Did you ever "feel god"?

[Serafina]

This is inspired by Mikes recent topic, but i think it warrants it's own discussion.

So, here is the question: Did you ever "feel god"?

A lot of religious people say that they "feel god", wether that means his presence or works or whatever.
So, to all people who are or were religious:
Did you ever do that, how would you describe it? During what moments did you feel god? When was the first time you did it?
What else is there to say about it?

I truly am curious - i was religious for a few years, but i never had a moment where i would have said that i "felt god".
So, is it just a baseless claim, a fundamentalist thing or something else?

[General Zod]

I can't say I've ever been that delusional. Given the sheer amount of research on the topic I'd say it's a combination of delirium plus feeling a sense of awe that just doesn't go away.

[Kanastrous]

There have been things which have engendered in me the sort of combination of delirium plus feeling a sense of awe that just doesn't go away that Zod describes, but I don't associate that feeling with any particular conception of 'God.'

[SapphireFox]

I've never felt anything I could actually attribute to a feeling of god however I have felt things that I would ascribe as a presence but it felt more like a spirit or ghost like phenomenon.

[Oskuro]

My brain has made me feel some weird stuff all through my life, and not even once did I think it was due to the supernatural, not even as a kid. 'Feeling God' is more about the person wanting to see God in uncommon events rather than the events themselves sparking the idea of God.

If I recall correctly, studies have shown that people who feel as 'one with creation' are actually experiencing a temporal brain failure, precisely on the part that differentiates between the individual and its surroundings. Some other studies have shown that prayer seems to induce a sort of delusional state (sorry, no links, I think these were debated here, but can't find them right now).

Take Deja Vu, for example. I experience those quite often, and I find it fascinating to see what happens when my perception of time glitches. Most people want to believe they are an insight into the future, and do so, even when it is all too easy to point out that whenever you have a Deja Vu, you coincidentally have trouble "remembering" what is going to happen next. Again, it's all about what people want to see.

[Formless]

I've never felt god per say, but I used to have a paranoia about alien abductions where I would sometimes have that "I'm being watched" feeling, especially at night. The difference between that and "feeling god" of course was that it felt malevolent. I guess I would describe it as being on full alert and even though you can't see the thing that your mind is telling you is there, your mind refuses to accept that it's not there. If that makes sense.

[dworkin]

I was going to say I felt God but then got slapped with a restraining order. But then I thought seriously about it.

First off, Christian groups get people to indulge in various activities to produce a different mental state be it excited, emotional, calm, whatever and then tell you said state is 'feeling God'.

The other is that religious people are mentally primed to expect conversations with supernatural beings.

Now some of these mental states are very similar to what your brain does when dreaming. So you can have a day dream after or while performing a ritual and if you expect to have conversations with supernatural beings then that's what you experience.

Conversely, if your world view precludes supernatural entities then you are not primed to expect them to come down for some dispensing of godly wisdom or whatever. So if you get yourself in a similar state and start day dreaming you'll experience it very differently.

This is also one of the reasons Christianity eschews drugs and alcohol. Wouldn't do for the proles to learn they can induce such states artificially.

Myself, I've had similar experiences after playing civilisation for ages. I interpreted my brain seeing the units giving me helpful advice as it being a good time to go to sleep.

[Kanastrous]

Of course infiltrators have reported that there's a lot of group pressure to say you feel or hear or see things - and probably also convince yourself that you really did - when you're in a room packed with other people falling over and gibbering as 'the spirit descends upon them...'

[Surlethe]

I can't say I've ever been that delusional.

"Feelings" are not themselves delusional; people become delusional when they thoughtlessly ascribe feelings to external stimuli instead of rationally prosecuting the feelings to their origins.

Given the sheer amount of research on the topic I'd say it's a combination of delirium plus feeling a sense of awe that just doesn't go away.

Please, citations?

Edit: As for myself, like my wife, I started to question it when I realized I could turn the 'warm, comforting feeling' in the back of my mind on and off at will.

[Liberty]

Yes, I used to "feel god." We called it "sensing God's presence."

It's like this: maybe it's just me, but you know that feeling that you get (or used to get as a child) when you start thinking there's a bad guy in a dark room, or something under your bed at night? You really start to feel like something is there, and you get goosebumps, etc. That's how it was with sensing God's presence. Before, when I was worried or particularly grateful, I would think really hard about God (or Jesus) and visualize him there with me, tell myself that he was there, and then I would "feel his presence." It's so obvious now that it was all in my mind, and actually, sometimes even then I wondered if it was in my mind because I could make myself feel it conveniently at will, but I accepted it as real then because I was conditioned to.

