the Word of God. Mystical experiences are therefore subject to both 'mystical' and rational scrutiny, and can be evaluated for their Truth content.

C.Adams

Posted: May 28, 2009 11:28 AM

The reviewer has done a nice job of qualifying the author's statements in her book and raises some questions that all Believers and serious thinkers may find themselves asking. The reference to the "dark night of the soul" is an important one; because it is here that the "rubber" of Christian faith meets the road. Faith that believes when there is no reason to believe. Having experienced the frightful place of a deep depression, I can God is there even when all of our abilities to "sense" Him are not functioning. This may sound cynical, and is only slightly "tongue in cheek; but the longer I live, the more I realize that life is about neurotransmitters and hormones. The Good News is that Spirit trumps the flesh.

sirhemlock

Posted: May 27, 2009 7:38 PM

“Even pinpointing the specific areas of the brain that manufacture such experiences is difficult. In the book, conclusions are regularly qualified with "probably," "likely," "some scientists speculate," and "one could argue" This statement is not exactly true. Cf. section C. ZEN & THE ART OF NEUROSCIENCE: MYSTICISM AS A "GLORIOUS ILLUSION" http://sirhems-eastofeden.blogspot.com/ E.g. Rita Carter, a naturalist who once was a Buddhist mystic who now interprets her mystical experiences ala naturalism on the basis of e.g. M. A., “Vectoral Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences, and Religious Conversions,” Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1993 (cf. Rita, Exploring Consciousness (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002). Discussed in depth in above link.

sirhemlock

Posted: May 27, 2009 7:37 PM

Real religion is not to be found in signs but in the quiet voice of God

Posted: May 27, 2009 7:29 PM

For those who are tempted to want God to appear in mystical signs, we do not need dramatic signs; but we oh so dearly need to hear God's voice, which is small and quiet. 1 Ki19:11-13 (KJV) 11And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 12And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

Ed Holden

Posted: May 27, 2009 2:00 PM

I see one problem in discussing this matter. Does the chemistry associated with spiritual experiences create or ALLOW the experience. That all thought is associated/supported by electrochemical processes is a pretty good bet, but do these CREATE, or allow our thinking, both conscious and unconscious? I experienced what I call "the Presence of God" at a time of extreme tension and confusion in my life (age 19) with almost no understanding of Christianity, to which I turned to explain what I knew in my heart to be real. I can describe this by talking about various brain chemicals, but I can't explain the experience AWAY. C.S. Lewis related the longing for God in contrast with His plan to someone who feels the call of the wild seas who needs a map to guide him safely over. We need explanation to highlight and define experiences.

Anonymous

Posted: May 27, 2009 10:27 AM


This sound a little similar to The Ego Tunnel by Thomas Metzinger, though Metzinger seems to be much more opposed to objective spiritual reality. It would be good to see a CT review and critique of Metzinger's book.

Bob Benefield

Posted: May 27, 2009 10:12 AM

The conclusions reached in Footprints of God parallel those reached in my 2008 book Mystical Consciousness: Crack in the Matrix. In that book I examine the features of mystical experience that transcend metaphysical processing. Oftentimes, high metaphysical experiences are confused with mystical experience. However, the two are clearly distinquishable by applying operational definitions and other tools of critical thinking.

Dano	Posted: May 27, 2009 7:05 AM

As a believer who has had many spiritual experiences, i.e., visions, dreams, etc., it used to concern me that the brain played an important role in spiritual phenomena. For example, stimulating parts of the brain can make one feel a presence. Two things set my mind at ease. First if you consider the brain as hardware and the mind as software you realize that the two are interdependent. The brain is not the mind nor vice versa. For a physical being to experience spiritual phenomena the Spirit who brings the experience must have a physical trigger just as software must have hardware to function. Secondly, genuine spiritual experience from the Holy Spirit always seems to have an objective quality. In other words, the experiences are not random but rooted in time and space. By this I mean that the Holy Spirit communicates information that only a being apprised of future events could know. I could write a book on ways the Holy Spirit has prepared me for difficult events beforehand.

Ephrem Hagos

Posted: May 26, 2009 10:51 PM

What the theologians typically fail to tell us is that a mystery encounter with Jesus Christ, as a spiritual journey that leads to growth in His knowledge and grace, starts at His death on the cross "according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15: 3-4). It has been repeatedly said that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross requires finedrawing with what is defined, developed and promised in the books of Moses and the writings of the prophets. If not, the close parallels to the high stakes of Jesus' absolute authority over death and life demonstrated at his crucifixion will be missed to the delight of Satan who himself will be transformed again and again into an angel of light to produce "another Jesus" and deceive the world (2 Cor. 11: 4, 14; Gal. 1: 6-9; 3: 1-5)!

lastdazeman

Posted: May 26, 2009 10:16 PM

To paraphrase Augustine, any god whose nature we can "defend most easily" is not likely to be a god worthy of worship. It is certainly not the Christian God, who, even though he has made himself known in Christ, remains to many a "stumbling block" and "folly". You make this statement as a criticism of Hagerty's reference to "particularly quantum physics". Quantum physics is also a stumbling block and folly. God seems to operate in the realm of quantum physics which is so paradoxical that it takes away the surprise in me that so much of God is so paradoxical. I doubt Hagerty meant that quantum physics simplified God. I'll bet she meant that it made Him more complex but in a way to which we can more easily surrender. Quantum physics gives us a reference that helps us let God come to us on his terms, not us go to him on our terms.

