Mystical Experiences through the Lens of Heidegger and Mamardashvili: Overcoming the Metaphysical Model of Human Existence
Religions October 6, 2023 DOI: 10.3390/rel14101266 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Key points | Argues that Heidegger's linking of metaphysics to a priori essences and a passive model of experience is overcome by Christian and Buddhist experiences of the Nothing, and that Heidegger and Mamardashvili both emphasize personal transformation beyond psychological subjectivity through active engagement with the Nothing, requiring self-detachment from representational faculties motivated by a hidden flight from anxiety. |
Abstract
This essay relates a Heideggerian interpretation of metaphysics, as determined by an interpretation of Being in terms of a priori laws/essences, to a traditionally passive model of experience. The spiritual principles of the Christian and the Buddhist experience of the Nothing are shown as an overcoming of this model and an overcoming of metaphysics. The essay displays the ways in which Heidegger and Mamardashvili stress the illusionary nature of a metaphysical understanding of human existence and the central role of personal transformation beyond one’s psychological subjectivity. This transformation is tied to the possibility of active engagement with the Nothing, requiring efforts of attentive self-detachment from the constant pressure of one’s representational faculties motivated by a hidden flight from anxiety. Buddhist and Christian notions of detachment and letting-be are then interpreted in light of Heidegger’s and Mamardashvili’s ideas, allowing for a phenomenological interpretation of certain passages from the New Testament and the Bodhidharma’s teaching.
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 |