numinous experiences

(noun)

Numinous is is an English adjective describing the power or presence of a divinity. The numinous experience has both a quality of tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling, and a quality of fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel. The numinous experience also has a personal quality to it, in that the person feels to be in communion with a wholly other. The numinous experience can lead in different cases to belief in deities, the supernatural, the sacred, the holy, and/or the transcendent.

Related Terms

Examples of numinous experiences in the following topics:

  • Religious Experience

    • In his book, The Idea of the Holy, he identified this and called it the "numinous" experience.
    • For an experience to be numinous, in Otto's opinion, it needed to involve two things.
    • According to Otto, a numinous experience also has a personal quality to it, because individuals typically feel that they are opening some unique communication chain with the divine.
    • Characteristic of the shaman, the goal of this type of experience is to leave one's body and experience transcendental realities.
    • Mystical experiences are in many ways the opposite of numinous experiences.

  • Pantheism

    • Specifically, the Tao te Ching never speaks of a transcendent God, but of a mysterious and numinous ground of being underlying all things and that the divine is found in all aspects of nature.

  • Centrality of experience

    • Centrality of experience is the starting point.
    • People's assumptions are generally constructed by their interpretation of experience.
    • The instructor in the scenario used the questionnaires to check the learners' frame of mind (centrality of experience) that is constructed from their experiences.

  • Can occur individually or in a social group

    • Disruptive Experience: Experience that is a disruption of the habitual manner in which an individual experiences things.This is in contrast to a non-reflective experience borne out of habit.
    • Emotion Inventory: Inventory of emotions that are created by the disruptive experience.
    • Reflective Observation: Observations concerning the experience and reflection upon the event including causes, possible effects, etc.
    • Conceptualization/Hypothesizing: Further processing of the experience; creating concepts to explain the experience and construction of explanatory hypotheses.
    • Experiential Learning Theory outlines the manner in which learners gain knowledge and understanding through experiences.Though some may debate which steps are present in experiential learning, there is no debate about the worth of experience in learning.Through experience, learners are able to construct firsthand a sense of understanding of the events going on around them.Educators have begun to harness the power of experience in study abroad courses, field studies, role plays, and numerous computer-based interventions.The future could bring even more applications of this theory, a possibility as exciting for the learner as much as it is the facilitator.

  • Introducing observational studies and experiments

    • There are two primary types of data collection: observational studies and experiments.
    • When researchers want to investigate the possibility of a causal connection, they conduct an experiment.
    • When individuals are randomly assigned to a group, the experiment is called a randomized experiment.
    • See the case study inSection 1.1 for another example of an experiment, though that study did not employ a placebo.
    • In general, association does not imply causation, and causation can only be inferred from a randomized experiment.

  • Variables Affecting Adult Learning

    • It is important to acknowledge prior knowledge and experiences of learners, including their ability to recognize their own skills as lifelong learners.
    • While the most common reason for adults to place themselves in a learning environment is a life-changing event, once in that environment there are many factors that affect the learning experience.
    • Work experience (including development of thinking patterns based on this experience)

  • The Milgram Experiment: The Power of Authority

    • However, Milgram's experiments relate to any question of obedience and authority.
    • The Milgram experiment—based on obedience to authority figures—was a series of notable social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s.
    • Some test subjects paused at 135 volts and began to question the purpose of the experiment.
    • In Milgram's first set of experiments, 65 percent (26 of 40) of experiment participants administered the experiment's final massive 450-volt shock, though many were very uncomfortable doing so.
    • At some point, every participant paused and questioned the experiment, some saying they would refund the money they were paid for participating in the experiment.

  • Theory

    • The learners begin with a concrete experience, which then leads them to observe and reflect on their experience.
    • Apprehension-comprehension involves the perception of experience, while intension-extension involves the transformation of the experience.
    • Indeed, learners approach the tasks of grasping experience and transforming experience from different points within a continuum of approaches.
    • Thus, a learner who experiments with models and manipulates them in the process of learning must also be able to conceptualize and form observations based on what s/he experiences.
    • Real experiences help the individual learn advanced abstract concepts.

  • Selective Breeding

    • Selective breeding is a field concerned with testing hypotheses and theories of evolution by using controlled experiments.
    • One of the first to carry out a controlled evolution experiment was William Dallinger.
    • The experiment continues to this day, and is by now probably the largest controlled evolution experiment ever undertaken.
    • Since the inception of the experiment, the bacteria have grown for more than 50,000 generations.
    • Drawing of the incubator used by Dallinger in his evolution experiments.

  • Customer Experience Management

    • Customer experience management focuses the operations and processes of a business around the need of the individual customer.
    • Starbucks' popularity is based on the experience that drove its customers to highly recommend their store to friends and family.
    • Companies are focusing on the importance of the experience.
    • The goal of customer experience management is to move customers from satisfied to loyal and then from loyal to advocate.
    • Customer experience solutions provide strategies, process models, and information technology to design, manage, and optimize the end-to-end customer experience process.