LIMITATIONS ON THE NEUROSCIENTIFIC STUDY OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES

Zygon® ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 992-1017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard H. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Mystical Experiences

Beyond Perennialism and Constructivism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayon Maharaj
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Common Core ◽  
Mystical Experience ◽  
Philosophy Of Religion ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Cultural Conditioning ◽  
Mystical Experiences

This chapter draws upon Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings and mystical testimony in order to develop a new conceptual framework for understanding the nature of mystical experience. In recent analytic philosophy of religion, two approaches to mystical experience have been especially influential: perennialism and constructivism. While perennialists maintain that there is a common core of all mystical experiences across various cultures, constructivists claim that a mystic’s cultural conditioning plays a major role in shaping his or her mystical experiences. After identifying the strengths and limitations of these two positions, Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna champions a “manifestationist” approach to mystical experience that provides a powerful dialectical alternative to both perennialism and constructivism. According to Sri Ramakrishna, mystics in various traditions experience different real manifestations of one and the same impersonal-personal Infinite Reality. Sri Ramakrishna’s manifestationist paradigm shares the advantages of both perennialism and constructivism but avoids their respective weaknesses and limitations.

LSD, madness and healing: Mystical experiences as possible link between psychosis model and therapy model

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Isabel Wießner ◽  
Marcelo Falchi ◽  
Fernanda Palhano-Fontes ◽  
Amanda Feilding ◽  
Sidarta Ribeiro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Therapeutic Potential ◽  
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire ◽  
Psychotic Experience ◽  
Creative Imagination ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Alteration Of Consciousness ◽  
Therapy Model ◽  
Aberrant Salience ◽  
Mystical Experiences ◽  
Meaning Attribution

Abstract Background 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. Methods In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design, 24 healthy volunteers received 50 μg d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or inactive placebo. Psychotic experience was assessed by aberrant salience (Aberrant Salience Inventory, ASI), therapeutic potential by suggestibility (Creative Imagination Scale, CIS) and mindfulness (Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, FFMQ; Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, MAAS; Experiences Questionnaire, EQ), and psychedelic experience by four questionnaires (Altered State of Consciousness Questionnaire, ASC; Mystical Experiences Questionnaire, MEQ; Challenging Experiences Questionnaire, CEQ; Ego-Dissolution Inventory, EDI). Relationships between LSD-induced effects were examined. Results LSD induced psychedelic experiences, including alteration of consciousness, mystical experiences, ego-dissolution, and mildly challenging experiences, increased aberrant salience and suggestibility, but not mindfulness. LSD-induced aberrant salience correlated highly with complex imagery, mystical experiences, and ego-dissolution. LSD-induced suggestibility correlated with no other effects. Individual mindfulness changes correlated with aspects of aberrant salience and psychedelic experience. Conclusions The LSD state resembles a psychotic experience and offers a tool for healing. The link between psychosis model and therapeutic model seems to lie in mystical experiences. The results point to the importance of meaning attribution for the LSD psychosis model and indicate that psychedelic-assisted therapy might benefit from therapeutic suggestions fostering mystical experiences.

Traumatic and Mystical Experiences

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yochai Ataria
Keyword(s):  
Mystical Experiences

The Christian character of Christian mystical experiences

1984 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-427
Author(s):  
Steven Payne
Keyword(s):  
Common Elements ◽  
Third Place ◽  
Cognitive Value ◽  
The Third ◽  
Affirmative Response ◽  
The Common ◽  
Mystical Experiences ◽  
Contemporary Writers ◽  
Mystical Literature

Are mystical states essentially ‘everywhere the same’? Though this question is notoriously obscure and difficult to answer, many contemporary writers on mysticism seem to favour an affirmative response to it, for a variety of reasons. First of all, some are impressed by the undeniable similarity in the testimony of mystics from widely divergent backgrounds and cultures; like most readers of mystical literature, they are deeply struck by the degree of apparent consensus between Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist contemplatives, for example. Secondly, there is a commendable desire in recent times to adopt a more positive and open-minded approach to other religions, and to acknowledge the value of their spiritual traditions; consequently, Christian authors today tend to focus on the common elements in Christian and non-Christian spiritualities, downplaying any differences. In the third place, those who wish to defend the cognitive value of mystical experiences on the basis of the ‘universal agreement’ of mystics will naturally maintain that there is a fundamental unanimity behind their different reports.

scholarly journals Narratives of the mystical among users of psychedelics

2021 ◽  
pp. 000169932098005
Author(s):  
Willy Pedersen ◽  
Heith Copes ◽  
Liridona Gashi
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Research ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Political Influences ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
Psychedelic Drug ◽  
Mystical Experiences ◽  
Key Dimensions ◽  
Depth Interviews

We are now witnessing a radical revival in clinical research on the use of psychedelics (e.g. LSD and psilocybin), where ‘mystical’ experiences are at the centre. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 50 psychedelic drug users, we document how they draw on archetypical mystical narratives, comprising three key dimensions: (1) the transcendence of time and space; (2) deep euphoria; and (3) the perception of being at one with ‘a larger whole’. We suggest that the evolving new cultures around the use of psychedelics contain a variety of narratives, with clear roots in traditional mystical thinking. At the same time, these narratives reflect current cultural and political influences, including the narratives of oneness with plants and animals and our perceived need to protect nature. We conclude that the way people experience mystical occasions due to psychedelic use have archetypical patterns, but culturally specific storylines.

Introvertive Mystical Experiences: Monistic, Theistic, and the Theo-monistic

1993 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-184
Author(s):  
Michael Stoeber
Keyword(s):  
Mental Preparation ◽  
Spiritual Training ◽  
Philosophical Background ◽  
Mystical Experiences

Some scholars have responded to the apparent differences between monistic and theistic mysticisms by emphasizing the role of socio-religious interpretations of the experiences. Both monistic and theistic experiences, they point out, are described as wholly unlike normal sensory events. These mystics claim to go beyond the usual categories of cognition; the experiences are said to be spaceless and timeless realizations which, though not strictly ineffable, defy precise and positive description. Moreover, the mystical exercises – the spiritual training and mental preparation – seem similar for both theistic and monistic mystics. Common mystical means, along with the cessation of normal categories of interpretation during the experiences, suggest that mystics interpret a singular experience type according to their particular theological or philosophical background.

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