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The Philosophy of Mystical Experience
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The Philosophy of Mystical Experience

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 35767

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Gäb

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, and Religious Studies, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, D-80539 Munich, Germany
Interests: philosophy of religion; mysticism; religious language; religious experience; Eastern philosophy; philosophy of death

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In all times and cultures, humans have had experiences which are usually called ‘mystical’. The philosophical study of these mystical experiences poses a lot of questions, such as those detailed subsequently.

What are mystical experiences? Are they distinguished from other kinds of experiences by a certain kind of content, a specific state of consciousness, or something else entirely? Are there distinctive kinds of mystical experiences? If so, by which criteria can we classify them? Does the distinction between introvertive and extrovertive experiences make sense?

Is there reason to believe that mystical experiences across times, cultures, and religions share a common core? If there is a common core, what does it consist of and what is its relevance for the possibility of religious pluralism? Are there any metaphysical implications which can be drawn from a universal core of mystical experiences?

What is the epistemic status of mystical experiences? Can they be seen as presentations of a mind-independent reality? Can mystics gain insights from their experience, and if so, what criteria are there for distinguishing veridical from illusory mystical experiences? Do mystical experiences support religious beliefs?

Why do mystical experiences clash with language so often? When mystics attempt to speak about their experiences, they often claim that they are ineffable, and resort to images, metaphors, or paradoxical statements. How can we explain the difficulty to put mystical experiences into words? Additionally, how can mystical experiences have epistemic value and still be ineffable at the same time?

Does the study of the phenomenology of mystical experiences have implications for our understanding of mind, consciousness, and self in general? Using the concepts of contemporary philosophy of mind, how can we describe the phenomenology of mystical experience? Is it possible to give a coherent interpretation to the mystics’ claims to have experienced, e.g., a dissolution of the self or a nondual state of consciousness?

Are mystical experiences religious phenomena or should we rather classify them as ‘spiritual’? However, what is nonreligious spirituality and what elements of mystical experiences make them spiritual?

What is the relationship between meditation and mystical experiences? Is meditation a kind of mystical practice? Can modern meditative practices be regarded as a kind of secular mysticism?

Can mystical experiences be triggered by psychedelics such as psilocybin or LSD? Are there phenomenological similarities or dissimilarities between ‘natural’ and chemically induced mystical experiences? Can we draw implications for the philosophical study of mysticism from the scientific study of the effects of psychedelics on mind and brain?

How should results from current neuroscience, neurotheology, or neurophenomenology research affect our understanding of mystical experiences? Do these findings support the hypothesis that there is a common core? Do they cast doubt on the claim that mystical experiences have epistemic value?

We invite methodologically thorough and conceptually clear contributions on any of these (or similar) questions, from all kinds of philosophical and religious backgrounds.

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Gäb
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mysticism
  • religious experience
  • perennialism
  • neurotheology
  • ineffability
  • spirituality

