Open MIND
July 20, 2026
Numan Ahmad
This is the a priori protocol for a scoping review (JBI methodology; PRISMA-ScR reporting) mapping evidence on (1) the measurement of psychedelic-occasioned mystical/spiritual experience and its association with clinical outcomes, and (2) classic serotonergic psychedelics for body dysmorphic disorder and obsessive-compulsive-spectrum conditions, interpreted through the osteopathic...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
July 20, 2026
Bruno Tonetto
Abstract: Psychological and contemplative configurations — the neuroses, the depressions, psychopathy, psychosis, dissociative identity, awakening — occupy a single structured space. This essay maps it. Under analytic idealism, an individual mind is a dissociated alter of mind-at-large, and the alter's boundary admits a formal description as a Markov blanket; the architectural claim developed...
Religions
July 19, 2026
Tamer Yıldırım
This article explores spiritual unity beyond physical boundaries through the theme of the “geography of the soul,” conceptualized by Dariush Shayegan (1925–2018) as “visionary geography”. This study criticizes the quantitative world perception that emerged following the post-Galilean reduction of nature to a mathematical object, as well as a modernity that imprisons humanity within the...
Religions
July 18, 2026
M.J.M. Hoondert, Nataliia Vdovychenko
This article explores the relationship between music and religion through a case study of Harmony of the Spheres by the Dutch composer Joep Franssens. Situated within the context of religious change in the Netherlands, where institutional religion has declined while spiritual and sacred repertoires remain culturally significant, this article asks how musical experience can generate, mediate, or...
Figshare
July 18, 2026
Belarmina Garcia
This work advances the Tripartite Death Model: the claim that a human being is not a single entity facing a single fate at death, but three distinct constituents — Body, Mind, and Soul — each deconstructed by its own logic and arriving at a genuinely different destination. Drawing on Christian, Vedantic, Buddhist, and Sufi sources, near-death experience research, the Tibetan Bardo Thodol,...
BHĀBANAGARA International Journal of Bengal Studies
July 17, 2026
Published in Paris in 1977, Mahmud Shah Qureshi’s Poèmes Mystiques Bengalis was the first substantial anthology to translate Bengali Baul and Fakir songs directly from Bengali into French. Prepared within the broader intellectual and cultural framework of UNESCO’s Collection of Representative Works, the volume introduced French readers to the mystical, philosophical, and performative traditions...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
July 17, 2026
Iin Inayatul Ummah, Suadi Sa'ad, Ade Fakih Kurniawan
This study aims to analyze the philosophical relationship between the concepts of haqiqah and gnosis in Sufism with the basic principles of Quantum theory through an interdisciplinary approach. This study is motivated by the growing discussion on the relationship between spirituality and modern science, particularly Quantum theory, which offers a new view of reality, consciousness, and the...
Psychopharmacology
July 17, 2026
Richard Saville-Smith, Sharday Mosurinjohn
This paper critiques the use of the term "mysticism" in psychedelic research, arguing its continued use is outdated and misleading. It highlights the confusion stemming from the historical context of "mysticism," particularly through the works of Walter Stace and Walter Pahnke, whose ideas have shaped the psychedelic discourse despite being flawed and largely unexamined. The paper is divided...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
July 15, 2026
த. கற்பகவல்லி / T. Karpagavalli
Among the Tamil mystic poets of the eighteenth century, Thayumanavar has a distinctive position, and his songs are valuable poetic compositions. They are the records of his spiritual experience. The songs embody the philosophical tenets of Saiva Siddhanta, the manifold emotions of human existence, and the soul's benevolent journey towards the realisation of the divine. Thayumanavar employs...
Baltic Journal of Legal and Social Sciences
July 15, 2026
Sevinj Zakir Abbasova
This article examines Möminə Xatın as a metaphysical symbol of Azerbaijani female Sufism through an interdisciplinary analysis combining historical, architectural, and mystical perspectives. Within the broader framework of Sufi philosophy, the feminine is conceptualized as a central metaphysical principle associated with divine love, illumination, and spiritual proximity. The study explores how...
ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science
May 4, 2021
James W. Sanders, Josjan Zijlmans
94 citations
The mysticism framework is used to describe psychedelic experiences and explain the effects of psychedelic therapies. We discuss risks and difficulties stemming from the scientific use of a framework associated with supernatural or nonempirical belief systems and encourage researchers to mitigate these risks with a demystified model of the psychedelic state.
2020
Edward F. Kelly, Emily Williams Kelly, Adam Crabtree et al.
145 citations
https://userpages.umbc.edu/~braude/ftp/pages/pdfs_pubd/braude--Review%20of%20Irreducible%20Mind%20opt2%20sm.pdf
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
October 24, 2016
David B. Yaden, Khoa D. Le Nguyen, Margaret L. Kern et al.
