Spiritually Transformative Experiences That Have Changed History

Abstract

Spiritually Transformative Experiences (STEs) have affected the day-by-day lives of numerous people from various faiths, cultures, and walks of life. However, there are some STEs that have affected large groups of people, even countries and cultures. Some of these are well known, for example the Buddha’s exposure to poverty and death once he left his palace, Paul of Tarsus’ revelation on the road to Damascus, the voices of the saints experienced by Joan of Arc. Contemporary examples include the visions of the Brazilian rubber tappers who founded two ayahuasca-based religions, Santo Daime and União de Vegetal. The nun who would become Mother Teresa reported hearing the voice of God tell her to devote herself to working with Indians living in poverty. But a few decades later, the voice of God allegedly told an Israeli law student to murder Prime Minister Itzah Rabin, an assassination that changed the course of human history. This raises the question as to whether STEs are, by definition, benevolent, or whether some can be malevolent leading to negative consequences.

Presenter Bio

Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Saybrook University, San Francisco, is a Fellow in four American Psychological Association (APA) divisions, and past-president of two divisions. Formerly, he was director of the Kent State University Child Study Center, Kent OH, and the Maimonides Medical Center Dream Research Laboratory, Brooklyn NY. He is co-author of Extraordinary Dreams, Personal Mythology, Dream Telepathy, and Haunted by Combat: Understanding PTSD in War Veterans, and co-editor of Healing Tales, Healing Stories, Mysterious Minds, Debating Psychic Experience, The Psychological Impact of War on Civilians: An International Perspective,and Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence. He received the APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Development of Psychology in 2002, the Society for Psychological Hypnosis Award for Distinguished Contributions to Professional Hypnosis in 2002, the Ashley Montagu Peace Award in 2003, and lifetime achievement awards from the Association for the Study of Dreams and the Parapsychological Association. He also holds Fellow status in several additional organizations including, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.