Understanding Spiritual Experiences and Phenomena

Spiritual experiences are not well understood or discussed. Experiencers often fear being misunderstood or judged. Richard Bucke coined the term cosmic consciousness in the late 1800s and another early researcher, JB Rhine, set up an institute and coined the term extrasensory perception. Today, research is more common. Raymond Moody published his study of near-death experiences in his 1970s book Life After Life. In recent years, several organizations have been set up to study and understand these and other spiritual phenomena. This course will examine some of the enclaves of spiritual experiences including mysticism, angels, Marian apparitions, near death experiences, the paranormal, communication with the dead, and apparitions. The emphasis will be on understanding experiences and finding common characteristics. This is not a class about beliefs or dogma. We will discuss recent research and the various organizations devoted to studying this dimension.