Enriching the Common Core of Mystical Experience: A Qualitative Analysis of Interviews with Daoist Monks and Nuns

Mystical experiences among Daoist monks and nuns include both features common across traditions and unique elements tied to Daoist practice. Interviews with 19 highly experienced Daoist practitioners revealed two clusters of experience: one involving dissolution of self, unity, and bodily sensations, and another involving egress of spirit and resonance with divinities. These findings support parts of the common core thesis of mysticism, which posits universal features like ego loss and unity, but also extend it with culturally specific themes—bodily sensations and spirit egress—that bridge introvertive, extrovertive, and interpretive mysticisms. The results suggest that incorporating diverse cultural perspectives can enrich understanding of psychedelic, religious, spiritual, and mystical experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

ABSTRACT The scientific study of psychedelic, religious, spiritual, and mystical (PRSM) experiences can be advanced by applying culturally inclusive qualitative methodologies that illuminate the breadth and depth of individual experiences in a variety of contexts. To enrich the common core thesis of mysticism and offer insights that could contribute more generally to bridging the gap between psychedelic and religious experiences, the current study used a phenomenological approach to explore the structure and content of mystical experiences among Daoist practitioners. The sample included 19 highly experienced Daoist monks and nuns. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with orienting questions that were adapted from the theoretical framework of the modified common core thesis, which taps into eight broad categories of mystical experience (i.e. ego loss, timelessness and spaceless, unity, inner subjectivity, positive affect, sacredness, noetic quality, and ineffability). Thematic coding suggested two clusters of Daoist experiences, one featuring a group of themes comprising dissolution of self, unitary experiences, and bodily sensations, and the other group of themes including egress of spirit and resonance with divinities and spirits. The derived themes corresponded to some prescriptions of the common core thesis, yet extended the theory with unique themes – egress of spirit and bodily sensations – that connect introvertive, extrovertive, and interpretive mysticisms. We draw on ideas found in Daoist canons and scriptures to provide a contextualized discussion of the findings, and highlight some of the ways that the findings contribute to expanding the common core thesis to a broader range of PRSM experiences.