Religious Experience

Scope Note

Emotional reactions experienced in religious behavior (e.g., oppressive fear of malevolent higher powers, overwhelming awe of divine might, luxurious sense of dependence upon a benevolent and all-knowing superior, reassuring feeling of security through conformity, prideful conviction of right, grateful release from the burdens of a guilty conscience, groveling humility of self-abnegation, ecstatic release of mysterious inner powers, mystic sense of identification with or absorption in the divine essence, aesthetic thrill in religious art, music, or ceremonial); evidence as to the predominant type or types of religious experience in the particular society; emotional needs satisfied through religious behavior; etc.