Mystical experience

A collection of essays that explores the many dimensions of the mystical, including personal, theoretical, and historical.

Kohav, a professor of philosophy at the Metropolitan State College of Denver and the editor of this collection, provocatively asks why mysticism is such an "objectionable" topic and considered intellectually disreputable. Borrowing from Jacques Derrida's distinction between aporia (or unsolvable confusion) and a solvable problem, the author suggests mystical phenomena are better understood through the lens of mysterium, that which is beyond the categories of reason and can only be captured by dint of intuition and personal experience. In fact, the contributors to this intellectually kaleidoscopic volume present several autobiographical accounts of precisely such an encounter with the mystically inscrutable. For example, in one essay, Gregory M. Nixon relates "the shattering moment in my life when I awoke from the dream of self to find being as part of the living world and not in my head." The religious dimensions of mystical experience are also explored: Buddhist, Christian, and Judaic texts, including the Bible, are examined to explicate and compare their divergent interpretations. Contributor Jacob Rump argues that the ineffable is central to Wittgenstein's worldview, and Ori Z. Soltes contends that philosophers like Socrates and Spinoza, famous for their valorization of reason, are incomprehensible without also considering the limits they impose on reason and the value they assign to ineffable experience. The collection is precisely as multidisciplinary as billed. It includes a wealth of varying perspectives, both personal and scholarly. Furthermore, the book examines the application of these ideas to contemporary debates. Richard H. Jones, for instance, challenges that mysticism and science ultimately converge into a single explanatory whole. The prose can be prohibitively dense--much of it is written in a jargon-laden academic parlance--and the book is not intended for a popular audience. Within a remarkably technical discussion of the proper interpretive approach to sacred texts, contributor Brian Lancaster declares: "For these reasons I propose incorporating a hermeneutic component to extend the integration of neuroscientific and phenomenological data that defines neurophenomenology." However, Kohav's anthology is still a stimulating tour of the subject, philosophically enthralling and wide reaching. An engrossing, diverse collection of takes on mystical phenomena.                                                         
                                                                      - Kirkus Reviews

The volume investigates the question of meaning of mystical phenomena and, conversely, queries the concept of “meaning” itself, via insights afforded by mystical experiences. The collection brings together researchers from such disparate fields as philosophy, psychology, history of religion, cognitive poetics, and semiotics, in an effort to ascertain the question of mysticism’s meaning through pertinent, up-to-date multidisciplinarity. The discussion commences with Editor’s Introduction that probes persistent questions of complexity as well as perplexity of mysticism and the reasons why problematizing mysticism leads to even greater enigmas. One thread within the volume provides the contextual framework for continuing fascination of mysticism that includes a consideration of several historical traditions as well as personal accounts of mystical experiences: Two contributions showcase ancient Egyptian and ancient Israelite involvements with mystical alterations of consciousness and Christianity’s origins being steeped in mystical praxis; and four essays highlight mysticism’s formative presence in Chinese traditions and Tibetan Buddhism as well as medieval Judaism and Kabbalah mysticism. A second, more overarching strand within the volume is concerned with multidisciplinary investigations of the phenomenon of mysticism, including philosophical, psychological, cognitive, and semiotic analyses. To this effect, the volume explores the question of philosophy’s relation to mysticism and vice versa, together with a Wittgensteinian nexus between mysticism, facticity, and truth; language mysticism and “supernormal meaning” engendered by certain mystical states; and a semiotic scrutiny of some mystical experiences and their ineffability. Finally, the volume includes an assessment of the so-called New Age authors’ contention of the convergence of scientific and mystical claims about reality. The above two tracks are appended with personal, contemporary accounts of mystical experiences, in the Prologue; and a futuristic envisioning, as a fictitious chronicle from the time-to-come, of life without things mystical, in the Postscript. The volume contains thirteen chapters; its international contributors are based in Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Objective: Self-transcendence, the final level of Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs is neither well stu- died nor well understood from an empirical perspective. Methodology: This study followed a quantitative correlational methodology with forty-nine participants (37 females and 12 males). They completed the questionnaires: Self-Transcendence Scale (STS), Mystical Experience Scale (M-Scale), Dissociative Experience Scale (DES), and Transliminality Scale Revised (TS-R). Re- sults: A positive relationship was found between STS and the M-Scale; no relationship was found between STS and TS-R or between STS and DES; significant negative correlation was found be- tween DES and TS-R. Conclusion: The notion of mystical experience as being marked by pathol-
ogy, specifically, dissociation, is laid to rest in this study.

