Visions and Voices

Introduction to Visions and Voices

Religious experiences of visions and voices are unusual in that they are descried in terms of ordinary perceptions. People who experience visions and voices describe them using phrases like 'I saw' or 'I heard.' However, these sights and sounds aren't usually heard by other people. Both visions and voices occur in a variety of forms in various faiths.

Visions

When a person is having a vision, they see something different that what their eyes can physically register. A vision experience can happen when a person is awake or in a dream. These visions are experiences of God, or another religious figure, appearing with a message. Imaginative visions are those who occur in dreams such as when Joseph, while engaged to Mary, had a dream telling him not to be afraid of marrying Mary, even though she was pregnant and he was not the father. (Matthew 1:20-24)

Vision experiences can occur when someone is awake or in a dream. In the vision, information may be revealed, so dreams are described by theologians as noetic and revelatory. Visions are usually divided into three types:1) Corporeal e.g) St Bernadette of Lourdes had several visions of the Virgin Mary. In one of these visions she was told to dig in the ground at the feet of Mary. When she did, she found a mountain spring. People still visit the spring at Lourdes to pray and bathe, and many report being healed in some way. This is called a corporeal vision because Bernadette saw Mary as a form or image like a physical person.2) Intellectuale.g) Teresa of Avila said she 'saw Christ at my side - or, to put it better, I was conscious of him, for neither with the eyes of the body or of the soul did I see anything.' She went on to say that she could not discern the form of the vision, but was aware that Jesus was there. This is an intellectual vision as what is seen is an experience, rather than an observation ('Did you see that woman?')The vision is not the same as seeing an external object with the eyes. It is instead a clear vision in the mind's eye.More about St Teresa of Avila

3) Imaginativee.g) In Matthew 1, Joseph, while engaged to Mary, has a dream telling him not to be afraid of marrying Mary - even though she is pregnant and he is not the father. This is imaginative because it refers to a vision that occurs in a dream, in which a message is received from God.

St Teresa's VisionSaint Teresa's love of God and her desire for spiritual union with him found expression in a vision in which an angel pierced her heart with a golden spear and sent her into a trance. The erotic intensity of her vision is vividly suggested in this image by Teresa's swooning expression and languid pose, and by the deep folds of drapery, which convey her agitation.Read more

Teresa is clothed from head to foot in a loose hooded garment. Her feet are bare, the left one prominently displayed. Her eyes are shut, her mouth opened, as she swoons in ecstasy. Standing before her is the figure of a winged youth. His garment hangs on one shoulder, exposing his arms and part of his upper torso. In his right hand he holds an arrow that is pointed at the heart of Teresa.

Voices

This type of experience is where an individual hears God's voice, although in the case of the prophet Muhammad, it can also be an angel's voice. Hearing in this sense means more than an audible voice but also the communication of knowledge and is often one aspect of the religious experience – it could also be a mystical experience. It does not have to be a literal, audible voice, it could be, as some Christians refer to it as the ‘still small voice’ of the Holy Spirit which speaks in the mind of the believer. In any case, the voices carry authority and have a profound effect.

Voice experiences are often associated with the idea of hearing. Hearing in this case means more than an audible voice, but also the communication of knowledge. Three features are noticeable in voice experiences: The disembodied voice shows the presence of God. (Nothing around you, voice coming from all around.) The voice communicates a revelation from God, as the message is noetic. e.g) Moses being commanded by God, Gabriel speaking to Mary The voice is authoritative, passing on God's authority.

Examples: St Bernadette both saw and heard the Virgin Mary at Lourdes and could describe what she had been wearing and recorded the words that had been spoken to her. A biblical example is at Jesus’ baptism when God says that Jesus is His son – “you are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). in 1 Samuel 3, Samuel heard God for the first time, but mistakenly thought Eli had called him. God speaks to Job in Job 38, declaring His greatness, and telling Job to be humble.

A woman heard voices in her head during a holiday that warned her to return home at once. Once back home in London, the voices spoke to her again and this time gave her an address for a brain scanning department. They told her she would need a brain scan as she had a brain tumour that was inflaming her brain stem. Although she had no symptoms, a scan was performed and did reveal a tumour. After a successful operation, she made a fully recovery. It could be argued that this woman had a mental illness, but if the voices had been part of a mental illness, would they have been right? SourceMoses heard directly from God the Ten Commandments to give to the people of Israel in Exodus 20. And God spoke all these words:2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.3 “You shall have no other gods before me.4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Augustine's ExperienceI was asking myself three questions, weeping all the while with the most bitter sorrow in my heart, when all at once I head the sing-song voice of a child in a nearby house... it repeated the refrain 'Take it and read, take it and read.' At this I looked up, thinking hard whether there was any kind of game in which children used to chant words like these. I stemmed by flood of tears and stood up telling myself that this could only be a divine command to open by my book of scripture. The 'take it and read' command seems to be something that only Augustine himself can hear, which is a characteristic of a voice experience. Although Augustine wasn't certain whether it was really the voice of a child playing. This is a natural event (not supernatural like other experiences) that he interprets as having a religious significance. Could this be Augustine willing himself to have a religious experience, or just him interpreting it, like James argued?

How do we know if visions and voices are real?

Visions and voices are appealing to our senses, so some may argue that it is only faith which determines whether they are from God or not. St Teresa offered two tests to determine whether these experiences were genuine: does it fit in with Christian teachings? does the experience leave the individual feeling at peace? She suggested that if the experience did not have these effects it was a sign that the experience was not from God but from the devil e.g) if someone claims that God is telling them to kill someone then this is not from God because murder goes against Christian teaching. Visions and voices are often private experiences - so you cannot see/hear it unless you are the one having the experience. Visions and voices must be accepted by religion as a genuine religious experience.

Arguments for: Religious believers who have intellectual visions would argue that they are far too profound to be confused with the imagination.

Arguments against: Some thinkers have observed that experiences such as visions and voices are often linked to physical factors such as fasting. Could putting the body into a weakened state lead to a person having an auditory or visual experience they believe to be a genuine religious experience? Some observers have raised the issue of how we might prove that an experience is from God i.e. some schizophrenics hear voices telling them to kill people, which they believe are genuine messages from God. Lots of sceptics believe that experiencing visions and voices are part of mental illness such as schizophrenia. People have also gone on to kill in the name of God based on what these voices apparently tell them. For example. Jim Jones started a cult called The People's Temple. When Jones' depression took a turn for the worse, he ordered its members to kill themselves, and he shot himself with a shotgun. Ironically, Jones' cult started out because he wanted to preach God's message to the poor. Source