And I'd imagine conditioning has a lot to do with it. When you are told all your life that you are surrounded by invisible angels and demons fighting with each other, that the supernatural may happen at any moment, and you go to sleep each night afraid you'll wake up and see a demon at the foot of our bed (we were told stories of people, even friends of my parents, seeing or hearing demons at night), well, maybe it makes you prone to imagine you're sensing things like that when it's nonsense. Maybe that's why I still sometimes become completely debilitated by the fear that someone is in a dark room at night. I am honestly frightened when I am the only one at home at night (doesn't happen very often) because of this, though I should say that I am frightened on an emotional level but not on a rational level. Interestingly, sometimes when this happens, if I spend the night alone and become frightened that something is in the hall, etc, I will make myself sense god's presence, because it's comforting - but of course, I know the whole time that it's not real. I guess maybe it's a coping mechanism? It doesn't happen very often.

Edit: I just saw Formless's post, and that's exactly the kind of sense I'm talking about, only benevolent.

Edit #2:

First off, Christian groups get people to indulge in various activities to produce a different mental state be it excited, emotional, calm, whatever and then tell you said state is 'feeling God'.

This is very true. This is why music is used. This is why mediation is used. And it really can produce these feelings. It's all in your head, but it can be very persuasive.

Edit #3 (every time I hit submit it tells me there's been another post!):

Of course infiltrators have reported that there's a lot of group pressure to say you feel or hear or see things - and probably also convince yourself that you really did - when you're in a room packed with other people falling over and gibbering as 'the spirit descends upon them...'

Again, right on. You know that if you say you feel these things, others will approve of you. And if you say you don't feel these things, they will think there's something wrong with you. This is exactly why, during the short time I was a Catholic and was among charismatic Catholics, I felt tremendous pressure to speak in tongues. When everyone else around you is speaking in tongues, it feels like you should be too. And I tried. I really did. I tried to open myself to god and allow him to speak through me, etc. It never worked, though. And shortly after that, I began questioning faith altogether.

[Samuel]

What do you call that tingling feeling that runs up and down your spine? I never bothered to associate it with religion, but is that what people are refering to?

[Rye]

This is inspired by Mikes recent topic, but i think it warrants it's own discussion.

So, here is the question: Did you ever "feel god"?

Yeah, it was essentially like the internal conversations one has with oneself, except I thought that part of my brain represented the creator of the universe and general loving parent figure. Additionally, there was general superstition and autosuggestion that I was conditioned with, and the natural awe one has for the night sky.

Did you ever do that, how would you describe it? During what moments did you feel god? When was the first time you did it?
What else is there to say about it?

I truly am curious - i was religious for a few years, but i never had a moment where i would have said that i "felt god".
So, is it just a baseless claim, a fundamentalist thing or something else?

It's actually a few different things. Some of it is psychological self trickery, like the superstitious fear of the empty threats on chain letters. Some of it is the conscience, and the internal conversations one has with oneself, or if you imagine having a conversation with your mother. God can be imagined according to what your culture has given you of its properties. In my case, it was a loving parent, not unlike Santa, that saw everything you did and was always there, even in your own mind. As my brain synthesised that character's likes and dislikes of my behaviours, for instance, drawing magical symbols like the pentagram, I felt guilt and worry over harmless stuff.

The feeling of "presences" in the room is along the same lines.

As for the first time I did it, probably in primary school where I learned religion in the first place.

The closest I get to feeling God is aesthetic appreciation for things like the Hubble Deep Field, trance-like euphoric states from music, violence, pain, sex and presumably drugs.

[Spectre_nz]

I’ve never ‘felt god’ before myself, however, I did have an excellent opportunity to see others ‘feeling god’ a few years back.

A friend of mine, during high school and then just after, embarked upon a token rebellion against his religious parents, then became born again and joined some other church. For quite a while he avidly tried to bring me into the born again fold. He never admitted to being a young earther or a creationist, but he would often ask all sorts of questions about ‘how I knew X was true’. I figured he thought if he could find a question I couldn’t answer, I’d suddenly see god.

Unfortunately, he never came up with a science related quandary I couldn’t explain on the spot.

Anyway. One month his wacky church had a visiting preacher from somewhere in Africa. May have been Zimbabwe. He told me how this preacher could show people the light with a literal wave of her hand, and urged me to come along because this time I really *was* going to find god.