125 citations
Experiences of profound existential or spiritual significance can be triggered reliably through psychopharmacological means using psychedelic substances. However, little is known about the benefits of religious, spiritual, or mystical experiences (RSMEs) prompted by psychedelic substances, as compared with those that occur through other means. In this study, 739 self-selected participants...
Psychopharmacology
October 7, 2016
Matthias E. Liechti, Patrick C. Dolder, Yasmin Schmid
203 citations
Mystical-type experiences were infrequent after LSD, possibly because of the set and setting used in the present study. LSD may produce greater or different alterations of consciousness at 200 μg (i.e., a dose that is currently used in psychotherapy in Switzerland) compared with 100 μg (i.e., a dose used in imaging studies). Ego dissolution may reflect plasma levels of LSD, whereas more...
Consciousness and Cognition
July 1, 2016
Josef Parnas, Mads Gram Henriksen
128 citations
Mysticism and schizophrenia are different categories of human existence and experience. Nonetheless, they exhibit important phenomenological affinities, which, however, remain largely unaddressed. In this study, we explore structural analogies between key features of mysticism and major clinical-phenomenological aspects of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders-i.e. attitudes, the nature of...
Neuropsychologia
November 26, 2015
Irène Cristofori, Joseph Bulbulia, John H. Shaver et al.
104 citations
Mystical experiences, or subjectively believed encounters with a supernatural world, are widely reported across cultures and throughout human history. Previous theories speculate that executive brain functions underpin mystical experiences. To evaluate causal hypotheses, structural studies of brain lesion are required. Previous studies suffer from small samples or do not have valid measures of...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
October 6, 2015
Frederick S. Barrett, Matthew W Johnson, Roland R. Griffiths
634 citations
The 30-item revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30) was previously developed within an online survey of mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin-containing mushrooms. The rated experiences occurred on average eight years before completion of the questionnaire. The current paper validates the MEQ30 using data from experimental studies with controlled doses of psilocybin. Data...
Current Drug Abuse Reviews
January 9, 2015
Albert Garcia‐romeu, Roland R. Griffiths, Matthew W. Johnson
480 citations
Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences have been linked to persisting effects in healthy volunteers including positive changes in behavior, attitudes, and values, and increases in the personality domain of openness. In an open-label pilot-study of psilocybin-facilitated smoking addiction treatment, 15 smokers received 2 or 3 doses of psilocybin in the context of cognitive behavioral therapy...
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
December 1, 2012
Katherine A Maclean, Jeannie‐marie Leoutsakos, Matthew W. Johnson et al.
412 citations
A large body of historical evidence describes the use of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psilocybin mushrooms, for religious purposes. But few scientific studies have attempted to measure or characterize hallucinogen‐occasioned spiritual experiences. The present study examined the factor structure of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ), a self‐report measure that has been used to...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
November 1, 2012
Michael Lyvers, Molly Meester
97 citations
Psychedelic drugs have long been known to be capable of inducing mystical or transcendental experiences. However, given the common "recreational" nature of much present-day psychedelic use, with typical doses tending to be lower than those commonly taken in the 1960s, the extent to which illicit use of psychedelics today is associated with mystical experiences is not known. Furthermore the mild...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
May 30, 2008
Roland R. Griffiths, Wa Richards, Mw Johnson et al.
883 citations
Psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes; however, little is known scientifically about its long-term effects. We previously reported the effects of a double-blind study evaluating the psychological effects of a high psilocybin dose. This report presents the 14-month follow-up and examines the relationship of the follow-up results to data obtained at screening and on drug...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
June 1, 2006
Michael Lerner, Michael Lyvers
99 citations
Psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin are often claimed to be capable of inducing life-changing experiences described as mystical or transcendental, especially if high doses are taken. The present study examined possible enduring effects of such experiences by comparing users of psychedelic drugs (n = 88), users of nonpsychedelic illegal drugs (e.g., marijuana, amphetamines) (n = 29) and...
Choice Reviews Online
June 1, 2000
401 citations
How does the mind experience the sacred? What biological mechanisms are involved in mystical states and trances? Is there a neurological basis for patterns in comparative religions? Does religion have an evolutionary function? This pathbreaking work by two leading medical researchers explores the neurophysiology of religious experience. Building on an explanation of the basic structure of the...
Philosophy East and West
October 1, 1993
Daniel Barbiero, Robert K. C. Forman
188 citations
This is a paperback reprint of a collection of contributed essays about mysticism and philosophy. It challenges the widely accepted interpretaion of mystical experience that received its fullest expression in two volumes edited by Steven T. Katz: Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (OUP 1987) and Mysticism and Religious Traditions (OUP 1983). According to Katz and his colleagues, mystical...