[Introduction to, 9 Keys to Mystical Experience: Transpersonal Psychology, ©2023]

Mystery. The unknown, the unknowable. While the majority of us may never have direct experience of it – we remain intrigued nonetheless.

We must begin any discussion of the mystical, however, with a distinction between mysticism – the unknowable – and mystical-type experience, the direct human experience of that which seems unknowable. In the latter, while we still may not be able to attribute the phenomenon to a source, we can acknowledge, and even measure, an individual’s experience of it, rendering it well within the realm of human psychology and thus, scientific (Breeksema & van Elk, 2021).

It surely isn’t anything new; disciplines of anthropology, philosophy, and theology have long studied this phenomenon (Mosurinjohn et al., 2023), and all religions have recorded such ‘divine inspiration’ throughout their histories, each with its own mystic tradition. Evidence for sacred use of biologic hallucinogens, to shift consciousness and commune with the spirit world, can be seen among many ancient cultures of the Americas, India, Greece, China, and the Steppe region of today’s Siberia, where shamanism was born, while in his 1954 autobiography, The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley described his own experience with mescaline. Synthetic hallucinogens, unintentionally developed first in 1938, were undergoing active research in the 1950s-60s that fell out of favor (and legality); today’s resurgence of interest in all manner of psychedelic-assisted therapies has seen a spike in research about the associated phenomenon of mystical experience, which may even be predictive of therapeutic outcome (Ko et al., 2022).

Several key qualities are found in such experience: the alert state of consciousness has been altered; the event is perceived as intense, sometimes overwhelming, and revelatory or ‘mind-revealing’ (Schoeller, 2023), akin to sudden inspiration – the eureka effect or ‘Aha! moment’. It typically defies explanation (Blum, 2023); and, along with its revelatory nature, it is noetic, or imparting knowledge from some unidentifiable source (Wahbeh, Fry, Speirn, Hrnjic, et al., 2022).

In fact, all these characteristics were delineated more than 100 years ago by William James, father of modern psychology. He identified 4 markers of the mystical experience: its ineffability, in that it cannot be described but can only be understood through direct experience; noesis, as a revelatory source of knowledge including ‘divine truths’; its transient nature, and the person’s passivity or lack of control over its time frame (James, 1902). The latter today is perhaps more debatable; while true of psychedelic-induced and spontaneous forms of mystical experience, other methods of induction allow for a measure of control, several of which we will explore.

In mystical phenomena, another relatively common experience is that known as ego death or dissolution, when one’s sense of self seems to disappear. This can be accompanied by a feeling of boundlessness, as we expand outward into the universe and infinity; it can also be one of universal interconnectedness, as we sense ourselves irrevocably connected to all sentient beings, to the natural world, or even to the cosmos (Cardeña & Lindström, 2021). But the very phenomenon of one’s selfhood dissolving or disintegrating can be quite disconcerting, feeling like death itself or insanity; paradoxically, following such experience one typically finds the fear of death diminished or even absent altogether, representing a profound psychological shift.

Suffice it to say, while most respond positively even to the point of ecstasy or bliss, profound joy and wonder, such experience can also result in overwhelming anxiety. Fortunately, the latter, while intense, is typically brief in duration.

Why would anyone, however curious, willingly pursue such experience? Why a book about 9 keys to achieving mystical experience – 9 that are alternatives, that is, to that of psychedelics?

For all its profundity and potential anxiety, and as such not for everyone, the mystical experience has life-changing potential. It has also been described as a sense of complete unity or wholeness, timelessness, ultimate reality, and sacredness (Bronkhorst, 2022). Self-transcendence is the goal of such traditions as Buddhism and Hinduism, and is therefore interrelated with secular applications of mindfulness and concepts such as the ‘quiet ego’. And so – it intrigues.

The phenomenon is known to engender compassion, empathy, and altruism (Barros & Schultz, 2023), its very purpose in Buddhist practice. It’s been noted, in a review of 44 studies (Kangaslampi, 2023), to contribute to mental health, general wellbeing and life satisfaction, positive changes in attitude and behavior, and decreased anxiety. And while many struggle with the paradox between existential isolation – the understanding that one is fundamentally alone – and a personal sense of meaning, those who have had some type of mystical experience no longer relate the two, and presence of meaning becomes easier to attain (Sielaff et al., 2022).

