Development and Validation of the Integrated Transcendent Experience of Consciousness Scale (ITEC-18)
April 9, 2026 Miguel D. Molina, Linda Molina, Mauro W. Zappaterra preprint
A broad range of transcendent experiences—mystical, near-death, Kundalini, and others—overlap in their phenomenology and aftereffects, and a common underlying mechanism may explain this overlap. An online survey of 630 people and psychometric analyses (factor analysis, cluster analysis, decision trees) showed that diverse transcendent experiences loaded strongly onto a single latent construct. A new scale measuring transcendent experiences of consciousness was developed and validated, with factors including unity-consciousness, bliss, insight, somatic energy sensations, and luminosity. The scale had good internal consistency and generalizability. A predictive model accurately classified high-intensity experiencers, and experiences of selflessness were among the statistical predictors of transcendent experiences of consciousness.