experienceand contextual in the sense of happening within particular religious com-
munities. As the religious scholar Wayne Proudfoot demonstrates, the
term is of relatively recent origin. A good example is its use by Friedrich
Schleiermacher (1768–1834), a liberal German religious thinker, and his
discussion of religion as consciousness of absolute dependence. It is
impossible for a researcher to have direct access to a religious experience
of another person as it is being experienced, although a researcher can
have secondary access by means of first or second-hand accounts of a
religious experience as it might appear in an autobiographical or a bio-
graphical account. Another feature of experience that makes it difficult to
define is its wide variety; an experience can be mystical or ecstatic, and
can take the form of a trance, visions, dreams, feelings, moods, disposi-
tions, faith, or enlightenment. Within some religious traditions, it is pre-
supposed that an individual must have some type of experience in order
to be saved or liberated. Sometimes a religious experience alters an indi-
vidual’s life and turns that individual to a religious path, such as the
Christian apostle Paul while walking along the road to Damascus.
When a religious experience happens to an individual it modifies the
individual’s consciousness, which can be either intentional or non-inten-
tional. The intentional type of modification involves awareness by a sub-
ject of something objective that is external to his/her consciousness,
which originates from interpreting or misinterpreting objective data.
When an individual interprets such external data he/she utilizes concepts.
By becoming aware of an object, one becomes conscious of something
(this is called intentionality), whereas the non-intentional type of modi-
fication of consciousness does not depend on something external, and
thus represents a mode of consciousness that involves feelings.
A religious experience can manifest itself in a variety of forms that
include: feeling absolutely united with the world, called panenhenic feel-
ing; or a person can have a more numinous type of experience, when one
experiences something as wholly other than oneself – a mysterious power
that both repels and attracts a person at the same time; or a person may
have a more contemplative type of experience that does not postulate an
external other, but does give a feeling that the normal subject–object dis-
tinction disappears. Different types of feelings and attitudes are generated
by the numinous and contemplative kinds of experiences, such as fear,
trembling, respect, abjection, and humility in the former, whereas the con-
templative type of experience is more apt to produce serenity, confidence,
certainty, calm, bliss, and happiness. Since neither type is restrictive, there
is some overlap of both types. The numinous tends to be associated with
a devotional type of religiosity, while the contemplative tends to be mysti-
cal and creates self-awareness, a sense of wisdom, and equanimity.