This chapter explores psychedelics as catalysts of spontaneous thought. Classic serotonergic psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, and ayahuasca can induce potent alterations in cognition and perception. The chapter reviews research on these substances through the lens of cultural neurophenomenology, which aims to trace how neurobiology and sociocultural factors interact to shape experience. After a decades-long hiatus, the scientific study of psychedelics is rediscovering the potential of these substances to promote creative insight, evoke mystical experiences, and improve clinical outcomes. Moreover, neuroimaging experiments have begun to unravel the influence of psychedelics on large-scale connectivity networks of the human brain. Tapping perspectives from the social sciences, the chapter underscores how culture and context constrain the flexible cognitive states brought about by psychedelics. This integrative approach suggests that seemingly spontaneous psychedelic thought patterns reflect a complex interaction of biological, cognitive, and cultural factors—from pharmacology and brain function to ritual, belief, and expectation.

This article examines asceticism in the writings of R. Baḥya Ben Asher ibn
Ḥalawa from Saragossa (1255–1340), through a study of two Halakhic
practices of fasting and feasting. The first part of the article analyzes Baḥya’s perceptions of fasting, engaging with its effects on the relationship between body and soul, and more specifically on the inner relations between the different faculties of the soul. The ritual of fasting is thus portrayed as focused on the human soul, not on the body, ultimately leading to the ascension and empowerment of the intellectual soul over the animalistic one. The second part of the article is devoted to a study of ritualistic meals in Baḥya’s writings. This study revolves around Baḥya’s interpretation of the two biblical feasts: Isaac’s feast before his death (Gen. 27:4) and Jethro’s feast celebrating his conversion (Ex. 18:12), which serve as models for halakhically mandated celebratory meals. Here Baḥya relied on the interesting interpretation of his teacher R. Solomon b. Aderet’s (known as Rashba) – to which he added the mystical element of the drawing down of the Holy Spirit. Additionally, the article examines related topics such as Baḥya’s critical view of the status of fasting among Christians and Muslims, his perception of the relationship between fasting and feasting, as well as his attitude toward joy, the heavenly eating of Adam before the fall, and vegetarianism.

Corneille, J. S., & Luke, D. (2021, May 31). Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings: Phenomenology, Altered States, Individual Differences, and Wellbeing. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8aeyf

Spontaneous Spiritual Awakenings (SSAs) are subjective experiences characterised by a sud- den sense of direct contact, union or merging with a perceived ultimate reality, the universe, or the divine. These profound transformative experiences have scarcely been researched, de- spite extensive anecdotal evidence suggesting their potential to catalyse drastic, long-term and often positive shifts in perception, world-view, and wellbeing. The aims of this study were to investigate the potential phenomenological differences between SSAs and Spontaneous Kundalini Awakenings (SKAs), a subset of awakening experiences that the authors postulate may produce a higher likelihood of both physical and negative effects; to assess how these ex- periences compare to other altered states of consciousness (ASCs); and understand their im- pact on mental wellbeing. Personality trait absorption and temporal lobe lability (TLL) were assessed as predictors of SSA/SKAs. A quasi-experimental mixed within and between-partici- pants self-report survey design was adopted. 152 participants reporting their most powerful SSA/SKAs completed questionnaires measuring non-dual, kundalini and mystical experience, as well as depth of ASC, and trait absorption and TLL. SKAs were found to be significantly more physical and significantly more negative than SSAs, however, both sets of experiences were perceived to be overwhelmingly more positive than negative, even when the experiences were initially challenging. The phenomenological distribution of SSA/SKAs were similar to other ASCs although greater in magnitude, and appeared most similar in distribution and in depth to drug-induced ASCs, particularly classic psychedelics DMT and psilocybin. TLL and absorption were found to predict the SSA/SKA experience. The limitations and implications of these findings are discussed.