Inner experience, in its range from the most elementary sensual and emotional stirrings to the most magnificent of spiritual experiences and visions, determines an individual’s personal being. The many religious and sacred literary texts from all periods of human history make for a collective expression of human perception of this kind. In spite of this, in modern times we find few authors who systematically explore this human emotion, and the rational and spiritual extension thereof. Those who do engage in such research encounter many methodological difficulties, because it is in the nature of things that man’s inner world evades the analytical methods of psychology, theology, and other related sciences. This article is based on the research experiences of the author that she acquired in her long-term research into the image of reality, truth and love in the Bible and literature in the light of the fundamental extant literature in the field of the humanities. The emphasis here lies on inner experience of a spiritual nature, such as that we find in the Bible and in subsequent literary records of religious experience. A critical analysis of the methods used shows that only a holistic approach allows for a proficient mode of discourse that extends individual inner experience as the basis for human inner harmony to a larger or smaller community in unity and in dialogue.
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