Editing Religious experience (section)

==Religious practices==
===Neoplatonism===
[[Neoplatonism]] is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical [[philosophy]] that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by [[Plotinus]] and based on the teachings of [[Plato]] and earlier [[Platonism|Platonists]].

Neoplatonism teaches that along the same road by which it descended the soul must retrace its steps back to the supreme Good. It must first of all return to itself. This is accomplished by the practice of [[virtue]], which aims at likeness to God, and leads up to God. By means of [[ascetic]] observances the human becomes once more a spiritual and enduring being, free from all sin. But there is still a higher attainment; it is not enough to be sinless, one must become "God" (see ''[[henosis]]''). This is reached through contemplation of the primeval Being, the One&nbsp;– in other words, through an ecstatic approach to it.

It is only in a state of perfect passivity and repose that the soul can recognize and touch the primeval Being.  Hence the soul must first pass through a spiritual curriculum. Beginning with the contemplation of corporeal things in their multiplicity and harmony, it then retires upon itself and withdraws into the depths of its own being, rising thence to the ''nous'', the world of ideas. But even there it does not find the Highest, the One; it still hears a voice saying, "not we have made ourselves." The last stage is reached when, in the highest tension and concentration, beholding in silence and utter forgetfulness of all things, it is able as it were to lose itself. Then it may see God, the foundation of life, the source of being, the origin of all good, the root of the soul. In that moment it enjoys the highest indescribable bliss; it is as it were swallowed up of divinity, bathed in the light of eternity. Porphyry tells us that on four occasions during the six years of their intercourse Plotinus attained to this ecstatic union with God.

===Alcoholics Anonymous Twelfth Step===
The twelfth step of the Alcoholics Anonymous program states that "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Twelve Steps of AA |url=http://www.aa.org.au/members/twelve-steps.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325011354/http://www.aa.org.au/members/twelve-steps.php |archive-date=2009-03-25 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The terms "spiritual experience" and "spiritual awakening" are used many times in ''The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous''<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.aa.org/pages/en_US/alcoholics-anonymous |title=The Big Book &#124; Alcoholics Anonymous |via=Alcoholics Anonymous}}</ref> which argues that a spiritual experience is needed to bring about recovery from alcoholism.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Appendix II: Spiritual Experience |pages=567–568 |title=The Big Book &#124; Alcoholics Anonymous |via=Alcoholics Anonymous |chapter-url=https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_appendiceii.pdf}}</ref>

===Christianity===
In [[Evangelical Christianity]], becoming "Born Again" is understood to be essential for a Believer to enter Heaven upon death. The effect is life-changing, and can also be called a conversion experience.{{cn|date=November 2023}}

Noting that religious experience should not be separated from care for one's neighbour, [[Pope Francis]] has observed that "there can be no true religious experience that is deaf to the cry of the world".<ref>Quoted by [[Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales]], [https://www.cbcew.org.uk/synod-plenary-resolution-autumn-2023/ Plenary Resolution: Synod on Synodality], published 17 November 2023, accessed 25 November 2023</ref>

====Christian mysticism====
{{Main|Christian mysticism}}
[[File:Wesley stained glass 9216.JPG|left|thumb|Three early Methodist leaders, [[Charles Wesley]], [[John Wesley]], and [[Francis Asbury]], portrayed in stained glass at the Memorial Chapel, [[Lake Junaluska, North Carolina]]]]
Christian doctrine generally maintains that God dwells in all Christians and that they can experience God directly through belief in Jesus,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=KjvJohn.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=7&division=div1|title=John 7:16–39}}</ref> Christian mysticism aspires to apprehend spiritual truths inaccessible through intellectual means, typically by emulation of Christ. [[William Ralph Inge|William Inge]] divides this ''scala perfectionis'' into three stages: the "''purgative''" or [[ascetic]] stage, the "''illuminative''" or contemplative stage, and the third, "''unitive''" stage, in which God may be beheld "face to face."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14596/14596-8.txt|title=''Christian Mysticism'' (1899 Bampton Lectures)}}</ref>

The third stage, usually called [[Christian contemplation|contemplation]] in the Western tradition, refers to the experience of oneself as united with God in some way. The experience of union varies, but it is first and foremost always associated with a reuniting with Divine ''love.'' The underlying theme here is that God, the perfect goodness,<ref>''[[Theologia Germanica]]'', public domain</ref> is known or experienced at least as much by the heart as by the intellect since, in the words of [[1 John]] 4:16: "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him." Some approaches to classical mysticism would consider the first two phases as preparatory to the third, explicitly mystical experience; but others state that these three phases overlap and intertwine.

