The author starts from a position of unbelief and so dies
not interpret experiences as religious, but she acknowledges that there
is a "spiritual" aspect to life (p 10), and all people can
have "spiritual experiences" "We may assume that there
are ... two kinds of people in our population, those who experience
feelings for which the word "spiritual" seems appropriate,
and those who don't; and that the former are more likely to be those
who are, in one form or another, religious, and the others are not."
(p 10). In her survey it was mainly middle class people who responded
(but this may be due to the way in which she worded the questions.
The book, then explores and interprets her findings and her concepts
of religious experiences. These are categorised into different types,
and analysed. Also she looks at the triggers for experiences, and
finally concludes with a chapter on the purpose and values of experiences.
Types of Experiences: There are three categories:
1. Via purgative (Adamic experiences - which mean a restoration to
a previous "perfect" state). These are experiences or feelings
of unity and oneness with all things. They produce feelings of goodness,
purity, and in particular affinity with a world that is divorced from
the commerce, technology and sophistication of reality. As such they
are often "nature experiences" and "utopian" For
the religious they may be experiences of God or Christ. The experiences
lead to a new understanding of life and often an attempt to develop
a new society, community life, back to nature etc. They may well be
triggered by a dissatisfaction with modern life, city life etc. (chapter
2, p 23 - 45). Symbols associated with Adamic experiences are innocence
of the baby or the wise old man, a glimpse of heaven, and romantic
and historical concepts. "It is the attitude of the folk-song
collectors, who right up to the present day persist in believing that
a particular song whose composer we don't know is better that a popular
song whose composer we do know; the former having been made in a golden
age of communal composition." (p 92)
2. Via illuminativa (knowledge experiences). These could be described
as times of inspiration, and when new ideas are created, and new understandings
found.
3. Via Unitiva (contact experiences).
The author then looks in detail at two everyday experiences - falling
in love (ch 3) and charity (ch 4). Falling in love, can be about people,
relate to religion or to things such as "collecting" (p
54). It is the type and intensity of the feeling. Such experiences
can lead to confusion, infatuation, and disordered judgements. These,
the author considers are triggered by a need for a "god"
and authority or the like, and can become obsessive. She makes two
important statements about this experience and the church: "Romantic
love was, in fact, the first trigger that "got away" from
the church's control - before art, before scholarship." (p 59)
and " ... until the Renaissance, the Church, like totalitarian
regimes today, made every effort to retain control of all the most
usual triggers to ecstasy, whether of those potentially ecstatic moments
in human life for which the church provided sacramental services,
or of the subject-matter and nature of art and education." (p
51). Charity is related to Adamic feelings, particularly of the middle
class, in an attempt to move to a utopia. The mother has an inbuilt
concept of charity and devotion.
Triggers The author does not list a series of triggers but
acknowledges that anything can act as a trigger. She mentions, music,
art, religion. She also mentions some "anti-triggers" which
include "cold" reason, literary criticism, the control of
the church.
She concludes that the results of experiences are often an attempt
to escape from the world, and generally she implies that they do not
have any lasting effect on lifestyle and change.
Comment
The book is rather tedious and drawn out and while the content is
rather limited, it does have some good statements. Because of her
atheistic background, she does not deal with mystical and spiritual
experiences but ignores and dismisses these. Likewise she can only
describe experiences as feelings, and does not really acknowledge
any "other worldly" aspects. Consequently from a very material
perspective, she considers that there is little value in experiences.