George T>

Posted: May 26, 2009 6:34 PM


Such a well wtitten, informative and--mainly--educational article. It needs no further comments but to ask that such aricles come more often.

truthbearer

Posted: May 26, 2009 6:17 PM

This article reminds me of II Tim. 3:5-7.... holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power, and avoid such men (or women) as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. THY WORD IS TRUTH John 17:17 Stop chasing the wind and study the word!!

Eric	Posted: May 26, 2009 5:44 PM

I doubt that there is any encounter with the Holy God when someone purposely takes drugs to see Him. That is not the way. Of course God could show up to let that person know there is a better way. Also, the word for witchcraft in the New Testament is pharmakeia in the Greek. The bible speaks of being sober minded. Somehow, I think that our bodies are created with the spiritual capacity. So not just some great experience has relevance but every thought.

t	Posted: May 26, 2009 4:47 PM

I have tried mushrooms and tasted Jesus and the effects are quite different, just like the madman at Garasenes who when he encountered Jesus was left "in his right mind" rather than "beside himself" so it is with those who find Jesus. Those who find Jesus no longer have "other-like" experiences but have self-control, perseverance and I would add, their "feet on the ground". No mushrooms or delusions or illusions or mental smoke-and-mirrors for me thank you. Bless Jesus! He is the truth, not an otherworldly and alien experience.

Not an embodied spirit

Posted: May 26, 2009 4:01 PM

Don’t the Scriptures teach that we are not embodied spirits, but man or woman, body and spirit? To assume that a religious experience cannot be an encounter with an objective Other (say, God) simply because the brain is affected or because the effect on the brain can be mimicked by other means is simply silly. Our brains must be affected, whatever experience we have because we are physical beings as well as spiritual beings. Also, I hope as evangelicals we would be hesitant to say that any “mystical encounter” is necessarily an encounter with Jesus Christ. The Gerasene demoniac and others who are demon-possessed would say not so.

William

Posted: May 26, 2009 2:40 PM

C. S. Lewis anticipated many of these questions in LETTERS TO MALCOLM: CHIEFLY ON PRAYER, where he discusses the differences between mystical departures, the sensations accompanying a mystical episode, vs. mystical arrivals, actually experiencing God in a deeper way. Lewis defined mysticism as "the direct experience of God, immediate as a taste or color." Lewis also noted that the great Christian mystics were not isolated contemplatives, but leaders of great Church orders and movements--Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, etc. See INTO THE REGION OF AWE: MYSTICISM IN C. S. LEWIS by David Downing for a more in-depth overview of many issues raised in Hagerty's book.

Patrick Gann

Posted: May 26, 2009 1:05 PM

Why would Jesus intentionally give "peak" experiences to a Buddhist in a way that thus reinforces his/her belief in that spiritual practice? Whenever Christians speak of mysticism, it will be to their folly if they cannot come up with a way to reconcile the spiritual experiences of Abrahamic faiths with those of Buddhism, Shintoism, and other Eastern mystic spiritual disciplines. Paul's encounter with the Greeks at the Aeropagus does not magically explain away all variety of spiritual experiences (and their source). If there is a little spot in the brain to tickle, and a shroom can do it just as well as Jesus, then perhaps one can train one's own brain to tickle that spot too ... and perhaps this is what happens in deep meditation, with or without God. It all seems fishy, and loophole-y, to me, to say this is God's design, to put a trigger for peak spiritual experiences in the brain. Incarnational or not, why would God leave a key tool for communication and revelation so vulnerable?

The G

Posted: May 26, 2009 1:00 PM

All of our experiences must be weighed by the truth of the New Testament alone. Feelings are not to be equated with the Holy Spirit. Feelings can be based on lies. Satan has come as an angel of light. His skill is to deceive and he does it continuously. Ecstatic experiences along with supernatural gifts of lnaguages, knowledge, wisdom, etc. ceased when the laying on of the apostles hand's ceased because they were no longer necessary since we have the completed and adequate revelation of God in the New Testament. It is the "perfect" or best translated "complete" of 1 Corinthians 13 as opposed to all the gifts that were "in part." The reckless use of God's word has left the church ruined with every wind of doctrine. Return to God's Word!

TSJ	Posted: May 26, 2009 12:50 PM

Very interesting points. I'm curious to read the book and see how she pursues these different tacks. A few years ago I met a pastor from another land whose primary objective was to travel all over the world seeking "the experience of the Holy Spirit". The more he talked, the more self-absorbed he seemed. He talked about literally nothing in the way of ministering to people; his only concern was finding some feeling within himself that he could ascribe to the Holy Spirit. I admit that I wondered whether he simply had a mechanical imbalance, as I can't imagine God telling His people to travel the world seeking a personal feel-good.

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