Our purpose in this book, then, is one of multiple uses for mystical-type experience: personal growth, self-transcendence, the ‘reboot’ that is ego dissolution, wellbeing and self-care, healing – especially post-trauma resolution, noesis or insight, spiritual development and presence of meaning, creativity and inspiration, insight and problem-solving, social bondedness and prosocial engagement, grief resolution, increased compassion and kindness, gratitude, deep ecology, peak experience and awe, happiness and life satisfaction, healthy aging, ancestorhood and rootedness – and maybe even more. Touching mystery, accessing inner wisdom, experiencing the extraordinary: this is strong medicine.

This type of phenomenon, while it can be spontaneously experienced, is induced through an altered state of consciousness. We very nearly access mystery when we dream, to be later discussed; in our waking life when actively engaged in such pursuit, we must therefore enter a dream-like or liminal condition between waking and sleeping states, for which a number of methods will be explored as our keys.

While the nature of consciousness itself is still debated among philosophers, psychologists, theologians, and biologists, we understand what it means to alter it from the alert state; brain rhythms drop from that of waking consciousness to slower rhythms such as those found in meditation and hypnosis. This is often accompanied by an awareness of the ‘transpersonal’ or ‘beyond-person’ aspect of human consciousness to be soon discussed, and even to experience the self in its prism of characteristics, as sub-personalities or ego states (Furlong, 2022).

It’s been suggested that these altered states are similar to the ‘primary states’ found in childhood or senility, uninhibited by social concerns, a pure fusion of emotion, communication, and action; they’re best facilitated by a relaxing of control, often referred to as ‘letting go’ or ‘surrender’ (Schoeller, 2023). The more profound states can be facilitated by hypnosis, trance, religious experience, creative breakthrough, psychedelics, and psychosis, while milder forms can be seen in meditation, flow, daydreaming or mind wandering, mental time travel, and many more (Tart, 1975; Garcia-Romeu & Tart, 2013).

Let’s explore the mystical experience in greater detail, shall we?

In a survey of 40 scientists and academics who have each had their own ‘spiritually transformative experience’ (Tressoldi & Woollacott, 2023), a full 85% reported ego dissolution; related phenomena of universal interconnectedness, and oceanic boundlessness or infinite expansiveness, were experienced by 62.5%, while 45% reported feeling pure and unconditional love. The nature of reality, a noetic awareness common to this type of experience, was understood as unitive (60%), unconditional love and bliss (47.5%), and as luminosity (27.5%), while others sensed it as one of energy, sentience, and timelessness; all reported an innate authenticity of the experience.

The phenomenon of encountering disembodied entities is not uncommon, according to Lutkajtis (2021); nonhuman, these ‘spirits’ or ‘beings’ often provide insight both personal and transpersonal – or sometimes, are perceived to perform surgery or other procedures on the experiencer’s body; this can be experienced positively, as in the removal of something the experiencer considers undesirable, or as disorientation, anxiety, fear, panic, or paranoia. In a large survey by Nayak and Griffiths (2022) of 1,606 respondents following a single psychedelic use, many reported a form of animism, in attributing consciousness to nonhuman entities such as other primates, quadrupeds, insects, fungi, plants, and even inanimate objects; this was experienced positively, contributing to enduring personal meaning and insight, while superstitions and beliefs regarding free will remained unchanged. Both disembodied entities and animistic forms of consciousness are common features in the shamanism practice across cultures, to be later discussed.

The mystical experience is understood in philosophical terms as the distortion of both time and space, spontaneity over intention, absorption into the void, ecstasy and bliss, and numinosity – supernatural or divine (Laughlin and Rock, 2020). Lowney (2023) proposes 4 explanations for mystical experience, not all of them ineffable: (1) a new means of interpretation that offers a remedy for human suffering; (2) a departure from adult cognition to a more primal, pre-verbal state and perception; (3) a coalescence of previously contradictory personal experience, or moment of comprehension; or, (4) a method of acquiring knowledge that requires detachment.

