Sleep Paralysis as Spiritual Experience

Sleep paralysis involves a robust, complex phenomenological pattern that, for most people, is interpreted as a spiritual experience, largely due to the common perception of a non-physical 'threatening presence.' Examples from diverse cultures, including contemporary America where no widely known tradition about sleep paralysis exists, show that this pattern and spiritual interpretation are not dependent on cultural models or prior learning, contrary to the 'Cultural Source Hypothesis.' The article argues that modern medical and religious views labeling such experiences as psychopathological or heretical suppressed their report and discussion, causing confusion in scientific literature about prevalence and core features. It places sleep paralysis among other 'direct' spiritual experiences and proposes an 'Experiential Theory' to explain cross-culturally distributed spiritual experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the sleep paralysis experience from both a cultural and a historical perspective. The robust, complex phenomenological pattern that represents the subjective experience of sleep paralysis is documented and illustrated. Examples are given showing that, for a majority of subjects, sleep paralysis is taken to be a kind of spiritual experience. This is, in part, because of the very common perception of a non-physical ‘threatening presence’ that is part of the event. Examples from various cultures, including mainstream contemporary America which has no widely known tradition about sleep paralysis, are used to show that the complex pattern and spiritual interpretation are not dependent on cultural models or prior learning. This is dramatically contrary to conventional explanations of apparently ‘direct’ spiritual experiences, explanations that are summed up as the ‘Cultural Source Hypothesis.’ This aspect of sleep paralysis was not recognized through most of the twentieth century. The article examines the way that conventional modern views of spiritual experience, combined with medical ideas that labeled ‘direct’ spiritual experiences as psychopathological, and mainstream religious views of such experiences as heretical if not pathological, suppressed the report and discussion of these experiences in modern society. These views have resulted in confusion in the scientific literature on sleep paralysis with regard to its prevalence and core features. The article also places sleep paralysis in the context of other ‘direct’ spiritual experiences and offers an ‘Experiential Theory’ of cross-culturally distributed spiritual experiences.