A Scientific Assessment of the Validity of Mystical Experiences: Understanding Altered Psychological and Neurophysiological States

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Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Endorsements Contents About the Author Acknowledgements Preface 1. Defining Mystical States and Experiences What Is the Mystical State and What Is Not Comprehending the Ineffable The Two World Legends 2. Unintentional and Deliberate Methods of Attaining Mystical States: Religious, Cultural, and Philosophical Perspective Aspects of the Mystical State Unintended or “Spontaneous” Mystical States The Way of the Philosophers The Way of the East Dionysius the Areopagite and the Athonites The Mystics of Western Christianity The Curious Efficacy of Mortification Are “Near Death Experiences” Mystical? The Mystical Tradition in Judaism and Islam 3. Mystical States achieved through Psychedelics: The Origins, Classical, and Contemporary Use of Psychedelics On the Origin of the Belief in a Hidden World The Classical Psychedelics Ritualistic use of Psychedelics: Three Examples The Good Friday Experiment Formal Contemporary Studies with Psychedelics 4. Questioning the Reliability of Mystical States: Identifying Features Identifying the Reliable Features of the Mystical State Classification of the Genuine Features of the Mystical State Could the Reliably Reported Features be Fabrications? The Status of the Culturally Conditioned and the Genuine Features 5. Questioning the Validity of Mystical States: Opinions and Objections The Range of Opinions on the Validity of the Mystics’ Claims Is the Validity of the Mystical Knowledge Indeterminate? The General Objection to the Validity of the Mystical State Specific Objections to the Validity of the Mystical State Brain Activity Patterns and Experiences 6. The Experiencing Subject and Mystical Object: Defining the Validity of the Mystical State The Validity of the Genuine Features of the Mystical State The Independent Existence of the Mystical Object References Index