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 260 KiB  
Article
Embracing the Unknowable: Paradigm of Ineffability
by Antti Piilola
Religions 2023, 14(6), 767; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14060767 - 9 Jun 2023
Viewed by 2407
Abstract
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 [...] Read more.
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 unique nature of mystical experience, and sometimes it is what challenges the concept of mysticism as incoherent and paradoxical. In this article, I will explore if there could be a Being Ineffable that unites both the mystical experience and its (purportedly) transcendent object, while acknowledging the problem of coherence that ineffability entails. I will do so by forming an argument for ineffability that attempts to both validate and define absolute ineffability as the point of convergence between three meanings of Being Ineffable: as a definition of absolute (ineffability), as a mystical experience of it, and finally, as the Ineffable, that is, the God/Absolute/Ultimate; all the meanings are held together by an argument from ineffability—a permeating and silently expressed attempt to turn ineffability from its usual role of a negation into a necessary affirmation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
18 pages, 348 KiB  
Article
Mystical Experience: Women’s Pathway to Knowledge
by Maria Clara Bingemer
Religions 2023, 14(2), 230; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020230 - 8 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3050
Abstract
This article aims to reflect on two issues within the vast area of mystical studies: 1. The link between mystical experience and knowledge; 2. Mystical experiences lived through by women as a pathway to and from knowledge. Firstly, we will try to circumscribe [...] Read more.
This article aims to reflect on two issues within the vast area of mystical studies: 1. The link between mystical experience and knowledge; 2. Mystical experiences lived through by women as a pathway to and from knowledge. Firstly, we will try to circumscribe the concept of mystical experience by retrieving some of the main thoughts of scholars who have studied the mystical phenomenon and the writings of individuals who experienced it. Secondly, we will pursue our reflection with the aid of philosophers and theologians who thought and argued that mystical experience is and contains knowledge and bears not only affective and spiritual, but also intellectual, fruit. Thirdly, we will attempt to demonstrate how, throughout the history of Christianity, a significant number of women were the specific protagonists of this synthesis between experience and knowledge and how this allowed them to bring original contributions to their context and historical time. We conclude with a detailed commentary and reflection on the French 20th-century mystic Simone Weil who, as both an intellectual and a mystic, was a pioneer in bringing a prophetic vision on issues that would inspire society, the Church, and spiritual life many decades after her death. Our conclusions will be based on this and on the countercultural benefits that mystical experience lived through by women can bring to contemporary times. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
25 pages, 322 KiB  
Article
The Epistemic Value of Non-Religious Mystical Experiences
by Nona Bledow
Religions 2022, 13(11), 1116; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13111116 - 17 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1833
Abstract
This paper examines the epistemic value of non-religious mystical experiences. By taking a non-religious angle, it adds a complementary perspective to the context in which mystical experiences are generally discussed, i.e., the context of theological questions or perspectives informed by the philosophy of [...] Read more.
This paper examines the epistemic value of non-religious mystical experiences. By taking a non-religious angle, it adds a complementary perspective to the context in which mystical experiences are generally discussed, i.e., the context of theological questions or perspectives informed by the philosophy of religion. While I am pessimistic about the possibilities of such experiences providing propositional knowledge about the external world, this discussion is largely bracketed. Instead, I focus on a different type of knowledge, arguing that what these experiences can provide is a certain type of subjective knowledge, namely experiential knowledge. I further argue that such experiences involve a feeling of concern about a very general object, something such as existence, the world, or reality as a whole. Consciously experiencing this type of feeling or emotion is rare, since it is a background emotion about a very general object relatively far removed from personal flourishing. Nevertheless, in this type of experiences, it is directly experienced. The experiential knowledge obtained through such experiences is what this general concern about existence as a whole feels like. I contend that both the insight on what this feels like as well as the feeling itself can be seen as valuable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
14 pages, 249 KiB  
Article
What Is the ‘Unitive Mystical Experience’ Triggered by Psychedelic Medicines an Experience of? An Exploration of Aldous Huxley’s Viewpoint in Light of Current Data
by Dana Sawyer
Religions 2022, 13(11), 1061; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13111061 - 4 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2185
Abstract
