Recent developments regarding the pharmacology of psychoactive substances are significant for treating depressions or opioid addictions. Current theories, hypotheses, and models of drug effects assume a cause–effect narrative, which is based on a stimulus/response mechanism. These narratives prioritize effects rather than conscious experiences. In this sense, drug experiences are quickly...
This paper examines Gustav Landauer’s mystical anarchism, focusing on the concept of overcoming death as a core element of his thought. It explores Landauer’s rejection of death as both a linguistic superstition and a limited worldview, emphasizing the collective whole over individualism. The essay suggests that Landauer’s representation of revolution moving from space to time includes his...
Julian of Norwich’s performance within her longer Revelations of Divine Love involves layers of authorizing and devotional steps that frame it as a gift for her community. She presents herself not as an author, but as a revelator, in step with John’s acts of unveiling his visions and dialogue with the divine in the Biblical Revelations. Examining Julian’s act of presenting her visions in...
In this article, based on my doctoral research, I discuss the appropriation of religious elements from South America by Finnish ‘mystical tourists’. The plant medicine ceremonies are approached as spiritual commodities. Imagining local beliefs and practices as ancient cultural heritage, essentially and authentically spiritual, Finnish mystical tourists adapt these practices for their own...
Most religious cosmology studies focus on the microcosm and macrocosm; however, the origin of cosmic mysticism is the eternal cosmos extensively studied in cultures and religions such as Javanese and Islam. This study aimed to examine the different interpretations of the sanctity of the eternal cosmos hierarchy in Javanese mysticism and Islamic Sufism. The eternal cosmos is referred to as jagad...
This article examines two prominent aspects of contemporary philosophical and religious discourse: the phenomenology of mysticism in the work of Gerda Walther and theological anthropology presented in the writings of Edith Stein. Phenomenology of mysticism is one of the most interesting topics in modern philosophy and religious studies. This deep research area examines and analyzes spiritual...
This study aimed to determine whether the 30-item Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30) is suitable for measuring non-psychedelic mystical experiences or whether a subset of questions from the 43-item Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ43) is more appropriate. Participants (N = 136) completed an online survey about their non-psychedelic mystical experience, which included the MEQ43 and...
Psychopathy has long been considered untreatable. The purpose of this paper is to provide a report from the field on therapeutic gains made in the case of a psychopathic personality and to outline what appear to be the most effective aspects of the treatment, as well as to help integrate current psychedelic research and theory with psychoanalytic theory. These therapeutic factors include:...
Reviewed by: Mysticism and Ethics in Islam ed. by Bilal Orfali, Atif Khalil, and Mohammed Rustom Armando Montoya Jordán (bio) Mysticism and Ethics in Islam Eds. Bilal Orfali, Atif Khalil, and Mohammed Rustom Beirut: American University of Beirut Press, 2022. 476 Pages. Is the science of ethics entirely separate from mysticism, or might mysticism be the foundation of ethics? Or, conversely,...
Abstract Scholars across the academic spectrum have written about the renewed interest in psychedelics that is commonly called the Psychedelic Renaissance (PR). Psychedelic religion is a major component of the PR, as psychedelic churches are growing exponentially and as people who consume and who research psychedelics routinely contend that these substances induce or occasion religious,...
Background: Research with the Psychedelic Experience Questionnaire/Scale (PES) focuses on questions relating to mystical experience (Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ)). The psychometric potential of the non-MEQ items of the PES remains largely unexplored. Aims: We investigated whether the PES also yields subscales besides the MEQ30 subscales. Methods: Data from 239 PES measurements (140...
Abstract The authors investigate the effects of centering meditation on state hope among college and graduate students through a randomized controlled trial. Participants (n = 150; 65% white, 84% female) were randomized to either a centering meditation group or a waitlist control group. Time‐series analyses indicated that centering meditation significantly improved hope, suggesting long‐term...
While Rosemary Radford Ruether is widely, and rightly, acknowledged as a prophetic Catholic scholar–activist, her interest in and experience of mysticism is rarely emphasized. However, Ruether had an impactful mystical experience as a young woman, and the themes of this experience echo throughout her body of work. This paper paints a portrait of Ruether as both a profoundly prophetic...
Panikkar’s philosophy of mysticism is best understood as an attempt to overcome monistic and dualistic ways of thinking about the divine, human beings and the universe. Mysticism, for Panikkar, is irreducible to either monistic experiences of oneness without a second or to dualistic experiences where the divine is seen as wholly other. Rather, mysticism relates to holistic experiences of...
This paper argues that practitioners of psychedelic-assisted therapy could learn a great deal from Deleuze and Guattari’s critique of psychoanalysis in Anti-Oedipus, as well as the practice of materialist psychiatry – schizoanalysis – that they offer in its stead. Much of the clinical research on psychedelics (particularly psilocybin) over the past fifteen years has privileged mystical...
This groundbreaking study addresses a niche area within mysticism research, exploring the confluence of totemic spiritual practices and distinct mystical experiences. Moving beyond conventional Abrahamic viewpoints, it interrogates mainstream frameworks that either marginalize or pathologize these spiritual occurrences. Utilizing a cross-disciplinary approach that integrates religious studies,...
Abstract. This article focuses on the dialectical encounter of the cataphatic and apophatic spirituality paths which are by psalmist based on “why” and Meister Eckhart on “without why” in responding to the reality of life, especially amid suffering. For the psalmist, the where, why, and when questions arise not from doubt but from Yahweh’s steadfast love (ḥesed). Even though the psalmist and...
This study examines three of the most iconic sites associated with Islamic mysticism, or Sufism, in Ottoman Hungary.These are three mausoleums located in Buda, Pécs, and Turbék, near Zigetvár.The first two are the final resting places of the Sufi mystics known as Gül Baba and Idris Baba.The third is Sultan Süleyman's mausoleum next to a Sufi dervish lodge, the foundations of which were...
Mathematicians are by trade predisposed to be open-minded and to consider the alternatives to the underlying axioms of a widely accepted theory. This is one of the reasons why they are disproportionately represented in the broad mystic realm. Moreover, they are aware of the philosophical and mathematical perils of non-critical acceptance of claims widely accepted as obvious or evident....
Religious experience and mystical intuition are neither equal, nor synonym and on the other hand, they are not contradictory at all. With respect to structure and constitutions, they have common and different elements. Being intrinsic is one of the common elements of the experience and intuition and consequently, one of the common elements of them is heart. Process of reception by heart is such...