Question : Explain the nature of mysticism in Hinduism and Islam.
(2015)
Answer : Mysticism is a supreme and intense form of religious experience. Herein people experiences something that cannot be described as if it transcends language and expression. Here the ultimate reality or the divine being reveals itself to the seeker in the ways that will turn him/her into the awareness of the reality.
In Islam, source of mysticism is to be traced to the Quran and the Islamic doctrine itself. Mystical elements exists in Islam in two independent ....
Question : Discuss the conflicting nature of religious experiences with special reference to Buddhism and Jainism.
(2014)
Answer : Religious experiences can be characterized generally as experiences that seem to the person having them to be of some objective reality and to have some religious import. That reality can be an individual, a state of affairs, a fact, or even an absence, depending on the religious tradition the experience is a part of. A wide variety of kinds of experience fall under the general rubric of religious experience. The concept is vague, and the ....
Question : On what grounds, the dichotomy between ‘is’ and ‘ought’ can either be justified or rejected?
(2014)
Answer : It is only an ultimate goal, and end in itself, that makes the existence of values possible. Metaphysically, life is the only phenomenon that is an end in itself: a value gained and kept by a constant process of action. Epistemologically, the concept of “value” is genetically dependent upon and derived from the antecedent concept of “life.” To speak of “value” as apart from “life” is worse than a contradiction in terms. “It is only ....
Question : Can mystical experience be regarded as a valid source of knowledge?
(2013)
Answer : For a person who is a mystic, mystical experience would be a valid source of knowledge without any question and doubt. And, for an empiricist it may be valid source of knowledge in some cases. And, for a rationalist, it would not be a valid source of knowledge unless some reasons and evidence are produced in support of its explanation. So, mystical experience may be a valid source of knowledge in that case where we ....
Question : Is mystical experience open to different interpretations?
(2013)
Answer : As mentioned in above answer, mystical experience is an experience which does not have an objective definition and interpretation. So it’s open for many interpretations, e.g, God. The experience of God has been many interpretations in Philosophy. This interpretation may vary from person to person and, in different religions it has varied definitions. So the conclusion that mystical experience is open for many interpretations seems correct. For example, Bertrand Russell says, “The mystic emotion, if ....
Question : What is the nature of mystical experience?
(2013)
Answer : Generally a mystic experience is an experience which cannot be explained by science. In another words, the experience which cannot be explained on the basis of reason, or logic or rationale.
Canon Streeter says that “science is not enough, science does not include art, or friendship, or various other valuable elements in life. But of course more than this is meant. There is another, rather more important, sense in which science is not enough to explain ....
Question : What is the object of religious experience? Is it empirical or trans-empirical? Explain in detail.
(2012)
Answer : According to some thinkers, belief in god does not depend on any proof. The object of devotion may be directly present in experience. Experience is a very wide term. We talk of sense experience, moral experience, aesthetic experience and finally religious experience. Religious experience includes not just cognition of God the Absolute but also feeling and will.
There are some forms of religious experience which theologians claim, are confined to particular religion. Within Christian religious experience ....
Question : Examine the view that, religious doctrines are not ‘quasi-scientific’ doctrines, but represent a form of life.
(2011)
Answer : Religion comes out of life and never be divorced from it. Since religious doctorines try to define and, defend and propagate the religion, they also represent a form of life.
The root meaning of religion is that which binds men together and which binds the loose ends of impulses, desires and various processes of each individual. Hence it is an integrative experience of men collectively and individually. There are many religious doctrines, but there is one ....
Question : Are religious doctrines and debates verifiable? Discuss.
(2011)
Answer : Just like the proofs for the existence of God are verifiable in the similar manner religious doctrines and debates are not verifiable. No proof devised so far is powerful enough to convince the sceptics. And for believers all proofs are superfluous.
Georgios claimed that nothing can be known from the religious doctrines and debates, since they cannot be cross-checked. Thus he says :
Question : Is William James right in holding that religious disputes are like conflicts in aesthetic appreciation? Discuss.
