2 ‘Being All, Knowing All, Loving All’
Mystical Encounters with the Natural World July 7, 2005 DOI: 10.1093/0199279438.003.0003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Mystical accounts |
| Key points | Proposes a more nuanced description of extrovertive mystical experience that distinguishes several kinds of unity and details numerous characteristics, while noting that such experiences can be disturbing when associated with drugs, mental breakdown, or kundalini arousal. |
Abstract
Abstract The classic characterizations of extrovertive mystical experience by R. M. Bucke, Rudolf Otto, W. T. Stace, and R. C. Zaehner are summarized and their limitations exposed. The author proceeds to give a more nuanced description of extrovertive phenomenology, based on his study of a large number of mystical accounts. Several kinds of extrovertive unity are distinguished, and details are given of other notable characteristics: self-transcendence, expansive knowledge, all-encompassing love, visual and auditory phenomena, altered time-experience, presences and realities, somatic phenomena, paranormal phenomena, and fusion of characteristics, including synaesthesia. The experiences are often uplifting, but there can be disturbing features too, especially in cases associated with drugs, mental breakdown, and kundalini arousal.