I was intrigued. So I went along.
I’m glad I did, it was highly educational.
I asked him and a few others the general background to this preacher and they explained that, she was there for a week, on the first day, not a lot happened, then gradually, over the week, more and more people began ‘feeling god’ until on day 4, people were falling over (this was church, every day, for a week... I have no idea how much sleep people were getting, that probably had a lot to do with it also)
I attended on day 6.
I noted the preacher had three helpers who moved through the audience; the venue was small so I had a good view of everyone. At first, the helpers were at the front, and they quickly did the whole ‘I’m feeling god’ thing; they wailed, they shook, they laughed, they fell over. Then two of them moved away and the third continued. This was day 6 remember.
The two about in the audience began ‘helping’ other people... they put their hands on heads and shoulders. There was no way to easily tell, but to me, an outsider, it looked obvious that other people only shook and fell over when there was a helper right there with their hands on them.

After about half an hour of this, the helpers moved away and some audience members were spontaneously shaking, laughing and falling over.

At the end of it, my friend came up to me elated and asked how god felt. I told him I’d felt nothing and explained I surmised their experience was essentially, akin to mass hysteria. He looked visibly stunned. I think the fact that he could genuinely see on my face that I’d felt nothing did more than any counter arguments I could ever use against his questions.
He reasoned that this was different, saying “since when could emotions sweep through a crowd” and I said it happens all the time; yawning is contagious, and jokes are funnier and we laugh harder in a group that is also laughing.

He didn’t have any other suggestions after that. I think they took my analysis that their experience was a mixture of peer pressure and positive reinforcement in their stride. I was half heartedly asked back on further occasions, but they stopped extending me invites after I commented that their church had a lot of vulnerable young women in attendance last time I was there and could I be introduced...

So, in answer to the OP, no, never felt god. But I’d like to think I got a good insight on it.

[Alyrium Denryle]

I have never felt god. What I have felt was a sense of cosmic wonder. The first time I can remember it happening was when I was carried on my fathers shoulders (the one good thing he ever contributed to my life) down to a vernal pool in alaska when the wood frogs were breeding. I heard them call, saw them amplex and lay thousands of little eggs.

It was then that I basically felt... enraptured by nature for the first time, and it basically when I set on the path to being a biologist. I get that way whenever I think about nature. I will be walking along a sidewalk and watch squirrels, or visualize the internal structure of a plant. I get the same feeling of wonder, to the point that I get all misty eyed.

[Kanastrous]

Enraptured. That's a great word for it, bearing in mind no connection to the Christian use of the term.

[Temujin]

This reminds me of a question my professor (who happened to be a Minister) in a course on comparative religions asked all of us to answer on the first day of class.

Essentially he wanted all of us to give an account of a significant “religious experience” that each of us had had. After everyone else had their go at it, I told him point blank that I couldn’t even think of anything remotely resembling any of the experiences that everyone else had described.

He was quite persistent though, and kept trying to get an answer, including tying to rephrase it as a “spiritual experience”, to which I basically replied “same difference”.

Even some of the deep meditative experiences that I’ve had never seemed spiritual, let alone religious to me. And I’ve certainly never felt any kind of supernatural presence.

I have never felt god. What I have felt was a sense of cosmic wonder.

At best that's basically how I would describe any of the "exceptional" experiences that I've had.

[Liberty]

What do you call that tingling feeling that runs up and down your spine? I never bothered to associate it with religion, but is that what people are refering to?

Yes.

It was then that I basically felt... enraptured by nature for the first time, and it basically when I set on the path to being a biologist. I get that way whenever I think about nature. I will be walking along a sidewalk and watch squirrels, or visualize the internal structure of a plant. I get the same feeling of wonder, to the point that I get all misty eyed.

You know, I get that feeling about nature too. I'm not a biologist, of course, but I still get a sense of awe and oneness when I am surrounded by nature. And it's very similar to the feeling I used to get when I "felt" god's presence.

[Broomstick]

I can't say I've ever been that delusional. Given the sheer amount of research on the topic I'd say it's a combination of delirium plus feeling a sense of awe that just doesn't go away.

Feelings of "god", "awe", "the divine", and "transcendence", among other descriptors, is actually a normal, if not universal, experience. It is no more delusional to have those feelings than to feel love or hate or daydream.

What is delusional is ordering your life around a subjective experience as if it is a universal truth, or worse yet, forcing others to accommodate your experience with force, up to and including deadly force.