The phenomenon’s noetic quality of accessing new and unattributable knowledge can be discussed in terms of anoetic, noetic, and autonoetic cognitive processing; anoetic focuses on the present moment and knowledge acquired from external stimuli, noetic from purely internal stimuli but without awareness of its source, and autonoetic as internal source but of which we are aware – observing our own thought process (Metcalfe & Son, 2012). I like to think of this as, “I am, therefore I think [anoetic]; I think, therefore I am [noetic]; and, I think that I think, therefore I am [autonoetic].” There may also be a place for the latter when inducing mystical experience over which we maintain dual attention and some measure of control, as we’ll later see.

But is it scientific?

As we noted earlier, the human experience of mysticism is situated in brain and body, and as such, entirely scientific and measurable (Breeksema & van Elk, 2021) – without the need to debate the veracity of mysticism itself. Church et al. (2022) determined both biological and psychological dimensions of transcendent states and autonomic self-regulation, or the control of one’s internal environment. Rogerson et al. (2021) demonstrated the neurobiology of a trance state on fMRI, and similar studies have been done to map the neurobiology of the mystical-type experience. Ko et al. (2022) conducted a review of studies in psychedelic-assisted therapy, and found evidence for mystical experience as a predictor of treatment outcome; they further outlined the current primary instruments used to measure same, including the 5 Dimensions of Altered States of Consciousness Questionnaire (5D-ASC) and corresponding 11D-ASC, the Hood Mysticism Scale, and the Mystical Experiences Questionnaire, among others. The Noetic Signature Inventory was also recently designed (Wahbeh, Fry, & Speirn, 2022). Taves (2020) discerns the need for a more comprehensive framework of study and instruments, however, to be consistently applied across disciplines and cultures, as mystical experience is by its nature self-reported while the terminology and constructs are still too weak and undifferentiated.

And can this seemingly sacred or religious phenomenon also be experienced and beneficial in a secular context?

Steinhart (2023) proposes a Platonic framework of structural insight, a wholeness of nature that is also transcendent and thus profoundly experienced, and ego dissolution or self-transcendence, by which focus shifts from the One toward the Good and thus manifests as interconnectedness. Mystical experiences can also be seen in a naturalist worldview, according to Jones (2022), specifically as a ‘naturalized spirituality’ in which the confined or narrow sense of self is transformed into one with nature. When such experience occurs spontaneously in nonbelievers, however, it can be challenging to integrate, and many tend to shift from ‘atheist’ to ‘agnostic’ or ‘spiritual’ as a means of psychological adjustment, while those who do not may experience negative impact on mental health (van der Tempel & Moodley, 2020).

Integration of such profound experience can be difficult for the religious as well, resulting at times in what’s known as a ‘spiritual emergency’ or inability to integrate extraordinary experience. Such experience can be categorized in 2 ways, according to Taylor (2018): as a sudden collapse of the ego system or selfhood, or as an explosion of energy that can either give the appearance of mania or manifest in somatic symptoms. A sudden or spontaneous experience, of union with the universe, ultimate reality, or the divine, can be initially challenging; eventually, however, it is most often viewed as overwhelmingly positive rather than negative (Corneille & Luke, 2021). Methods of integration especially helpful are practices of compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, and self-awareness, all of which emphasize self-transcendence; also useful are further explorations of the unconscious, placing oneself in deeply peaceful environments, and spiritual means such as prayer or literature, or sharing the experience with someone (Brook, 2021).

And how does transpersonal psychology align with mystical experience?

Areas related to religion or spirituality, and by extension, mysticism, have been largely excluded from psychology since its emergence as a scientific field in the early 20^th century. Established in 1968, the transpersonal psychology field has its underpinnings in the work of the aforementioned William James, Carl Jung, and both humanistic and depth psychologies. Its aim was to return religion and spirituality to the scientific study of the mind, as deeply significant to human experience.

In a review of recent research, Rosmarin et al. (2022) demonstrated that neurobiological correlates for spiritual and religious experiences, such as self-transcendence and inherent religiosity, have been well established by a variety of instruments (EEG, MRI, fMRI, PET, DTI, and more), and have been further associated with various aspects of mental health (e.g., depression, substance use, psychosis, and anxiety). Winkelman (2019b) describes in detail the neurobiological mechanisms related to seemingly supernatural experience. The applications of religion and spirituality to mental health, though more research is always needed, are becoming increasingly clear.

