The Dimensions of Religious Experience (A)

(Originally written February 27, 2007 in Book 13)

Philosophy of Religion
Norman Geisler and Winfried Corduan

Part 3 The Dimensions of Religious Experience

Through commitment to the ultimate Transcendent Other a person is able to transcend himself.

Religious transcendence has been backward, upward, outward, forward, inward, downward and in a circle.

Transcending Toward the Beginning

Transcending backward to the Origin of religious aspirations has been a characteristic feature of the primitive religious experience.

Eliade's Myth of Origins:

By ritually repeating the original act of the gods one can recall the original time of the act.

Eliade holds that "religion is the paradigmatic solution for every existential crisis not only because it can be indefinitely repeated, but also because it is believed to have a transcendent origin; thus enabling a human being to transcend personal situations and finally gain access to the world of spirit" (42).

The limitations of transcending backward

Eliade describes a retrospective kind of religious transcendence.

Transcending toward the Highest

Plato's cave is an example of transcending upwards.

Plotinus believed that all things proceed from the One and all things return to it.

The further one is from the One the less reality it possess. To purify one's self of evil (non-reality) one must transcend up to the One.

Transcendence for Plotinus was not retrospective, but vertical towards unity.

Plotinus saw transcendence as natural, not supernatural. Neo-Platonic Christians have difficulty with reconciling natural transcendence with divine grace.