Prayer Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Experiential approach=== [[File:Theophile Lybaert - Old Flanders.jpeg|thumb|''Old woman praying'' by [[ThΓ©ophile Lybaert]]]] In this approach, the purpose of prayer is to enable the person praying to gain a direct experience of the recipient of the prayer (or as close to direct as a specific theology permits). This approach is very significant in Christianity and widespread in Judaism (although less popular theologically). In [[Eastern Orthodoxy]], this approach is known as [[hesychasm]]. It is also widespread in [[Sufi]] Islam, and in some forms of [[mysticism]]. It has some similarities with the rationalist approach, since it can also involve [[contemplation]], although the contemplation is not generally viewed as being as rational or intellectual. Christian and Roman Catholic traditions also include an experiential approach to prayer within the practice of ''[[lectio divina]]''. Historically a [[Benedictine]] practice, ''lectio divina'' involves the following steps: a short scripture passage is read aloud; the passage is meditated upon using the mind to place the listener within a relationship or dialogue with the text; recitation of a prayer; and concludes with [[Lectio Divina#Contemplatio ("contemplation")|contemplation]]. The [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] describes prayer and meditation as follows:<ref>{{cite book |title=The Catechism of the Catholic Church |publisher=Vatican |at=ΒΆ 2708 |url=http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p4s1c3a1.htm |access-date=6 January 2021}}</ref> <blockquote>Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in [[lectio divina]] or the [[rosary]]. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.</blockquote> The experience of God within [[Apophatic theology|Christian mysticism]] has been contrasted with the concept of experiential religion or [[Religious experience|mystical experience]] because of a long history or authors living and writing about experience with the divine in a manner that identifies God as unknowable and ineffable, the language of such ideas could be characterized paradoxically as "experiential", as well as without the phenomena of experience.<ref>''The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism'' by Denys Turner 1998 Cambridge University Press {{ISBN|0-521-64561-1}}</ref> The notion of "religious experience" can be traced back to [[William James]], who used a term called "religious experience" in his book, ''[[The Varieties of Religious Experience]]''.{{sfn|Hori|1999|p=47}}{{Citation not found}} The origins of the use of this term can be dated further back. In the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, several historical figures put forth very influential views that religion and its beliefs can be grounded in experience itself. While [[Immanuel Kant|Kant]] held that [[Moral obligation|moral experience]] justified [[religious belief]]s, [[John Wesley]] in addition to stressing individual moral exertion thought that the religious experiences in the [[Methodist movement]] (paralleling the [[Romantic Movement]]) were foundational to religious commitment as a way of life.<ref>Issues in Science and Religion, [[Ian Barbour]], [[Prentice-Hall]], 1966, pp. 68, 79</ref> According to [[Catholic theology|catholic doctrine]], Methodists lack a ritualistic and rational approach to praying but rely on individualistic and moralistic forms of worship in direct conversation with God. This approach is rejected by most [[Orthodox religion]]s.<ref>[https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9359 "Gestures of Worship: Relearning Our Ritual Language"] ''catholicculture''. Accessed 9 April 2023.</ref> [[Wayne Proudfoot]] traces the roots of the notion of "religious experience" to the German theologian [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]] (1768β1834), who argued that religion is based on a feeling of the infinite. The notion of "religious experience" was used by Schleiermacher and [[Albrecht Ritschl|Albert Ritschl]] to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique, and defend the view that human (moral and religious) experience justifies [[religious belief]]s. Such religious empiricism would be later seen as highly problematic and was β during the period in-between world wars β famously rejected by [[Karl Barth]].<ref>[[Issues in Science and Religion]], [[Ian Barbour]], [[Prentice-Hall]], 1966, pp. 114, 116β19</ref> In the 20th century, religious as well as moral experience as justification for religious beliefs still holds sway. Some influential modern scholars holding this [[Liberal Christianity|liberal theological]] view are [[Charles E. Raven|Charles Raven]] and the Oxford physicist/theologian [[Charles Coulson]].<ref>[[Issues in Science and Religion]], [[Ian Barbour]], [[Prentice-Hall]], 1966, pp. 126β27</ref> The notion of "religious experience" was adopted by many scholars of religion, of whom William James was the most influential.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sharf |first1=Robert H. |title=The rhetoric of experience and the study of religion |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |date=2000 |volume=7 |pages=267β287}}</ref>{{efn|James also gives descriptions of conversion experiences. The Christian model of dramatic conversions, based on the role-model of Paul's conversion, may also have served as a model for Western interpretations and expectations regarding "enlightenment", similar to Protestant influences on Theravada Buddhism, as described by Carrithers: "It rests upon the notion of the primacy of religious experiences, preferably spectacular ones, as the origin and legitimation of religious action. But this presupposition has a natural home, not in Buddhism, but in Christian and especially Protestant Christian movements which prescribe a radical conversion."{{sfn|Carrithers|1983|p=18}}{{Citation not found}} See Sekida for an example of this influence of William James and Christian conversion stories, mentioning Luther{{sfn|Sekida|1985|pp=196β97}}{{Citation not found}} and St. Paul.{{sfn|Sekida|1985|p=251}} See also McMahan for the influence of Christian thought on Buddhism.{{sfn|McMahan|2008}}{{Citation not found}}}} The notion of "experience" has been criticised.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sharf |first1=Robert |title=Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience |journal=Numen |date=1995 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=228β283 |doi=10.1163/1568527952598549 |hdl=2027.42/43810 |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/nu/42/3/article-p228_2.xml |access-date=28 March 2022|hdl-access=free }}</ref>{{sfn|Mohr|2000|pp=282β86}}{{Citation not found}}{{sfn|Low|2006|p=12}}{{Citation not found}} Robert Sharf points out that "experience" is a typical Western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences.{{sfn|Sharf|1995}}{{efn|Robert Sharf: "[T]he role of experience in the history of Buddhism has been greatly exaggerated in contemporary scholarship. Both historical and ethnographic evidence suggests that the privileging of experience may well be traced to certain twentieth-century reform movements, notably those that urge a return to ''[[zazen]]'' or ''[[vipassana]]'' meditation, and these reforms were profoundly influenced by religious developments in the west [...] While some adepts may indeed experience "altered states" in the course of their training, critical analysis shows that such states do not constitute the reference point for the elaborate Buddhist discourse pertaining to the "path".}} The notion of "experience" introduces a false notion of duality between "experiencer" and "experienced", whereas the essence of kensho is the realisation of the "non-duality" of observer and observed.{{sfn|Hori|1994|p=30}}{{Citation not found}}{{sfn|Samy|1998|p=82}}{{Citation not found}} "Pure experience" does not exist; all experience is mediated by intellectual and cognitive activity.{{sfn|Mohr|2000|p=282}}{{Citation not found}}{{sfn|Samy|1998|pp=80β82}}{{Citation not found}} The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may even determine what "experience" someone has, which means that this "experience" is not the ''proof'' of the teaching, but a ''result'' of the teaching.{{sfn|Samy|1998|p=80}}{{Citation not found}} A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by "cleaning the doors of perception",{{efn|[[William Blake]]: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thru' narrow chinks of his cavern."<ref>{{cite web |title=A Point Of View: The doors of perception |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22648328#:~:text=William%20Blake%20wrote%20that%20%22if,Machen%20expressed%20the%20same%20thought. |website=BBC News |access-date=28 March 2022 |date=26 May 2013}}</ref>}} would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence.{{sfn|Mohr|2000|p=284}}{{Citation not found}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page