At one time or another in our lives many of us will have had some kind of 'religious experience'. Whether it was something specific and tangible (such as a moment of conversion to the Christian faith) or something much less specific (such as an unusual sense of peace) many Christians report having had such an experience.
A recent book by Mike McHargue describes how having been brought up as a conservative Christian, he fell away from faith. Then, though he described himself as an atheist, McHargue had a profound spiritual experience on a beach. 'Years later, Mike was standing on the shores of the Pacific Ocean when a bewildering, seemingly mystical moment motivated him to take another look' says his website. He wrote about his experience in the book Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science.
Of course, this kind of spiritual experience has been reported by people throughout Christian history. Mystics such as Teresa of Avila and Julian of Norwich were famous throughout Christendom for the wisdom thy gleaned via their ecstatic experiences.
There are many instances in the Bible of what we might call spiritual experiences. None is more famous that the conversion of Saul. On the road To Damascus we read that, 'suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' The man who became Paul recounted God speaking to him not only vocally but also through flashing lights.
These mystical experiences have been the victim of the Enlightenment, though. The period of Western history which prized reason and science (and under the spell of which we remain) had little time for such 'unscientific' things as spiritual experiences.
Today, though, scientists are interested in what might be going on neurologically when someone is having (or thinks they're having) a spiritual experience.
New research from the University of Missouri is reported this week, linking people who have a disposition to spiritual experiences and those with epilepsy. Reports of the research quote neuropsychologist Professor Brick Johnstone, 'Past research has indicated that humans might have a distinctive neurological tendency toward being spiritually oriented.
'This research supports the notion that the human propensity for religious or spiritual experiences may be neurologically based.'
Some might see this as an easy refutation of experiences which could be labeled as 'supernatural'. In fact, instead of being supernatural, the argument would go, instead, such experiences have a natural explanation – in the brain itself.
While there obviously must be some truth to this – it isn't surprising to find neurological evidence among those who claim such experiences – we need to be cautious before we extrapolate too far.
For those of us who are Christians, or indeed those who profess another faith, we are likely to explain going through one of these kind of events by recourse to the supernatural dimension that we believe exists.
Likewise, the committed materialist atheist who experiences such an event is more likely to attribute it merely to the chemicals in the brain.
There's an element of confirmation bias here – the idea that things we experience or seek out will simply confirm what we already believe. But that doesn't account for the more radical changes of belief that sometimes follow from a religious experience. Paul's conversion was a radical one – confirmation bias didn't apply there...
There's also a question around whether science will ever fully be able to explain mystical experiences. Even if we discover evidence that links certain conditions with a propensity to spiritual experiences, it doesn't mean much for the discussion of whether God exists or not. If God does exist, in the way that orthodox Christian faith has believed throughout the generations, then he is the creator of everything in the universe.
If therefore there are some people who have a greater chance of mystical experiences because of the chemical composition of their brains, then it may be that it's a part of their God-given identity – whether they are believers or not. Of course, there's no way of proving that God does exist via this kind of research either.
That's probably worth remembering next time you have a spiritual experience, whether it's on a mountaintop or in the midst of a worship service. If God is speaking to you, enjoy and experience it for what it is – rather than as evidence in the ongoing argument about his existence.
