1,721,033 research outputs found
Transforming moments - A Psychological Perspective on Religious Visions : Contemporary and Historical Cases
No full textThe Night is the Mother of Day: Methodological Comments on Three Cases of Religious Visions as Suicide Prevention
No full textDuring my thirty years in the academic field I have always been interested in biographical studies. The focus has been on significant experiences in the individual’s life, so-called turning points, peak experiences or other decisive and unforgettable moments. Was there a crisis of some kind? And, if this is the case,how did the person in question cope with this low point in his or her life? I learned that there appears to be a relation between life crisis and intensive religious experience, especially visionary and/or auditive impressions. In this paper I will present three short case studies of persons coming from different cultures and living in different times. The common denominator is that they all were on the verge of committing suicide. Only seconds prior to the selfdestructive act they were all saved by an all-absorbing vision, when time seemed to stand still. The main question I wish to answer is whether these visions can be regarded as similar at a process level, psychologically speaking. Persons and products usually do differ, while processes might be similar. Before presenting the three case studies I would like to give you some background to my earlier studies of religious lives. The chapter will be finished with a comment on some simple methodological principles I have learnt from them
Kristen mystik. Ur psykologisk synvinkel. Del I
No full textThis is the third volume in a serial of books focusing on the concept of mystical death and related ideas, as described within the Christian mystical tradition and its Jewish and Greek roots. In the succeeding chapters these mystical elements and their development are followed up, both within the Western and Eastern Christian traditions. In the final chapters the author presents the German and Dutch mystical schools in the fourteenth century. Using scholarly translations of Christian mystical texts and modern research within the field, the author presents influential Christian mystics in a chronological and thematic way. The study is psychological in the sense that the author gives attention not only to experiential and behavioural aspects but also to the psychology of the mystics themselves. Some fundamental questions are: How is human personality defined by Christian mystics? Which techniques are used in order to reach beyond personality defined as such? What kind of experiences do these exercises lead to? To what end does the mystic pursue these activities? Special attention is given to the phenomenon of mors mystica, the notion that human personality has to die and to be reborn in a transformed state. As to interpretations from the perspective of modern psychology the author draws attention to his earlier studies, related to the psychology of asceticism, visionary experience and descriptions of mystical death. Christian techniques of visualisation are analysed with reference to HansCarl Leuner’s research on guided affective imagery. This psychological interpretation has not been presented in earlier studies of the author
Förvandlande ögonblick. Gudsuppenbarelser i vår tid
No full textThis study is based on questionnaires, letters, and short biographies written by 92 ordinary Swedish citizens. Most of them had visions of Jesus or of angels and "divine light". The questionnaires focus on changes concerning religious activity, attitude towards the Bible, concept of God and religious orientation. The author has chosen to describe 35 cases in the form of short biographies (4-6 pages), integrating both quantitative and qualitative data. Since more than 90% of all informants mentioned a crisis prior to the religious vision, the author focuses his study on the relationship between life-crisis and religious vision. The author presents a model of personality, based on ego-psychology, according to which religious visions can be regarded as autosymbolic representations of intrapsychic conflicts. Visions of Jesus, angels, or the divine light, are symbolic representations of order, as against chaos. In almost all cases the vision brings an end to the life-crisis, end chaos, and establishes order
Sex i hinduismen: från askes till extas
No full textThe chapter presents an overview of the importance of sexuality in, and its points of intersection with, Hindu religion, historically and in the contemporary world. Among the themes discussed are eroticism as religious imagery and role-play, ascetic ideals of chastity, contrasts between the treatment of sexuality in religious law and secular manuals of love, sacral and ritulized sexuality, sexual minorities and the ‘third sex’ (particularly the hijṛā community), and the influence of colonization and missionary activity on modern Hindu views on sexuality
Kristen mystik. Ur psykologisk synvinkel. Del II: Från Birgitta till Thomas Merton
No full textThis is the fourth and final volume in a series of studies in the psychology of religious mysticism. As in his earlier volumes, the author focuses on central themes, such as the concept of God, the view of man, different spiritual exercises as prayer and meditation, types of mystical experience, and mors mystica, the notion that the self has to die and to be reborn. Slightly more than thirty important Christian mystics, men and women, are presented. After a lengthy chapter on medieval female mysticism there follows a chapter on English mysticism and a rather detailed presentation of Ignatius of Loyola and his spiritual exercises. The great Carmelites Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross are being discussed in an important chapter. Then follow chapters on German and French mysticism and orthodox spirituality. In the final chapter the author presents some important contemporary mystics, among others Edith Stein, Simone Weil, and Thomas Merton
Judisk mystik. Ur psykologisk synvinkel
No full textThe major themes in this historical overview are: mystical death, the view of personality in Jewish mysticism, the mystical techniques being used in order to achieve mystical death, the possible negative side-effects of using these techniques, and the result of this spiritual process. The historical overview starts with merkavah- and hekhalot-mysticism, ecstatic kabbalah, the spirituality of Safed, and eighteenth century Hasidism. In the final chapter the author discusses psychological relevant themes such as deprivation-theory, techniques of visualization and ego-death
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