Ineffability is a long-time partner of the philosophy of religion and mysticism. Through apophatic conceptions of the divine, it can act to guarantee the transcendence of the divine, elevate it to something beyond our conceptions. It has also held the central role in defining if not the nature, then at least the characteristics of mystical experience. Sometimes it is that which affirms the...
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are closely related to emotional and spiritual dimensions, even though they are subjective. This study aims to reveal the mystical experiences of individuals suffering from COVID-19 after NDEs. This article is qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. With purposive sampling, the data were collected from individuals suffering from COVID-19 who...
The article traces the formation of the mystical experience of Nikolai Sergeevich Arseniev (1888–1977) on the basis of the memoir book “Gifts and Encounters of the Life Path” (1974), and the stages of his consideration of biblical studies. The analysis of Arseniev’s exegetical work “The Religious Experience of the Apostle Paul” (1935) is proposed. He was one of the Russian thinkers in whose...
Contemporary research on serotonergic psychedelic compounds has been rife with references to so-called ‘mystical’ subjective effects. Several psychometric assessments have been used to assess such effects, and clinical studies have found quantitative associations between ‘mystical experiences’ and positive mental health outcomes. The nascent study of psychedelic-induced mystical experiences,...
Introduction. The purpose of the article is to consider the specifics of the approach to religious and mystical experience in the psychoanalytic tradition from the point of view of revealing the degree of its interdisciplinarity. Theoretical analysis. Using the methods of critical philosophical reflection and dialectical logic, as well as relying on the principle of development, the authors...
In recent psychedelic therapy research, the concept of 'mystical experience' has been highlighted, as in several studies it has been identified as a significant predictor of improved outcome. Many studies mentioning the concept, for example, reports of randomized clinical trials, typically do not provide detailed examples of such experiences, however. In order to make the concept easily...
Prior research suggests that unique phenomenological experiences called “mystical-type experiences” (MTEs) have the potential to induce significant and persisting worldview changes. In this article, two studies add to this literature by using cross-sectional data from 837 and 1,086 participants, respectively, to investigate whether people who have had one of these experiences differ in...
Objective: We sought to address a growing debate regarding the adverse and salutary impact of unusual, extraordinary, or intense subjective experiences during meditation-based interventions. To do so, we empirically characterized such peak experiences during an intensive meditation intervention and their impact post-intervention. Method: We conducted a preregistered prospective intervention...
Interest in experiences that can broadly be considered religious, spiritual, mystical, and self-transcendent is growing – largely due to recent advances in psychedelic research (Yaden et al., 2021)...
Ingestion or administration of classic psychedelics is sometimes associated with improvements in well-being or mental health. Acute mystical-type experiences that psychedelics occasion have been suggested to be related to such improvements. Meanwhile, other features of the psychedelic experience, such as psychological insights and emotional breakthroughs, are also increasingly being studied....
For a century, psychedelics have been investigated as models of psychosis for demonstrating phenomenological similarities with psychotic experiences and as therapeutic models for treating depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. This study sought to explore this paradoxical relationship connecting key parameters of the psychotic experience, psychotherapy, and psychedelic experience. In...
The subject of the research is the approach of analytical psychology to understanding the content and meaning of mystical experience represented by religious and esoteric traditions. The purpose of the presented article is to reveal the content, directions and results of the conceptualization of religious-mystical experience within the framework of the psychological theory of religion...
Anton Boisen was a seminal figure in the psychology of religion and pastoral psychology, but scholars have remained skeptical about his theoretical contributions and have perpetuated the stigma surrounding his psychiatric diagnosis and incarceration. I argue that Boisen was a prophet, ahead of his time, and that the academy has been slow to hear his salient critiques of the psychiatric system,...
Objectives Contemplative practice can occasion powerful psychological experiences. Yet few empirical studies have investigated whether their occurrence is associated with intensive meditation-based interventions. Here, we assess the prevalence of profound, meaningful, and mystical experiences in experienced meditators during a month-long insight meditation retreat compared to a control group of...
eath is of the most certain and undeniable truths in an existence shrouded by mysteries and unknowns, yet many don't have the opportunity for a meaningful reflection on this matter until the very end of their life.Existential suffering often awaits at death's door while effective solutions remain limited.The reality is that saving lives has been a key pillar of our medical ethos and so the...
Both psychedelics and mindfulness are recently emerging topics of interest in academia and popular culture. The Prevalence of personal meditation practices and recreational psychedelic use has consistently increased in the past decade. While clinical work has shown both to improve long-term wellbeing, data on naturalistic applications of psychedelics and mindfulness are lacking. The current...
The longstanding juncture between science and religion in psychedelic research is mediated most notably by the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ). The MEQ is a psychometric survey for assessing mystical experiences, and it relies on the work of philosopher Walter Stace for its typology and philosophy of mysticism. Yet there is an under-investigated influence from Vedantic Hinduism that...
Abstract Ecstatic epilepsy is a rare form of focal epilepsy, so named because the seizures' first symptoms consist of an ecstatic/mystical experience, including feelings of increased self-awareness, mental clarity, and “unity with everything that exists,” accompanied by a sense of bliss and physical well-being. In this perspective article, we first describe the phenomenology of ecstatic...
Much research has focused on the modeling of the near-death experience (NDE) by classical and atypical psychedelics; however, to date, no study has reported on the relationship between the NDE and the experience induced by the highly potent, endogenous psychedelic drug 5-Methoxy-DMT (5MeO-DMT). This article presents a case study of an individual who is popularly documented to have had a...