Based on my experience, one thing is very clear to me: This numinous feeling is universal, spontaneous, and peculiar to all humans. I did not create this feeling when I was in the Buddhist temple or in the cathedral; it rather happened to me, even forced itself upon my consciousness, and altered my consciousness. So, this indescribable feeling must be an inborn function in our minds; something that we must cultivate; something of great personal importance to all of us; something that we call spiritual.
(July 9, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Recently, I received an e-mail from one of my friends—Ifthikar Rehman—who reminded me of something that I had told him almost ten years ago about spirituality and religion: “You can find out how religious a person is from his response when you accidentally step on his toes.”
Religion—one of the earliest and most universal activities of the human mind—is not only a social or historical phenomenon but also something of great personal concern to most people. I think, as an adult, you do not have to join a religious order or follow a certain creed, dogma, or doctrine in order to have a religious experience. A Christian would believe that God has revealed himself in Christ, who suffered for mankind. This is a definite frame, with definite contents, which cannot be coupled with or amplified by the ideas and emotions of Buddhism or Islam; yet, it is unquestionable that not only the Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, and Zarathustra represent religious phenomena, but also Mithras, Attis, Cybele, Mani, Hermes, and many other exotic cults do so as well. As far as religion is concerned, there are two paths: You can either join a religious order or have an authentic numinous experience.
When I was a child, I used to visit our neighborhood Buddhist temple. I can still remember my indescribable, numinous feelings in that mystical place: the susurrus of the bo leaves, the lambent flecks of the golden sunlight that dappled the sandy ground, the white, magnificent stupa, and the redolent aroma of jasmine flowers. This same indescribable, numinous feeling is not limited to Buddhist temples; I have experienced this dynamic existence and effect in other places, even in the crowded St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City when I stood in front of the pieta.
Based on my experience, one thing is very clear to me: This numinous feeling is universal, spontaneous, and peculiar to all humans. I did not create this feeling when I was in the Buddhist temple or in the cathedral; it rather happened to me, even forced itself upon my consciousness, and altered my consciousness. So, this indescribable feeling must be an inborn function in our minds; something that we must cultivate; something of great personal importance to all of us; something that we call spiritual.
The word “numinous” was coined in 1917 by Rudolf Otto, a German professor of theology, to describe that which is wholly other. According Otto, numinous experience has two aspects: mysterium fascinans, which is the tendency to attract, fascinate, and compel; and mysterium tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling; it is important to recognize and experience mysterium fascinans as well as mysterium tremendum, because it gives us the feeling that we are in communion with something that is divine, sacred, or scary; it is common to all forms of religious experience. Like a warrior, all of us have to accept the frightening nature of death—a manifestation of the mysterium tremendum—if we want to overcome our fear of death.
Rudolf Otto used the Latin phrase, “Mysterium tremendum et fascinans (fearful and fascinating mystery),” to name the mystery that was common to all forms of religious experience. Carl Jung used the concept of numinous experience in his writings. Jung used the word “numinosum” repeatedly. First, it must be noted that the numinosum is a paradox containing both positive and negative, both of which we may experience simultaneously in many encounters. Some of the positive qualities of the numinosum include sublimity, awe, excitement, bliss, rapture, and exaltation; and some of the unpleasant qualities are fear, trembling, weirdness, horror, mental agitation, and repulsion.
The numinous experience can lead to belief in deities, the supernatural, the sacred, the holy, and the transcendent. As a result of this numinous experience, most Buddhists feel the nostalgia for nirvana; Hindus for becoming one with the creator; Jews, Christians, and Muslims for God and heaven. You do not have to be a theist to experience this numinous feeling, even atheists and agnostics experience it when they are in a temple or a cathedral, next to a silent stream, and at sunrise and sunset.
Religion, as the Latin word denotes, is a careful and scrupulous observation of numinosum: dynamic existence or effect, not caused by an arbitrary act of will. All religions are based on this numinous experience. For example, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam can be viewed as the codified and dogmatized forms of numinous experience of the Buddha under the Bo tree, Jesus on the cross, and Mohammed in a cave; contents of the authentic, numinous experience of the Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed have become sanctified and congealed in a rigid, often elaborate, structure. The practice and the reproduction of the original experience have become a ritual and an unchangeable institution, as we can see in Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam; it can become the form of religious experience for ages of time and for millions of people.
Rituals, such as invocation, incantation, sacrifice, meditation, self-induced torture, and other practices are performed to produce this numinous feeling at will. But a religious belief always precedes any such performance. The Catholic church, for instance, administers the sacraments to bestow their spiritual blessings upon the believer. The dogma has its life and hence is capable of undergoing change and development. The same holds true of the rituals. Yet, all the changes are confined within the frame of the originally experienced numinosum.
I do not participate in daily religious activities or rituals, but my temper is devout, at least, most of the time. I want to have my own, authentic, numinous experience; compared to the numinous experience of the Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed, I know that my numinous experience is like a drop of water to the ocean. I would rather have an authentic experience than living according to a particular creed, dogma, or doctrine.
Whether you belong to a religious order or not, you can still have a numinous experience because all of us have this innate gift of experiencing what we call holy and sacred.
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