Edging thermodynamic equilibrium : mystical experiences as “mirror” encounters between the entropic brain and the entropic world
Sonia de Jager
Philosophical Psychology October 22, 2025 DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2025.2571045 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism Mystical experience |
| Keywords | Thought experiment Qualia Interpretation philosophy Epistemology Cognitive science Cognitive psychology |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Proposes that psychedelic-induced mystical experiences, characterized by increased brain entropy, can be understood as adaptive learning events that reorganize deep perceptual-cognitive preferences as an evolutionary strategy for managing uncertainty. |
Abstract
In active inference, mystical experiences (MEs) could be characterized as adaptive learning events, where the ordinary expectations of an agent become challenged or change permanently. In the context of psychedelic-induced MEs, these (temporary) changes in information processing have been attributed to increased brain entropy, the effects of which have been seen to reorganize deep perceptual-cognitive preferences (i.e. priors, e.g. an agent’s very sense of self). Adaptive (hyper)prior restructuring is an agent’s best survival strategy against environmental entropy: organisms survive by effectively predicting their future states. (Psychedelic) MEs, if characterized by increased brain entropy, may represent a state where sensory input and predictive output significantly overlap, leading to what is often phenomenally reported as a sense of “unity.” This possible alignment between sensorial entropy and entropic attunement could be understood evolutionarily as an adaptive strategy for the management of uncertainty, potentially explaining the profound nature of these experiences, where fundamental aspects of active inference come to a “halt,” delivering perplexity. This article explores how these experiences, framed as evolved allostatic adaptation, can be analyzed as information exchanges between systems where the discrepancies between the sensed and the predicted can be understood as radically altered, which we speculate is what phenomenally translates to cognitive effects such as higher ambiguity tolerance: a trademark of (psychedelic) MEs, but also death acceptance, aspects of dreams or psychosis, and comparable so-called “primary state” phenomena.
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
Cites 26
- The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2014
- REBUS and the Anarchic Brain: Toward a Unified Model of the Brain Action of Psychedelics Pharmacological Reviews June 20, 2019
- Validation of the revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire in experimental sessions with psilocybin Journal of Psychopharmacology October 6, 2015
- Factor Analysis of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire: A Study of Experiences Occasioned by the Hallucinogen Psilocybin Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion December 1, 2012
- Psychedelics, Mystical Experience, and Therapeutic Efficacy: A Systematic Review Frontiers in Psychiatry July 12, 2022
and 21 more in the library