Seven Characteristics of Mystical Experiences

Abstract: Drawing on classic studies by William James and F.C. Happold, as well as personal experience, this paper explores seven characteristics of mystical experiences: 1) ineffability (inability to capture the experience in ordinary language), 2) noetic quality (the notion that mystical experiences reveal an otherwise hidden or inaccessible knowledge), 3) transiency (the simple fact that mystical experiences last for a relatively brief period of time), 4) passivity (the sense that mystical experiences happen to someone; that they are somehow beyond the range of human volition and control), 5) unity of opposites (a sense of Oneness, Wholeness or Completeness), 6) timelessness (a sense that mystical experiences transcend time), and 7) a feeling that one has somehow encountered “the true self ” (a sense that mystical experiences reveal the nature of our true, cosmic self: one that is beyond life and death, beyond difference and duality, and beyond ego and selfishness). To provide flesh to this skeletal structure, the paper: (i) explores connections between mysticism and meditation and (ii) presents a series of examples from secular poetry as well as Christianity, Islam, Daoism, Hinduism, and Tibetan Buddhism