Consciousness & Reality
Altered States & Exceptional Experience
Collection
Humans can have experiences of unity, sacredness, presence, timelessness, certainty and self-transcendence. Science can study the structure, predictors and consequences of those experiences. It cannot simply leap from the experience to one metaphysical explanation of what ultimately caused it.
4 Articles
ARTICLES
01
Science can study a person who says “I became one with everything” without deciding whether everything literally became one. That distinction is the beginning of serious mystical-experience research.
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The “third eye” began as spiritual symbolism and contemplative anatomy. Over centuries it accumulated yogic, philosophical, occult and biological meanings until a subtle-body symbol became casually described as a hidden physical organ. The history is more interesting than the claim.
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Some people can disappear into music, prayer, imagery or meditation until the rest of the world seems to fade. Psychology calls part of this tendency absorption — and it may help explain why altered and spiritual experiences vary so dramatically between people.
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One person feels an overwhelming presence and says “God.” Another says “ancestor.” Another says “nondual consciousness.” Another says “a predictive brain generated agency.” The experience may overlap. The explanation can diverge completely.
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