Theists, please describe how you experience your god

[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.