Theists, please describe how you experience your god

[Whateverist]

Ecstatic beauty mixed with a profound sense of oneness.

No way to fake a thing like that.  Obviously touched by the hand of the supernatural.

[J a c k]

I remember thinking I experienced supernatural things.

Then I went to a non-Christian concert for the first time and felt the same elation. It’s inspiration. The feeling of “oneness” is the nostalgia of everyone around you just as exhilarated as you. It’s meditation and the result of dedicating your mind to one thing that you’re passionate about. It’s your mind being awesome and allowing you to create sensations based on thoughts, hope, passion, and belief. It’s beautiful, if you think about it in a romantic way, but bad, if you’re being pragmatic.

[Godscreated]

---

I find it interesting from a neuroscience perspective. Schizophrenia for example can be disruptive yet religious experience isn't. Probably because for most religious practitioners it actually takes a lot of time and effort to summon up tangible sensory experiences and the recipient probably wants them.

Many people with (for want of a better term) abnormal psychology often claim that it's just a different way of being. There's never a single cut off point where you either have or don't have a particularly psychological condition. Brains are grown and therefore each one is different. Some are on the extreme end of a bell curve and maybe those with such sensory religious experiences  aren't so extreme that their psychological make-up is considered problematic because they can still function in society.

---

---

Found this:

The concept of schizophrenia is coming to an end – here’s why

Just as we now have the concept of autism spectrum disorder, psychosis (typically characterised by distressing hallucinations, delusions, and confused thoughts) is also argued to exist along a continuum and in degrees. Schizophrenia is the severe end of a spectrum or continuum of experiences.

Relevant paper here:

The slow death of the concept of schizophrenia and the painful birth of the psychosis spectrum. 

---

Could it be that the theists who think that they can actually see, hear and touch their god actually be on the psychosis spectrum?

 No one here has claimed to have seen, heard and touched God in a physical sense, so what's this have to do with us. I do not actually know of any Christian who has claimed such.

GC

---

I remember thinking I experienced supernatural things.

Then I went to a non-Christian concert for the first time and felt the same elation. It’s inspiration. The feeling of “oneness” is the nostalgia of everyone around you just as exhilarated as you. It’s meditation and the result of dedicating your mind to one thing that you’re passionate about. It’s your mind being awesome and allowing you to create sensations based on thoughts, hope, passion, and belief. It’s beautiful, if you think about it in a romantic way, but bad, if you’re being pragmatic.

I have been to many non-Christian concerts and never found them to be like a spiritual oneness with God.

GC

[The Grand Nudger]

I find weed to be an effective agent for producing the experience reported by the faithful, myself.  That and digging holes in july.

[robvalue]

I find it interesting from a neuroscience perspective. Schizophrenia for example can be disruptive yet religious experience isn't. Probably because for most religious practitioners it actually takes a lot of time and effort to summon up tangible sensory experiences and the recipient probably wants them.

Many people with (for want of a better term) abnormal psychology often claim that it's just a different way of being. There's never a single cut off point where you either have or don't have a particularly psychological condition. Brains are grown and therefore each one is different. Some are on the extreme end of a bell curve and maybe those with such sensory religious experiences  aren't so extreme that their psychological make-up is considered problematic because they can still function in society.

Found this:

The concept of schizophrenia is coming to an end – here’s why

Just as we now have the concept of autism spectrum disorder, psychosis (typically characterised by distressing hallucinations, delusions, and confused thoughts) is also argued to exist along a continuum and in degrees. Schizophrenia is the severe end of a spectrum or continuum of experiences.

Relevant paper here:

The slow death of the concept of schizophrenia and the painful birth of the psychosis spectrum.

Could it be that the theists who think that they can actually see, hear and touch their god actually be on the psychosis spectrum?

Probably some of them are. But to me, it seems like the sheer quantity of people making such claims makes it unlikely that even the majority are. Also religious people surrounded by many other highly religious people seem to "experience" things way more vividly than those who aren't.

I think a lot of things are at work, and if we discount people making shit up (which I think applies to some but not all), and those on this spectrum, I think we're left with many people who have convinced themselves they are experiencing things that they really aren't. (Group hysteria also.)

That's just my speculation though, and I don't pretend to have data to back this up. The big problem is how religion makes it harder to know who genuinely has these problems, and who doesn't.

[The Grand Nudger]

The majority of people talking about hearing or seeing the divine aren;t hallucinating in any sense.  It;s just churchspeak.  

Their "relationship" with god....how god "speaks" to them...how they "see" the lord in this or that...even they know that the words don;t mean what they would mean in any sensible context.  It;s just an opportunity for pious theater.

Take GC;s comments in this thread as an example. He's never seen god "in the physical sense"...and who;se willing to place a bet that his "one-ness with god" has little to do with "one-ness" or "god"...if pressed about it? Does he drawn down the godhead like some sort of latter day archon? Is he transported across time and space to reside in the bosom of the divine? is it even a "spiritual" thing in any sensible conbtext. No..no...and no. A thousand times no.

He gets a feels in his meatsack. That;s the total sum of his seeing, hearing, or having a relationship of one-ness with god. Even deeply religious people recognize that anyone actually experiencing the things they take poetic license with are broken and need help....and no matter how often they say those things or hear them from others, they don;t actually take themselves or those others to be making literal statements regarding their experience.

[I_am_not_mafia]

I'm thinking that the ones who actually are on the psychosis spectrum though perform a useful function for the preachers. It makes the rest of the flock feel that they too can obtain such an experience if they just devote themselves more. It tells them that there must be some truth to it all if people are saying that they can literally see and hear their god.

---

Could it be that the theists who think that they can actually see, hear and touch their god actually be on the psychosis spectrum?

 No one here has claimed to have seen, heard and touched God in a physical sense, so what's this have to do with us. I do not actually know of any Christian who has claimed such.

I have spoken to and read comments online from christians that do.

[Godscreated]

I'm thinking that the ones who actually are on the psychosis spectrum though perform a useful function for the preachers. It makes the rest of the flock feel that they too can obtain such an experience if they just devote themselves more. It tells them that there must be some truth to it all if people are saying that they can literally see and hear their god.

---

 No one here has claimed to have seen, heard and touched God in a physical sense, so what's this have to do with us. I do not actually know of any Christian who has claimed such.

I have spoken to and read comments online from christians that do.

 You were addressing us were you not.

GC

[I_am_not_mafia]

I have spoken to and read comments online from christians that do.

 You were addressing us were you not.

No. I am talking generally about how some of the more extreme reported religious experiences are probably because the person is on the psychosis spectrum and how because this performs a useful function is accepted as a religious experience.

[Godscreated]

 You were addressing us were you not.

No. I am talking generally about how some of the more extreme reported religious experiences are probably because the person is on the psychosis spectrum and how because this performs a useful function is accepted as a religious experience.

When did a psychosis become useful? As far as I know it has always made life difficult for those who experience it. Now my belief in God doesn't make my life more difficult on the contrary it has made my life much easier and more joyful to live and these thing are not part of a psychosis. So any extreme things you see or read by those who claim to be Christians and those actions do not match what the Bible says could possibly be psychotic. If this is what you wish to place on all the other religions in the world go ahead but, Christianity in it's reality is not a psychosis.

GC