Not everyone who has a "religious experience" (or spiritual, or whatever) becomes a drooling Fundy. Or even religious. And it most certainly can go away, and for most people who experience it, it is probably transitory.

It's also normal to NOT have such experiences.

[General Zod]

I can't say I've ever been that delusional. Given the sheer amount of research on the topic I'd say it's a combination of delirium plus feeling a sense of awe that just doesn't go away.

Feelings of "god", "awe", "the divine", and "transcendence", among other descriptors, is actually a normal, if not universal, experience. It is no more delusional to have those feelings than to feel love or hate or daydream.

Hence why I specified combined with delirium.

[Channel72]

Feelings of "god", "awe", "the divine", and "transcendence", among other descriptors, is actually a normal, if not universal, experience. It is no more delusional to have those feelings than to feel love or hate or daydream.

Ironically, there is a common argument among Christian apologists, (particularly C.S. Lewis), which presents these universal experiences as evidence that God exists. C.S. Lewis called it the "experience of the Numinous", and argued that it was a built-in mechanism within the human brain designed for the purpose of communicating with God.

Regardless, it would be interesting to identify the actual evolutionary function of these feelings.

[ebs2323]

I've never felt god per say, but I used to have a paranoia about alien abductions where I would sometimes have that "I'm being watched" feeling, especially at night. The difference between that and "feeling god" of course was that it felt malevolent. I guess I would describe it as being on full alert and even though you can't see the thing that your mind is telling you is there, your mind refuses to accept that it's not there. If that makes sense.

I am glad to know im not the only one who has that feeling, any idea why that is?

[RazorOutlaw]

I would have to sit down and really think about all the times I've been to church on Sundays, all the retreats I've been to, all the impromptu prayers I've been around for various disasters before I could say I've absolutely never "felt God". A lot of times I would pray and hope that the prayer would be answered, but I never saw any results. The only people who ever seemed to benefit from prayer were people I had no connection to.

Now, I had reverance. I'd been told that a church is God's dwelling place (sort of) so that I should be on my best behavior. And I did behave myself for fear of disrespecting God, but I'm not so sure if that was any different from being told not to touch hot stove (although I could definitely feel the heat and my parents could hear my screams).

I know I've said this before but the only time I've ever had something that could be considered a religious experience was when I sat in a planetarium at a science center. As the graphics played out overhead I was finally able to grasp just how small I really was and that was amazing. There was really something beyond me.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Feelings of "god", "awe", "the divine", and "transcendence", among other descriptors, is actually a normal, if not universal, experience. It is no more delusional to have those feelings than to feel love or hate or daydream.

Ironically, there is a common argument among Christian apologists, (particularly C.S. Lewis), which presents these universal experiences as evidence that God exists. C.S. Lewis called it the "experience of the Numinous", and argued that it was a built-in mechanism within the human brain designed for the purpose of communicating with God.

Regardless, it would be interesting to identify the actual evolutionary function of these feelings.

Not everything has an evolutionary function. Some things (a lot of things actually) are just byproducts of things that do have a function. It could just be an emergent phenomenon that rises out of our higher cognitive function, or a means by which we are motivated to investigate the world.

Combine the childlike sense of wonder that gets a little kid to learn about the world with other adaptive mental processes (theory of mind, agency detection etc) and you get those feelings assigned to communication with a higher being.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

This is inspired by Mikes recent topic, but i think it warrants it's own discussion.

So, here is the question: Did you ever "feel god"?

A lot of religious people say that they "feel god", wether that means his presence or works or whatever.
So, to all people who are or were religious:
Did you ever do that, how would you describe it? During what moments did you feel god? When was the first time you did it?
What else is there to say about it?

I truly am curious - i was religious for a few years, but i never had a moment where i would have said that i "felt god".
So, is it just a baseless claim, a fundamentalist thing or something else?

No, I never once felt the influence of God in my life ever, which, since I was supposed to as a child growing up in a religious life, left me terrified that I was going to Hell for some crimes/sins I didn't realize I'd committed, leaving me in a continuous cycle of rigorous penance and mental and sometimes physical self-flagellation in a desperate attempt to cleanse the sins I must have committed to keep me from feeling God. This process didn't end until I was a teenager, having started around age six or seven.

[adam_grif]

No. Back in primary school (catholic one), I used to feel something whenever the priest would put the ashes on my forehead around Lent or Eastertime or whenever that happens. Later it stopped. These days I can generate that feeling at will, along with various other ones. It's kind of strange actually.