If there is no divine intervention, what naturalistic explanations exist for religious experiences?

Answer 1

Our brains seem perfectly capable of creating every experience, including spiritual experience, within our noggins. Well, not just brains by themselves: they do need input from the world and other brains (culture). But that's all.

Answer 2

What "religious experiences"? Who says there are religious experiences anyway? "Divine intervention" into what? Between what? When someone on death row gets a reprieve from the Governor, is that "divine intervention" or just the result of a good lawyer? Prayer? Give me a break. If it doesn't rain during the summer for 30, 60, 90 days and people pray for 30, 60, 90 days and finally it rains in the fall, in Oct., is that divine intervention or just the natural result of the change of the seasons? I'll tell you what divine intervention would look like to me: a raging wild brush fire set by an arsonist and the weather is dry, no rain, high winds and no help in sight. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the sky's open up and buckets of rain falls to the ground putting out the fire!! The arsonist feels guilty and turns himself in and asks for forgiveness. The people receive him with open arms and all is well. In the meantime, the war in Iraq miraculously stops over night. The Jews and Arabs all get along and george bush asks the nation to forgive him and he resigns. THAT would be "DIVINE INTERVENTION".....anything less than that is just more blah blah blah

Answer 3

People letting there desire to blame something else besides themselves. Or to not be held to there mistakes/to have an excuse for them. Which is interesting becuse the bible says they will still be judged for them. Forgiven but not forgotten.

Im Asatru. If the gods exist or not is inconsequential. My "religious experinces" are taking comfort in nature, strength, and abillity. F***ing up is only bad when you dont get back up. Which is why the vikings where among some of the most feirce warriors in history.

Theres a good reason why the Viking age was called the Dark ages, and it had little to do with rome collapsing.

Answer 4

The most common is lowered activity or shutting down of the parietal lobe. It has been demonstrated in fact that this reproduces the feeling of a 'religious experience'.

If you're talking about 'miracles' you start with people who want desperately for their entire lives to be witness to one then the right stimulus and people can convince themselves of anything.

I've personally witnessed someone hallucinating that an angel plucked her out of a flooded river and flew her to shore. The truth was I and a friend drug her through the mud to safety. I don't deny she probably believed she saw it. But a thank you wold have been nice.

Many years ago after an 'accident' I was offered what was for me at the time a significant amount of money to sell my name to someone writing a book on 'near death experiences'. He had the stories written already but just needed names of real people who had died to lend some credibility to the stories. As I had technically died multiple times in the ER before I was stabilized. I refused but the money was tempting. Another woman did give in for much less money.

Her rationale "what does a little lie hurt and if it helps someone.. Besides I made $200."

The question "why would they lie" gets thrown around a lot. This is fairly absurd since I would argue why would they not.

Answer 5

You think, the Titanic was divine intervention or 9-11 was divine intervention or wars in Africa or Iraq is divine intervention, AIDS cancer is divine intervention. I don't seen any positive divine intervention. I see people doing the right thing, that human intervention

Answer 6

"Religious experiences" is a miscategorization of natural events. You'd have to specify a specific event and I could tell you exactly what the natural explanation is.

Day to day religious confirmations are usually just confirmation bias and the human tendency to personify events. i.e. it's raining, the rain/world/universe must be angry with me/feeling my pain etc. Adding intention/thought/emotion to objects that are not capable of emitting them.

Answer 7

Hallucinations
Delusions
Mass hysteria
False perceptions due to temporal lob swelling or other brain damage
The attachment of divine significance to everyday occurrences

Answer 8

Narcissism

Answer 9

Thoughts occur on a quantum level. What occurs on a quantum level affects what happens on other levels of corporeal reality (Butterfly Effect), so a person's thoughts affect reality.

Answer 10

It sounds like a duck. It has webbed ft like a duck, it walks like a duck, has feathers like a duck, and a invoice like a duck. It quacks like a duck. What the Hell is it?!