Examine Both the Main Characteristics of Both Visions and Conversion Experiences

Examine the main characteristics of both visions and conversion experiences (30 marks)
Visions and conversions are both a type of religious experience. A religious experience is concerned with the interpretation and transformation of the life of an individual; when they realise that there is more to life than just the physical world and consequently reach out to truths which lie beyond, and they are changed spiritually.
According to William James a 20th century philosopher; all religious experiences have four characteristics. Ineffability, these experiences cannot be expressed or indeed it is challenging to express them; noetic, people often gain an insight or they learn something from the experience of how to carry on their life; transiency, although to the experient it may seem to last a long time, in reality it will only have been a couple of minutes; and passivity, the experient feels helpless and they weren’t expecting it or looking for it.
A vision is an experience of seeing something in the mind’s eye; it is perceived as though the vision is just as real as anything in the physical world, although it comes with awareness that what is alleged does not physically exist. There are three types of vision: corporeal visions; imaginative visions and intellectual visions.
A corporeal vision is something which is seen or heard for which there is no apparent explanation, it is likely that not everyone sees it but only one person or a select group. An example of this is the Virgin Mary being seen in the 1980s at in Medjugorje where a young girl appeared to see an apparition of the Virgin Mary, it transgressed and through the next 3 days a select few others saw her too.
Imaginative visions are those where a figure is seen in a dream or a state of unconsciousness. The person who sees the vision is aware that they aren’t really there outside the dream or imagination. These visions are appeared to have been occurred by a supernatural agent and their reason is to...