Hartelius (2022, p.5) defines the field thus: “Transpersonal psychology is a transformative psychology of the whole person embedded within a diverse, interconnected, and evolving world that pays particular attention to states of consciousness and developmental models reflecting expansion beyond conventional notions of self.” The field has expanded beyond its original premise to include studies of the individual in systemic context; transformation, both individual and collective, over transcendence; and, intersectional as well as ecological considerations (Richards Crouch et al., 2021).

Transpersonal psychology research has focused since its inception on states of consciousness and mystical experience, and as such, has much to inform us in our 9 keys to mystical experience. Both by the timing of its establishment in the late 1960s and by this focus, the field has often been negatively associated with the ‘New Age’ parapsychology movement that arose at the same time; indeed, there are overlapping interests, while transpersonal psychology has attempted to remain scientific in its approach to spiritual and mystical topics. It was this field, in fact, that first researched mindfulness and introduced it to the wider secular and scientific community, for applications distinct from its religious foundations. And it is transpersonal psychology, over the past 55 years, that has provided much of the research now being applied to the mystical experience in psychedelic studies.

As Hauskeller and Sjöstedt-Hughes (2022) point out: ‘psychedelic’ is an adjective, and as such can be applied widely. Both altered states of consciousness and mystical experience have psychedelic aspects; etymology of the term, developed only in 1956 as an alternative to ‘hallucinogen’, includes psyche or mind / soul, and dēleín, to manifest [Greek] – thus, manifestations of the mind or soul. This is telling, for our purpose in explorations of mystical experience. The term entheogen is also applied to any chemical substance used for altering consciousness, with more religious or spiritual significance in its root term theos or deity; ‘entheogenic spirituality’, then, is an approach that utilizes psychedelic-induced mystical experience for spiritual development and self-transcendence (St. Arnaud & Sharpe, 2023).

An especially promising application is that of virtual reality [VR], which has been shown to induce mystical-type experience and simulate the effects of psychedelics on the mind, including therapeutic outcome. In fact, ‘cyberdelics’, or the concept of using technology to replicate the altered states of consciousness associated with psychedelics, is not new; it first emerged in the 1980s-90s yet, not unlike psychedelics themselves, fell out of interest and is now experiencing a renaissance based on new technological developments (Hartogsohn, 2023). In one such, a multi-user VR allows for ‘energetic coalescence’ in which users’ bodies, experienced as luminescence energy, can fluidly merge; replicating ego dissolution or self-transcendence, one can include and be included by multiple others in a self/other representation – results of which are statistically similar to that of psychedelic research (Glowacki et al., 2022). In another, aptly named ‘Psyrreal’ (psy+surreal), VR mimics the mystical effects of psychedelics and is being applied for the treatment of depression, with promising results (Kaup et al., 2023).

And so – on with our keys. We’ve 9 keys to mystical experience, beginning with peak experience – because, what better place to begin? From there, we explore deep ecology and mystical experience induced by nature. Dreams are our 3^rd key, both supernal and lucid, followed by meditation, a long-established source of mystical experience, which leads us to self-transcendence, including ego dissolution, oceanic boundlessness, and universal interconnectedness.

Our 6^th key is trance, from light (hypnosis) to deep (somnambulistic). This is followed by the use of ritual, which will also include a look at shamanism, the Otherworld concept, and the psychological construct of mental time travel. We follow this with ancestorhood, our 8^th key – communing with our ancestors, not only of blood but also of spirit, land, and hearth, and mystical experiences therein as found in a majority of cultures – with a word about ultimately becoming a good ancestor ourselves. Finally: somatic mysticism, or accessing the mystical realm via the physical body possessed by each of us.

In the words of William James (1902, p. 318): “This overcoming all the usual barriers between the individual and the Absolute is the great mystic achievement. In mystic states we both become one with the Absolute and we are aware of our oneness.”

So, let’s get on with peak experience, with side helpings of awe and ecstasy, shall we?

.

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