An example of a corporate religious experience is the bizzare phenomenon of 1994 in Toronto's Airport vineyard Church. About 80% of the people were fell to the floor by a "spirit" of God, others shooked and jerked, some danced and some laughed under the power of God. It was a "corporate" expereince as it appeared to be undergone by many people at the same time.
• Charismatic Experiences - these are experiences in which people are inspired and stirred, to the extent that they feel taken over by a spiritual power that comes from beyond but acts within it. The experience is not rational; the person concerned is literally standing outside their body, having let go of normal rational controls. .
William James was an American philosopher and Psychologist. He wrote the book "The Varieties of Religious Experience". He relates Religious experience to Mysticism. It is used to refer to any person who believes in spirit return is far too vague. He offers four characteristics which he claims will enable us to identify mystical experiences. .
He characterised them as being passive (the person who undergoes the experience does not start it but God does. one loses control and is overwhelmed by a powerful being), transient (the experience is brief, comes and goes, cannot be retained or prolonged by their own effort. Can occur in dreams but is well remembered) Noetic (religious experiences that generate knowledge which leave people feeling sure in new ways and establish a personal certainty) and ineffable, (there are no words that sufficiently or completely make sense of the experience - it is beyond description).
The basic issues James discusses here remain of a vital concern to people in psychology and religion today. James was convinced that experience rather than theory is the key to our understandings of the world in reality. He says that we think only in order to solve problems in our experience.