Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy has established antidepressant effects. Cannabis users appear to expect high doses administered in a session much like psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy to create comparable subjective effects. The current studies explored expectations of antidepressant effects of such cannabis-assisted sessions to replicate and extend previous work. Users not only expected a...
This paper proposes to study mystical experience by contrasting it with “ordinary” experience, i.e., with standard consciousness. It emphasises the construed nature of standard consciousness and the role that the mutual connectedness of mental contents plays in its construction. It then shows that removal of the factors that are responsible for the “making” of standard consciousness accounts...
Peak moments include peak experience (Maslow, 1964), peak performance (Privette, 1983) and flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). Research of the literature revealed that peak moments are an under-researched phenomenon in coaching. This paper addresses the imbalance, and reports on a heuristic study (Moustakas, 1990) undertaken with ten experienced coaches in the UK. Analysis revealed five core...
Abstract Mystical experiences frequently precede decreases in human suffering or increased functioning. Therapies that include the ingestion of psychoactive substances in supportive environments often lead to improvements that correlate with the magnitude of the mystical experiences generated. A close look at these phenomena from a philosophy of science perspective might put empiricists in a...
Mirsky, Yehudah. 2021. Towards the Mystical Experience of Modernity: The Making of Rav Kook, 1865–1904. Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press. xix + 392 pp. ISBN: 978-1618119551. US$30.99 (pbk).
AbstractEliadean analysis reveals the passive or the receiving aspect of the symbol of the presence of God, the Aron ha-Berit or the Ark of the Covenant of the ancient Hebrews. Consequently, we are able to establish the inner mode or the symbolic structure of Yahweh. The Sefirotic Tree of medieval Kabbalists replicates the symbolic structure of Yahweh as revealed by the Ark of the Covenant. The...
When the link between psychedelic drugs and mystical states of experience was first discovered in the 1960s, Huston Smith challenged scholars in religion and philosophy to consider the implications. Very few took up his challenge. Beginning in 2006, hundreds of studies have linked psychedelics not just to mystical states of experience but to potential treatments for many mental health...
Ceskoslovenska psychologieApril 25, 2022Peter Tavel, Vladimír Chrz, Iva Poláčková Šolcová et al.2 citations
Objectives. This study aims to better understand peak experience and their varieties (PEV), as a key concept in understanding positive human experience, in the context of a specific adventurous recreational pursuit.Sample and settings. Interviews with the 14 crew members of the historical sailing vessel Oesterschelde were held at the end of a 38- day crossing of the Indian Ocean. A rigorous...
ABSTRACT Mystical experiences triggered by psychedelic drugs predict symptom reduction in various psychiatric disorders, and increased well-being in healthy individuals. This work aimed at validating a French version of a tool used to measure mystical experiences: the Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire-30 items (MEQ30). Construct validity, internal consistencies, concurrent,...
Background: Across psychotherapeutic frameworks, the strength of the therapeutic alliance has been found to correlate with treatment outcomes; however, its role has never been formally assessed in a trial of psychedelic-assisted therapy. We aimed to investigate the relationships between therapeutic alliance and rapport, the quality of the acute psychedelic experience and treatment outcomes....
Abstract Mystical experiences are often described as being among the most profound and meaningful events of a person’s life. Their occurrence, while a normal but uncommon phenomenon, is reliably occasioned by psychedelic substances under the appropriate conditions, although care is needed around the context of usage to help ensure safe and beneficial experiences. The occurrence of mystical...
Psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin have shown substantial promise for the treatment of several psychiatric conditions including mood and addictive disorders. They also have the remarkable property of producing persisting positive psychological changes in healthy volunteers for at least several months. In this study (NCT03289949), 35 medium-high doses of psilocybin were administered to 28...
The article discusses the autobiographical practices of Andrei Bely in the “Memories of a Strange Man” (1918–19) and other publications, later in one form or another included in “Notes of an Eccentric” (1922). It is shown that the works in question differ from “ordinary” autobiographical and memoir texts by the fact that their author deliberately ignores the details of everyday life and focuses...
The article intends to shed light on the importance of mystical experiences encountered by the Sheik al-Akbar, the great religious theologist Ibn ¢Arabi, the great spiritual leader of Sunni Islam. Following the perfect illumination by the revelation of his own personal mission in Muslim Andalusia, the Sheik al-Akbar started to preach the exoteric lessons of Islam, based on the Quran, Hadith,...
In the existing philosophical interpretations of mystical experience (constructivism, essentialism, etc.), its essence is usually seen in the features of "mystical knowledge". At the same time, the value-semantic foundations of mystical experience and its existential aspect remain in the shadows. In this article, the mystical experience is analyzed from the standpoint of the theories of the...
From the standpoint of the theory of activity, the value-semantic foundations of mystical experience are analyzed. It is shown that such grounds are ultimately determined by the need-motivational sphere of consciousness, which, on the one hand, carries the activity, energy of the subject, and, on the other, gives meaning to the activity of the subject, performs a regulatory function. This...
The subject of this research is the approach of S. L. Frank towards the study of the religious-mystical experience of Christianity based on the conceptual matrix of "wise ignorance" and phenomenological method, which underlies the metaphysical system in his philosophy of religion. The authors examine in the specificity of philosophical mysticism of S. L. Frank and points of its intersection...
People who self-identify as predominantly spiritual constitute a considerable and well-established part of the religious landscape in North America and Europe. Thus, further research is needed to document predictors, correlates, and outcomes associated with self-identifying primarily as a spiritual person. In the following set of studies, we contribute to some of these areas using data from...
The past decade has witnessed a rapid growth of research on the basic science and clinical understanding of psychedelics. This chapter provides an overview of the human behavioral pharmacology of psychedelics focusing on three prototypic classic psychedelics-psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). A brief historical overview of the classic psychedelics and...
The aim of this study was to compare meditators and non-meditators in terms of their tendency to have peak experiences and their dream lucidity, while examining the associations between these outcomes and some related variables such as non-dual awareness, mindfulness facets and absorption. In this cross-sectional study, 237 participants from general Spanish population completed an online survey...