please respond to each one of these discussion board’s with 100 word response. related to the previous assignment you completed about Vijah’s experience
discussion #1:
William James explains mysticism in Lectures 16 and 17 as being an experience where one’s mind and body are overcome by something or someone bigger than oneself, which he calls “the One”. In this experience, the person is in a heightened state of being instead of in the conscious mind. Therefore, the mind is able to realize and feel things that would not be possible if one was not in this special state. Vijah’s religious experience fits into William Jame’s idea of religious experience because when Vijah is manifested by the Mother Goddess, he goes through an experience where he is healed and receives advice. William James also claims that in this experience it is not the person itself working but the One working through the person. This makes sense when looking at Vijah’s experience since “the goddess chose him as a medium… and he happily and humbly accepted, surrendering his body with complete trust each Sunday to the goddess’s healing mission” (Reich, Thomases). William James thought of religion as being the feelings, acts, and experiences of men and what hey consider the divine. Interesting enough, there is no mention of organization or rules in his definition. Vijah’s religious experience goes with Jame’s definition because it consists in experiencing something that is nearly inexplainable and incredibly emotional. The rules are all up to the Mother Goddess and whatever she wants done.
Discussion #2:
Vijah’s
religious experience fits into William James’ idea of religious
experience, the four categories that James talked about. In the first
category, it’s ineffable. The fact that his experience is somehow hard
to describe, he had tried everything to conceive and no medicine was
working and only when he came to the mother goddess he and his wife were
able to conceive. Something that is hard to describe or tell most
people, that a manifestation of the goddess brought fertility to his
life. The second category is noetic. In which we see how Vijah blended
his worlds because he thought it brings a form of therapy to the people
that the mother goddess relays her messages too. In the third category,
transient we are able to see how the mother goddess manifests herself in
Vijah. I also think its important to note that it’s not possession. In
which she gives messages and heals those around her. The fourth category
is passive. In which are able to see how this seeped into Vijah’s life.
So much so that he came to be ahead priest and allowed the mother
goddess to manifest herself within him.
0 comments