A large body of research in the field of psychology currently points to a variety of therapeutic outcomes derived from psychedelically occasioned mystical experience. Moreover, additional research suggests that such benefits to mental and emotional well-being may depend directly upon the subjective mystical [...] Read more.
A large body of research in the field of psychology currently points to a variety of therapeutic outcomes derived from psychedelically occasioned mystical experience. Moreover, additional research suggests that such benefits to mental and emotional well-being may depend directly upon the subjective mystical experience itself, rather than upon the substances that triggered it; for instance, research at Johns Hopkins indicates that higher scores on the MEQ30 or MEQ43 might be key predictors of larger therapeutic outcomes. However, the ‘elephant in the room’ often overlooked in psychological studies is this: What exactly is it about the content of the subjective experience that triggers such significant outcomes or, of deep interest philosophically speaking, what might the mystical experience be an experience of? Could it be that such experiences have a viable ontological referent instead of their being wholly subjective and if so, how might Aldous Huxley’s theory in this regard be weighed in light of current data? The essay includes close discussion of the debate regarding the nature of mystical experiences between Robin Carhart-Harris’ REBUS model (the experiences are wholly subjective, with no ontological referent) vs. Edward Kelly’s ROSTA model (contending an ontological referent need not contradict the science). The essay’s thesis is that Huxley’s viewpoint includes plausible and perhaps valuable insights that may help explain why and how that encounter has such profound therapeutic value. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
13 pages, 270 KiB  
Article
The Expansion of Consciousness during Mystical Experiences: The Example of Moses
by Mona Jahangiri
Religions 2022, 13(10), 1003; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13101003 - 21 Oct 2022
Viewed by 3145
Abstract
What happens in the brain during meditation? Neuroscientists such as Andrew Newberg, who studies religious experiences on the neural level, may provide an answer. He calls the devolution, which is similar to all mystical experiences in different faiths, self-transcendent experience (STE); in a [...] Read more.
What happens in the brain during meditation? Neuroscientists such as Andrew Newberg, who studies religious experiences on the neural level, may provide an answer. He calls the devolution, which is similar to all mystical experiences in different faiths, self-transcendent experience (STE); in a further instance, he also calls it the feeling of Absolute Unitary Being (AUB). A more detailed consideration of related issues is done by examining the human expansion of consciousness in Islamic mysticism based on an event depicted in the Qurʾān, namely Mosesʾ desire to talk to or see God, his subsequent unconsciousness due to the awe of God, and his subsequent attainment of a new consciousness. The following paper will have a brief look at the case of Moses and aims to investigate the states of consciousness during such experiences. Here, an attempt will be made to trace and prove a connection between neuroscience and the mystical state of the feeling of union with God. In doing so, particular attention will be paid to the state of the encounter between Moses and God. From a neuropsychological point of view, the question will be investigated whether the special spiritual experiences such as those of Moses can be measured, and within this framework, different consciousness models will be presented. Can Newberg’s STE or AUB theory be regarded equally with the fanāʾ state? Finally, which kind of psychological experience is applicable to Moses will be examined. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
16 pages, 314 KiB  
Article
Does Mystical Experience Give Access to Reality?
by Paul Marshall
Religions 2022, 13(10), 983; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100983 - 18 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4221
Abstract
Mystical experiences can bring an overwhelming sense that deeper realities have been contacted or that the everyday world has been apprehended as it truly is. Philosophical study of the experiences has not given much attention to their metaphysical significance, especially to the insights [...] Read more.
Mystical experiences can bring an overwhelming sense that deeper realities have been contacted or that the everyday world has been apprehended as it truly is. Philosophical study of the experiences has not given much attention to their metaphysical significance, especially to the insights they may offer on fundamental issues such as the nature of reality, self, consciousness, and time. There are reasons for the neglect, and in the present article I consider two major theoretical obstacles to finding metaphysical significance in the experiences: a radical form of contextualism and a reductionist approach to neuroscience. With these obstacles addressed, there is room to consider how mystical experience and metaphysics can be brought into dialogue, a task facilitated by the contemporary resurgence of interest in alternatives to materialist metaphysics and a renewed interest in mystical experience encouraged by psychedelic research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
14 pages, 280 KiB  
Article
Nomad Thought: Using Gregory of Nyssa and Deleuze and Guattari to Deterritorialize Mysticism
by Arianne Conty
Religions 2022, 13(10), 882; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100882 - 21 Sep 2022
Viewed by 2753
Abstract
