Essay On Religious Experience

Words: 1551
Pages: 7

Using religious experience and what makes up a religious experience. I will discuss how my experience of playing ice hockey can be considered a religious experience. By digging into my experience of playing I can out why I like hockey and why I like to play. I believe that through finding the deeper experience in the sport and playing of ice hockey, I personally can find it’s a religious experience. If I can find this depth in my experience with hockey, I can help my experience with hockey as a whole. But also I can use the new insights in playing in the future and in my coaching. Before digging deeper into my own experience, first we must look towards William James and his four characteristics of religious experience. The four characteristics of religious experience are 1. Ineffability, 2. Noetic Quality, 3. Transiency, 4. Passivity. …show more content…
With statements like, I like hockey or hockey is fun it’s a way to try to explain the experience I have with hockey but it does not mean anything or it is hard to get meaning out of those statements. I have a personal example of how to help support the ineffable experience. My ineffable experience of my personal hockey experience, is on outside of an organization or official game. But it is when I was playing pond hockey. Because it is outside on a pond and takes time to set up. The pond hockey experience is one that only has an ice space that you have to clear off, and either goals or three pieces of wood in a box. Pond hockey is special because there is only you and the ice and is playing with you. While skating for a bit of time I feel that it’s just skating around. It also feels like I am thinking without thinking it just happens naturally. Or it just feels like I am skating in an infinite circle. I cannot express in words besides what it felt like, but to explain beyond these examples is something I cannot describe in words what the