Religious studies

May be caused by:

• Drug abuse/alcohol
• Mental illness

May just be a figment of the imagination or a dream.

Is usually a personal experience (excluding shared e.g. Toronto)

Cannot be empirically proved

BUT...

They ARE life changing and affect the experiencer deeply

Some have proven to be noetic (St bernadette)

Brain scans have proven brain activity to be different in people during religious experiences than it is normally or during other activities (Persinger's helmet)