This article compares the mysticism of 4th-century Church Father Gregory of Nyssa to the nomadology of 20th century philosophers Deleuze and Guattari. In their book A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari returned to the figure of the nomad in order to free [...] Read more.
This article compares the mysticism of 4th-century Church Father Gregory of Nyssa to the nomadology of 20th century philosophers Deleuze and Guattari. In their book A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari returned to the figure of the nomad in order to free multiplicities from the “despotic unity” of modern Enlightenment thought. Though Deleuze and Guattari compare this nomadology to spiritual journeys, they claim that their nomad, unlike the mystic, resists a center, a homecoming, a destination. Yet Gregory of Nyssa, writing before the Church itself became a hegemonic power that would confine truth to a single reified code, described the Christian as a wandering nomad, for whom the path itself is the goal. Contrary to the static vision that would be developed in the onto-theological tradition that would lead Western metaphysics to interpret mysticism as the private experience of union with the divine, Gregory of Nyssa proposes a communal movement “from beginning to beginning” with no end, and no union in sight. By placing the postmodern secular nomad alongside the premodern Christian nomad, this article will draw on similarities between the two in order to accentuate the contemporary relevance of Gregory of Nyssa’s vision of mysticism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
18 pages, 312 KiB  
Article
Secular Mysticism
by Richard H. Jones
Religions 2022, 13(7), 650; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070650 - 14 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3779
Abstract
How a positive naturalist understanding of mystical experiences is possible and how these experiences and accompanying practices can be incorporated into a secular mysticism are discussed. Philosophical issues related to such a secular mysticism are also raised: is a truly secular mysticism possible? [...] Read more.
How a positive naturalist understanding of mystical experiences is possible and how these experiences and accompanying practices can be incorporated into a secular mysticism are discussed. Philosophical issues related to such a secular mysticism are also raised: is a truly secular mysticism possible? Are mystical experiences cognitive of transcendent non-natural realities? Can secular mysticism address the issue of the possible construction of mystical experiences? Can one find meaning or a purpose to life when non-natural realities and life after death are not parts of the picture? Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
20 pages, 380 KiB  
Article
Mystical Experience
by Johannes Bronkhorst
Religions 2022, 13(7), 589; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070589 - 24 Jun 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2818
Abstract
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 [...] Read more.
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 for the principal features of mystical experience; these features are, therefore, mainly negative. Understanding mystical experience as the suppression of factors that contribute to the construction of standard consciousness, along with a discussion of the mechanism that makes this possible, permits answers to some frequently asked questions, such as: Why is mystical experience ineffable? What is its epistemic status? Does it have implications for our understanding of mind, consciousness, and self? Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
19 pages, 536 KiB  
Article
Methodology and Mysticism: For an Integral Study of Religion
by Fabian Völker
Religions 2022, 13(2), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020161 - 14 Feb 2022
Viewed by 4883
Abstract
By means of a paradigmatic investigation of the subjective, interior side of mysticism, this article intends to contribute to the methodological debate within religious studies. By tracing the possibilities of empirical access to their limit, it will be shown that the study of [...] Read more.
By means of a paradigmatic investigation of the subjective, interior side of mysticism, this article intends to contribute to the methodological debate within religious studies. By tracing the possibilities of empirical access to their limit, it will be shown that the study of religion cannot possibly do without recourse to a phenomenological mode of access of its material and without philosophical reflection on its significance if it wants to do full justice to its distinctive object of research in its most essential features. The holistic approach urged here, requires, as its constitutive basis, an integrative methodology, one that is in principle able to combine all fruitful lines of inquiry in a methodically differentiated and reflexively judicious manner and, thus, to allow each of the complementary ways of looking to have their own legitimacy respected as they unfold their specific questions. Seeking a robust support for the methodological pluralism of an integral study of religion, which will keep it from succumbing to the empiricist reductionism of the cultural studies perspective, I propose that a transcendental philosophical method should be considered as a basis. Furthermore, this empowers a critical expansion and deepening of new approaches to the phenomenology of religion and a constructive interaction with the intercultural philosophy of religion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Philosophy of Mystical Experience)
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