Relevance. As the psychopathology of religious experience developed in the second half of the 20th – early 21st century, a noticeable trend was the transition to a paradigm that orients psychiatric science toward a differentiated approach to religious-mystical experience. The change of paradigms requires the implementation of philosophical reflection through the prism of interdisciplinary...
Spiritual and religious experiences (SREs) are common subjective phenomena related to the awareness of transcendence, which transforms one's perception of life, death and suffering. Despite the high prevalence of SREs worldwide, not enough studies have been conducted beyond Europe and North America. To fill this gap, this study investigates the prevalence of SREs in Brazil and their association...
Anomalous experiences are of particular interest to phenomenology. Such experiences include both psychopathological and mystical phenomena. Phenomenological concepts serve as valuable interpretative tools in analysing these cases. In particular, intentionality proves to be a powerful analytic framework, providing promising insights into mystical unions with the divine. In this article, I...
This paper examines recent empirical research on the psychedelic experience and makes sense of the current literature in terms of ontic structural realism, a position in the metaphysics of science which holds that relations are fundamental. This interpretation is maintained by first providing a philosophical framework for the varieties of self-transcendent experiences by implementing a notion...
Mystical experiences are powerful experiences that may have therapeutic value. Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, has shown potential to induce mystical experiences. However, little research has explored this phenomenon, particularly in treatment-resistant depression. We analyzed clinical data from 60 veterans with treatment-resistant depression receiving a total of 189 ketamine treatments....
Abstract Background Among the innovative treatments investigated for depression, psilocybin appears to play an extremely promising role, with several studies showing remission rates up to 70% in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) treated with protocols involving a single or double dose administration [1,2]. Psilocybin is a psychedelic compound belonging to the tryptamine class,...
Abstract This chapter describes the mechanisms behind conscious experiences, emphasizing the Neural Binding and Coherence (NBC) theory. It explores how neural representation, binding, coherence, and competition interact to create conscious phenomena. Using smell, hunger, loneliness, and self-awareness as examples, the chapter illustrates how these mechanisms contribute to component...
The purpose of this study is to understand the later Heideggerian thought within the characteristics of the negative-theological and mystical methodology and to reveal its ontological significance thereafter. First, in Chapter 2, we examine the problematic awareness and methodology of Heidegger’s philosophy. And this implies the forgetfulness of Being (Seinsvergessenheit) and the...
Background and Relevance: This article investigates the concept of the illusory nature of the world and the phenomenon of the present moment as core principles of Zen Buddhism that shape a radically non-conceptual mode of being and an alternative construction of reality. The relevance of the research stems from the increasing scholarly interest in challenging dominant Western ontological and...
This article explores the often-overlooked question of how literary reading might give rise to experiences that readers themselves identify as spiritual. Framed by William James’s account of “mystical susceptibility” and recent psychological models of spirituality as altered states of consciousness involving shifts in perception, affect, and cognition, the essay asks how engagement with...