====Hesychasm====
Based on Christ's injunction in the [[Gospel of Matthew]] to "go into your closet to pray",<ref>{{bibleref|Matthew|6:5–6|KJV}}: [[King James Version]]</ref> [[hesychasm]] in tradition has been the process of retiring inward by ceasing to register the senses, in order to achieve an experiential knowledge of God (see [[theoria]]).

The highest goal of the hesychast is the experiential knowledge of God. In the 14th century, the possibility of this experiential knowledge of God was challenged by a [[Calabria]]n monk, [[Barlaam of Seminara|Barlaam]], who, although he was formally a member of the Orthodox Church, had been trained in Western Scholastic theology. Barlaam asserted that our knowledge of God can only be propositional. The practice of the hesychasts was defended by [[Gregory Palamas|St. Gregory Palamas]].{{cn|date=November 2023}}

===Islam===
While all Muslims believe that they are on the pathway to God and will become close to God in Paradise&nbsp;– after death and after the "Final Judgment"&nbsp;– [[Sufism|Sufis]] believe that it is possible to become close to God and to experience this closeness while one is alive.{{sfn|Godlas|n.d.}}

The ''[[tariqa]]'', the 'path' on which the mystics walk, has been defined as 'the path which comes out of the Shariah, for the main road is called shar, the path, tariq.' No mystical experience can be realized if the binding injunctions of the Shariah are not followed faithfully first. The ''tariqa'' however, is narrower and more difficult to walk. It leads the adept, called ''salik'' (wayfarer), in his ''suluk'' (wandering), through different stations (''maqam'') until he reaches his goal, the perfect ''tauhid'', the existential confession that God is One.{{sfn|Schimmel|1975|p=99}}

===Buddhism===
[[File:Museum für Indische Kunst Dahlem Berlin Mai 2006 013.jpg|thumb|The Buddha demonstrating control over fire and water. [[Gandhara]], 3rd century CE]]

In Theravada [[Buddhism]] practice is described in the threefold training of discipline (''[[śīla]]''), meditative concentration (''[[samādhi]]''), and transcendent wisdom (''[[Wisdom in Buddhism|prajñā]]''). Zen-Buddhism emphasises the sole practice of meditation, while [[Vajrayana]] Buddhism utilizes a wide variety of practices. While the main aim of meditation and ''prajna'' is to let go of attachments, it may also result in a comprehension of the [[Buddha-nature]] and the inherent lucidness of the mind.

Different varieties of religious experience are described in detail in the ''[[Śūraṅgama Sūtra]]''. In its section on the fifty [[skandha]]-[[mara (demon)|maras]], each of the five skandhas has ten skandha-maras associated with it, and each skandha-mara is described in detail as a deviation from correct samādhi. These skandha-maras are also known as the "fifty skandha demons" in some English-language publications.{{sfn|Epstein|1997}}

It is also believed that supernormal abilities are developed from meditation, which are termed "higher knowledge" (''[[abhijñā]]''), or "spiritual power" (''[[ṛddhi]]''). One early description found in the ''[[Samyutta Nikaya]]'', which mentions abilities such as:{{sfn|Bhikkhu Bodhi|2000|p=1727}}
{{Blockquote|... he goes unhindered through a wall, through a rampart, through a mountain as though through space; he dives in and out of the earth as though it were water; he walks on water without sinking as though it were earth; seated cross-legged, he travels in space like a bird; with his hands he touches and strokes the moon and sun so powerful and mighty; he exercises mastery with the body as far as the brahmā world.}}

===Hinduism===
Building on European philosophers, [[Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan]] reduced religion "to the core experience of reality in its fundamental unity".{{sfn|Rinehart|2004|p=195}} According to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, "Hinduism is not just a [[faith (religion)|faith]]. It is the union of reason and [[Intuition (knowledge)#Intuition and spirituality|intuition]] that cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced."{{sfn|Radhakrishnan|1973}}{{cn|date=May 2023}} This emphasis on experience as validation of a religious worldview is a modern development, which started in the 19th century, and was introduced to Indian thought by western [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] missionaries.{{sfn|King|1999}} It has been popularized in [[Neo-Vedanta]] (also known as neo-Hinduism), which has dominated the popular understanding of Hinduism since the 19th century.{{sfn|King|1999}} It emphasizes mysticism.{{sfn|King|1999|p=171}}{{sfn|Muesse|2011|pp=3-4}}{{sfn|Doniger|2010|p=18}} [[Swami Vivekananda]] presented the teachings of Neo-Vedanta as radical nondualism, unity between all religions and all persons.{{sfn|Irwin|2017|p=218|ps=. "Neo-Vedanta teachings as an expression of a radical nondualism, an inherent unity within all religions and within all persons"}}{{sfn|Dempsey|2011}}