Numina was also a
Roman term, denoting the "spirits" that their
worldview had surrounding them --
Spirits of the trees, water, animals and also
abstract concepts like
war and drought. According to
Ninian Smart (perpetrator of
The Seven Dimensions of Religion),
Rudolph Otto coined the term to refer to "the feeling aroused by a
mysterium tremendum et fascinans, a mysterious something which draws you to it but at the same time brings an awe-permeated
fear. It is a good characterization for many religious experiences and
visions of
God as Other. It captures the impact of the prophetic experiences of
Isaiah and
Jeremiah, the
theophany through which God appeared to
Job, the conversion of
Paul, the overwhelming vision given to
Arjuna in the
Hindu Song of the Lord, the
Bhagavadgita. At a gentler level it delineates too the spirit of loving devotion, in that the
devotee sees God as merciful and loving, yet Other, and to be
worshipped and adored."
Standing in contrast to the numinious type of religious experience is the mystical type, where the quest for God is an internal, contemplative one--seeking the Divine Being within. There are also conversion experiences, such as being "born again"; and shamanic experiences, where a person goes on a vision quest to acquire knowledge and power.