Editing Religious experience (section)

{{Short description|Experience interpreted within a religious framework}}
{{For|the Wayne Proudfoot book|Religious Experience (book)}}
{{Spirituality sidebar|experience}}
{{use dmy dates|cs1-dates=ly|date=March 2023}}

A '''religious experience''' (sometimes known as a '''spiritual experience''', '''sacred experience''', '''mystical experience''') is a [[subjectivity|subjective experience]] which is interpreted within a religious framework.{{sfn|Samy|1998|p=80}} The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the growing rationalism of [[Western world|Western society]].{{sfn|Sharf|2000}} [[William James]] popularised the concept.{{sfn|Sharf|2000}} In some religions, this is said to sometimes result in [[unverified personal gnosis]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Velkoborská|first=Kamila|title=Performers and Researchers in Neo–pagan Settings |date=2012-10-12|url=https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/traditiones/article/view/971|journal=Traditiones|language=en|volume=41|issue=1|pages=65–76|doi=10.3986/Traditio2012410106|issn=1855-6396|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mayer|first=Gerhard A.|date=2013|title=Spirituality and Extraordinary Experiences: Methodological Remarks and Some Empirical Findings|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/jet/26/2/article-p188_5.xml|journal=Journal of Empirical Theology|volume=26|issue=2|pages=188–206|doi=10.1163/15709256-12341272|issn=0922-2936|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences (particularly the knowledge which comes with them) as [[revelation]]s caused by divine agency rather than ordinary natural processes. They are considered real encounters with [[God]] or gods, or real contact with higher-order realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware.{{sfn|philosophyofreligion.info|n.d.}}

Skeptics may hold that religious experience is an evolved feature of the human brain amenable to normal scientific study.{{refn|group=note|Such study may be said to have begun with the American psychologist and philosopher [[William James]] in his 1901/02 [[Gifford Lectures]] later published as ''[[The Varieties of Religious Experience]]''.}} The commonalities and differences between religious experiences across different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic study.{{sfn|Batson|Schoenrade|Ventis|1993}}