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Mystical Experiences – criteria for identification
Source: May R M (1991) Cosmic Consciousness Revisited;
Element
 | Ineffability – the handiest of the marks by which I classify a state of mind
as mystical is negative. The subject of it immediately says that it defies expression,
that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words. It follows from this that
its quality must be directly experienced; it cannot be imparted or transferred to others. |
| Noetic quality – Although so similar to states of feeling, mystical states
seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge. They are states of
insight into the depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are
illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance … and as a rule they
carry with them a curious sense of authority for after-time. |
| Transiency – Mystical states cannot be sustained for long. Except in rare
instances, half an hour, or at most an hour or two, seem to be the limit beyond which they
fade into the light of common day. |
| Passivity – Although the oncoming of mystical states may be facilitated by
preliminary voluntary operations, as by fixing the attention, or going through certain
bodily performances, or in other ways which manuals of mysticism prescribe; yet when the
characteristic sort of consciousness once has set in, the mystic feels as if his own will
were in abeyance, and indeed sometimes grasped by a superior power. |
The above list is that of William James who himself had no mystical experiences. Those
who have would add a fifth:
| Oneness – a sense of the Oneness of all Creation, of the One behind the
many. |
Triggers for spontaneous mystical experience
As reported in Coxhead N (1985) The Relevance of Bliss; St
Martin's Press; New York
Sir Alister Hardy found over 3000 people who claimed to have had spontaneous mystical
experiences. He asked what had triggered these experiences. The results are given below in
terms of average number of mentions per 1000 experiences:
| Depression, despair |
183.7 |
| Prayer, meditation |
135.7 |
| Natural beauty |
122.7 |
| Participation in religious worship |
111.7 |
| Literature, drama, film |
82.0 |
| Illness |
80.0 |
| Music |
56.7 |
| Crises in personal relations |
37.3 |
| The death of others |
28.0 |
| Sacred places |
26.0 |
| Visual arts |
24.7 |
| Creative work |
20.7 |
| The prospect of death |
15.3 |
| Silence, solitude |
15.3 |
| Anaesthetic drugs |
10.7 |
| Physical activity |
09.7 |
| Relaxation |
09.7 |
| Childbirth |
08.7 |
| Happiness |
07.3 |
| Psychedelic drugs |
06.7 |
| Sexual relations |
04.0 |
Note that these items are the ‘triggers’ rather than the ‘substantive
cause’ of the experiences. The preconditions and contexts would have to be
investigated on a case by case basis. Some interesting points emerge nonetheless:
The four major triggers are:
| Depression, despair |
| Prayer, meditation |
| Natural beauty |
| Participation in religious worship |
The lowest rated triggers are:
| Sexual relations |
| Psychedelic drugs |
| Happiness |
| Childbirth |
Despair is 25 times more likely to ‘produce’ religious-mystical experiences
than happiness and the distractively potent combination of sex, drugs and rock and roll
rates very low on the scale!
Five Stages in the Development of Mystical Consciousness
Based on Underhill E (1993) Mysticism - the Nature and Development
of Spiritual Consciousness; Oneworld, Oxford
The following are the five stages in the development of mystical consciousness as
described by Evelyn Underhill in her epochal book, first published in 1891, Mysticism -
the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness.
| Awakening or Conversion |
| Self-knowledge or Purgation |
| Illumination |
| Surrender or the Dark Night of the Soul |
| Union |
The first three stages represent the first mystic life
which culminates, after much trial and tribulation, in 'illumination' which is a state of
'happiness'. This is shared by many seers and artists who are not commonly ranked as
mystics. Those who go beyond stage three are the great and strenuous seekers.
A brief description of the first three stages follows:
| The awakening of the Self to consciousness of Divine Reality. This experience, usually
abrupt and well marked, is accompanied by intense feelings of joy and exaltation. |
| The Self, aware for the first time of Divine Beauty, realizes by contrast its own
finiteness and imperfection, the manifold illusions in which it is immersed, the immense
distance which separates it from the One. Its attempts to eliminate by discipline and
mortification all that stands in the way of its progress towards union with God constitute
Purgation: a state of pain and effort. |
| When by Purgation the Self has become detached from the "things of sense",
and acquired those virtues which are the "ornaments of the spiritual marriage",
its joyful consciousness of the Transcendent Order returns in an enhanced form. |
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