Neurophenomenology and Neuroepistemology Approaches to Integrating Constructivist, Perennialist, and Universalist Perspectives on Mystical Experiences
Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science July 31, 2024 DOI: 10.16995/zygon.11589 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Citations | 6 |
| Key points | Argues that mystical experiences are natural brain states arising from meditators' deliberate modification of brain processes, which involve constructivist and deconditioning mechanisms that grant access to intrinsic, preconceptual awareness. |
Abstract
Differences among constructivist, perennialist, and universalist perspectives on mystical experiences are bridged with neurophenomenology and neuroepistemology perspectives that illustrate constructivist and deconditioning processes and universal innate experiences. These approaches show that phenomenal similarities and differences in the features of meditative experiences are related to specific brain functions and processes. This illustrates that recurrent forms of mystical consciousness involve the activation or suspension of specific brain functions and their forms of knowing. Meditators’ deliberate modifications of brain processes engage constructivist and deconditioning processes that provide access to intrinsic states understood as mystical experiences. Deconditioning of habitual cognitive processes through meditation changes habitual attention and cognition, permitting access to preconceptual awareness and normally unconscious intrinsic mental processes. Different mystical experiences involve changes in specific neurologically mediated forms of self that provide the basis for universal forms of mystical experience. Neuroepistemological perspectives on qualia of meditative states and their relations to mental processes and brain features provide a framework for understanding recurrent forms of mystical experiences as natural brain states.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Psychedelic Mystical Experience in the Human Encounter with Death | 1969 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Vectorial Cerebral Hemisphericity as Differential Sources for the Sensed Presence, Mystical Experiences and Religious Conversions | 1993 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The epistemic innocence of psychedelic states. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mystical Experience and Religious Doctrine | 1982 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 5
- Can AI Facilitate Genuine Nondualist Understanding? The Trans-Discursive Boundary of Technological Mediation Topoi February 12, 2026
- A Neurophenomenological Perspective on the Self and Spirituality: The Role of the Affective Core Self Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science February 1, 2026
- Consilience in Developing a Multidisciplinary Framework of Spirituality: Scientific Commentary on Chatlos Zygon December 3, 2025
- Psychedelics and the future evolution of humanity Journal of Psychedelic Studies August 13, 2025
- Echoes of the self: A neurophenomenological journey into the shifting realms of selfhood in neutral hypnosis. International review of neurobiology 2025
Cites 26
- The Brain's Default Mode Network Annual Review of Neuroscience May 4, 2015
- Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences November 23, 2011
- The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience Choice Reviews Online June 1, 2000
- Neural correlates of nondual awareness in meditation. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2014
- The Problem of Pure Consciousness March 29, 1990
and 21 more in the library