Religious Experience and an Analysis of

Rudolf Otto

“Religion” is a term which has blended so deep in

our life that nobody can deny its role in life. But
when we think of the term ‘religion’, the very first
thing that comes to mind is the temples, mosques,
churches, ashrams, monasteries etc. And a bit more
we begin to realize that temples and mosques and
churches are just the tip of the icebergs, the things
through which we understand religions. It is one of
the many visible, external aspects. There are many
other too.
So, all these aspects are studied in other
disciplines in different-different ways, such as
anthropology,archaeology,history,sociology,psycholo
-gy, philosophy and so on. Now, apart from these
external aspects, religions also have an internal,
spiritual side that is invisible. We can consider this
invisible side of religions as its hidden secrets or its
hidden experiences. For instance, doing yoga, namaz,
pooja, sermons, preaching, attending worship and so
on are visible practices; but the inner peace,
spirituality and tranquillity one achieves by doing
such activities is something that is related to changes
of his heart.
We can now say that, Religious experience can be
referred to as spirit of religion in the sense that it
provides the end or goal of the various religious
practices and observances, in as much as this end is
obtainable in this life.
This can be best explained by considering
historical religions like Buddhism or Christianity.
Take the case of its founder, Gautama Buddha, his
knowing of his truth was hidden in his
Enlightenment. Similarly Christianity is based on the
experience of what the Christians call their
experience of the Christ-event, namely, how a group
of people who were the disciples of Jesus
experienced their guru in his life, teachings, death
and after death (they called it the resurrection of
their master). Both the Buddhist and the Christian
religions, then, can be seen as attempts at
institutionalizing and perpetuating these
foundational experiences in the form of certain
records that has come to be accepted as their sacred
scriptures and certain religious practices, like certain
modes of worship and meditation. All the above
mentioned externals are institutional instruments
meant to perpetuate these experiences so that they
can be passed on from one generation to the next.
Religious experiences, therefore, can be seen as the
source of these religions.

Rudolf Otto
Rudolf Otto (1869—1937) was a professor of
theology, Philosophy and History of Religions. He had
made a systematic study of religions all around the
world and through all periods of history, searching
for how each religion described the experience of the
sacred or holy. He greatly contributed to the
discussion of religion, feeling and knowledge in
attempt to characterize the experience of the ‘Holy’
as disclosed and distinctive in all religions. His most
influential book in German is “Das Heilige”,
translated in English as “The Idea of the Holy: an
enquiry into the idea of Divine and its relation to the
rational.” This work is best known for his
phenomenological approach to religious experiences.
Otto held the nature of religious experiences to be
the special sphere of experience having its own
distinctive characteristics and pattern. There is
accordingly a category peculiar to religion is the idea
of ‘Holy’. This category ‘Holy’ is a complete category
whose constituents are on the one hand, moral and
rational ideas and on the other hand, an obscure
structure of feelings or non-rational elements. Otto
said, “the ‘Holy’ in the fullest sense of the word is
combined, complex category, the combining elements
being its rational and non rational components.” This
non rational factor is more primordial than the moral
and rational idea, and hence predominated in the
meaning of the Holy. Otto argued against rationalism
in religion.