(2011)
Answer : Willian James holds that religious disputes are like conflicts in aesthetic appreciation. Just like the aesthetic experience of an individual varies from that of another, in the similar manner different religions sought to percieve the truth differently depending upon the theology of the given religion and temperament of the ecclesiastical class.
Men differ widely from one another and correspondingly their religion too differ. Each can see the religious truth as he percieves it and by following ....
Question : If religious experience is unique, what makes it an experience? How is this experience logically different from the experience of loneliness, happiness etc.?
(2010)
Answer : A religious experience is when a person believes they have had an experience of God, or another religious figure. Religious experiences can range from God actually speaking to a person, to someone being aware of God’s presence, to an experience of another religious figure, or even a miracle. Therefore, religious experiences are not easily categorized as one thing or another. However, what we might say is common to all of them is that they are ....
Question : Distinguish between Indian concept of jivatma & Plato’s concept of soul?
(2010)
Answer : According to Plato, the soul consists of three basic energies which animate human beings: Reason, Emotion, and Appetite. Reason is given the greatest value, while Emotion and especially Appetite are regarded as the “lower passions”. The soul that is ordered is governed by Reason, and therefore keeps one’s emotions and one’s appetites under control. The lower passions must submit to the dictates of Reason. The psychic harmony of the soul, according to Plato, expresses itself ....
Question : Explain the nature of religious experience. Can this experience be validated?
(2009)
Answer : Religious experience means an encounter with the divine in a way analogous to encounters with other persons and things in the world. In the second case, reference is made not to an encounter with a divine being but rather to the apprehension of a quality of holiness or rightness in reality or to the fact that all experience can be viewed in relation to the ground from which it springs. In short, religious experience means ....
Question : The difference between ‘numinous’ and ‘mystical’ experience.
(2007)
Answer : The German thinker Rudolf Otto argues that there is one common factor to all religious experience, independent of the cultural background. He identifies this experience as the numinous in his book The Idea of the Holy. Otto, not be strictly defined since the numinous is that in which all religious experiences are defined. The numinous can only be evoked or awakened in the mind. The numinous is a realm or dimension of reality, which is ....
Question : To be religious means to belong some religious order.
(2001)
Answer : A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates (laity) and, in some traditions, ordained clergies. Religious orders exist in many of the world's religions. To believe in religion or being religious is the first prerequisite to be a part ....
Question : State and explain the chief doctrines of Mysticism.
(2000)
Answer : Mystical experiences tend to be experiences felt or experienced beyond the realms of ordinary consciousness. Occasionally they are referred to as states of altered consciousness. Such states may involve ineffable awareness of time, space, and physical reality. Mystical experiences often defy physical description, and can best be only hinted at. Such experiences are universal and share common characteristics, despite the culture or religion in which they occur. They are invariably spiritual, yet they may not ....
Question : Logic and Mysticism.
(1998)
Answer : The term "mysticism" is used to refer to beliefs and practices which go beyond the liturgical and devotional forms of worship of mainstream faith, often by seeking out inner or esoteric meanings of conventional religious doctrine. For example, Kabbalah (based in Judaism) seeks out deeper interpretations of the Torah, Sufism (in Islam) extends and amplifies the teachings of the Quran in the spirit of universal love, Vedanta reaches for the inner teachings of Hindu philosophy ....
Question : "Mysticism is the power of spiritual access to domains of knowledge closed off to ordinary thought."
(1995)
Answer : This is a belief in or the pursuit in the unification with the One or some other principle; the immediate consciousness of God; or the direct experience of religious truth. Mysticism is nearly universal and unites most religions in the quest for divinity. It can also be a sense of mystical knowledge. In areas of the occult and psychic it denotes an additional domain of esoteric knowledge and paranormal communication. Even though it is thought ....
Question : Discuss the conflicting nature of religious experiences with special reference to Buddhism and Jainism.
Answer : Religious experiences can be characterized generally as experiences that seem to the person having them to be of some objective reality and to have some religious import. That reality can be an individual, a state of affairs, a fact, or even an absence, depending on the religious tradition the experience is a part of. A wide variety of kinds of experience fall under the general rubric of religious experience. The concept is vague, and the ....
