3 B.

Mystical experience:

William James’ four characteristics of mystical experience: ineffable,

noetic, transient and passive. PINT

Rudolf Otto – the concept of the numinous; mysterium tremendum; the

human predisposition for religious experience.
 William James
• William James described four features of mystical
experiences in Varieties of Religious Experience
(1902).
Gifford Lectures – Edinburgh 1900-1902
• ‘In lectures 16 and 17, the concept of mysticism is
addressed. By its nature as a personal occurrence,
mystical experience cannot be defined in an absolute
and universal way, although there are some general
attributes. The experience is not usually predictable
and as such might be defined as ephemeral in nature.
The experience is often described by the subject as
losing a sense of the self and being overcome by the
Other. The subject of a mystical experience is left
feeling a heightened insight or knowledge. In this
sense, it is ‘noetic’ and rooted in the mind.’
Unutterable or too
great for words. The
experience a mystic has
cannot be easily
articulated. It is not
easily understood by
anyone else who has
not experienced it.
3B
Definitions : Otto and the numinous
• A religious experience is an
encounter with the numinous
• Numinous: being in the presence of
an ‘awesome power’
• A numinous experience has three
parts to it – these are often referred
to using a Latin phrase… o
The numinous:
Mysterium, tremendum et fascinans
Numinous experience

Mysterium Tremendum Fascinans

The experience is The experience The experience has
‘wholly other’, out- provokes terror, charm, fascination
side the ordinary. dread, awe attractiveness despite
It is experienced its terror
with blank wonder
An example of the numinous – C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis on the Numinous
The numinous grips or stirs the mind powerfully and produces the following
responses: Numinous dread. Otto calls the feeling of numinous dread, aka awe or
awe-fullness, the mysterium tremendum. C.S. Lewis's illustration makes clear the
nature of numinous dread and its difference from ordinary fear:
'Suppose you were told that there was a tiger in the next room: you would know
that you were in danger and would probably feel fear. But if you were told "There
is a ghost in the next room," and believed it, you would feel, indeed, what is often
called fear, but of a different kind. It would not be based on the knowledge of
danger, for no one is primarily afraid of what a ghost may do to him, but of the
mere fact that it is a ghost. It is "uncanny" rather than dangerous, and the special
kind of fear it excites may be called Dread. With the Uncanny one has reached the
fringes of the Numinous. Now suppose that you were told simply "There is a
mighty spirit in the room" and believed it. Your feelings would then be even less
like the mere fear of danger: but the disturbance would be profound. You would
feel wonder and a certain shrinking–described as awe, and the object which
excites it is the Numinous.'
C.S. Lewis, 'The Problem of Pain' 1940.
• Discuss:

- Is there a difference in the type of fear being experienced

when someone is ‘afraid’ of i) a tiger ii) a ghost?
- What is ‘the uncanny’?
- How could the sense of ‘uncanny’ be explained? Try to
account for it in both atheistic and theistic terms.
C.S. Lewis on the Numinous
Examples of a religious experience which is numinous

• Moses and the burning

bush ‘At this Moses hid
his face, because he was
afraid to look at God’
• Exodus 3: 6
Biblical examples of numinous experiences
• Acts 9: 1-10
• Isaiah 6:5