Rational and Non Rational

The idea of the Holy begins with the argument of

rationalism versus non rationalism. By rationalism,
Otto meant the assumption that God or Deity can be
completely and adequately known by means of
concept, and a tendency to neglect or overlook the
unique element of feeling in religious experience. He
says that there are non-rational depths in the being
of God and can be known only in some other way
than through concepts. This way is provided by
religious feelings. Concepts are thus inadequate to
express the feeling of ‘wholly others’ essence of the
Divine, and cannot be taught but only evoked through
introspective reflection. Non rational aspect lies at
the core of the rational aspect. He calls the non
rational aspect as holy. This non rational is not
irrational, it is ‘Holy’ in all the religion and carries
the connotation of morality and ethics. But morality
and ethics are the rational aspects. So, ‘Holy’ is both
rational and non-rational.
Rational aspect allows it to be defined and classified
whereas non rational aspect which Otto believes is
more basic (undescribed, unclassified) beyond
description which he named as ‘Numen’ and used it
to coin a new term, ‘the numinous’, which he used to
refer to that ‘mysterious power’.
According to Otto, this numinous experience is
perfectly sui generis i.e., self-created, and also
regarded this experience not as a kind of feeling
merely, but also exhibiting a category of immediate
apprehension and valuation. He distinguished the
subjective and objective aspect of the numinous
experience.
The subjective aspect of the “numinous” experience
is called “creature consciousness” or “creature
feeling”, which is ‘the emotion of the creature,’
submerged and overwhelmed by its own nothingness
in contrast to that is supreme above all creatures.
The objective aspect of the numinous feeling is, as
Otto explained, the experience of a Mysterium
Trementum Fascinans. The numinous is above all the
Mysterium Trementum Fascinans. Otto further
dissected this aspect into Mysterium Trementum
Fascinans.
Trementum: Otto identifies three elements to this
aspect:
 Awfullness: The analysis of this element goes
beyond. Characterized as “fear” (More properly,
it is something like Aww or Dread. It is an
emotional state and by any measure not very
nice.
 Majestas or Overpoweringness or The call to
Total Surrender: It is based on a sense of the
infinite which swallows everything finite. This
experience of numinous is the objective element
of “creature consciousness.”
 Energia: Power, Energy or Urgency, this
experience of numinous is the irrepressible
impression of the numen’s activity as an agency
set over againt the entire natural world. The
trementum of the energy clothes itself
everywhere in symbolic experience such as
vitality, passion, emotional temper, will,
excitement, impetus.
Mysterium: This element includes two elements,
 Wholly Other: The numinous is entirely different
from anything we experience in ordinary life. It
evokes a reaction of silence. It is completely
other than you. It is outside one’s own self. It is
transcendent and amazing.
 Fascination: This experience absorbs the subject
completely. This feeling of fascination creates
the desire to approach the divine object despite
the simultaneous feeling that one possesses no
value when considered in relation to in relation
to the fascinating and prized object.

Some Case Studies

The Lutheran Experience

Martin Luther, an important figure of the
16th Century Protestant Reformation, was struck
to ground by a bolt of lightning in a
thunderstorm. He prayed to St Anne and vowed
that he would become a monk if he was saved. He
was saved and he joined the monastic life. As he
grew, he was not satisfied with the medieval way
to salvation that included confessions, charitable
works, and sacraments. During 1513--19, while
being at Wittenburg, he lectured elaborately
more on the Psalms and letters to the Romans
and Galatians. This helped him to realize and
discover a new meaning of the Gospel of Christ.
 This was his religious experience. He now found
an answer to his constant quest, namely, how can
one stand in holiness before the demanding
righteousness of a just God? He discovered that a
life led by faith, which is itself a gift of God, is the
answer. God justifies us by faith. This discovery
made him feel like a new born person and he felt
he entered paradise itself.

The Buddha Experience

Gautama Buddha, hailed from a noble family
in India. As he grew up without knowing many
realities of life, his first exposure to the harsh
realities of life, pain and suffering, made him
raise several questions. Searching for the right
and the most satisfying answers, he joined
several others who were also in their spiritual
sojourn. He gained extensive knowledge of the
Vedas and the Upanishads, and practised
extreme asceticism. However, even after six
years, he could not find answers. Then, he sat in
deep meditation with a determination to find
answers for his search. During these meditations,
he was enlightened. This unique religious
experience that he had left on him and on the
wider society had a deep indelible mark. He had
now moved to a state of pure consciousness. He
understood and realized several realities, the
chief of which being the Four Noble Truths. He
shared this experience of enlightenment with
others and this was the foundation of a new
religious movement---Buddhism.
The Zen Experience
A Japanese version of Buddhism, this type of
meditational practice is gaining more attention
today. True reality is within oneself. When one
experiences this, he/she would be able to
understand the reality outside better. Such an
experience is in Zen language, ‘awakening’. This
intuitive enlightenment comes only with a
rigorous self-discipline under the care of a
master. This self discipline has many forms -
meditation, archery, judo, etc. This experience is
unique and personal. A pure selfless being
emerges at enlightenment, and one feels that all
beings are primarily Buddhas.

Bibliography

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