Awakening experieces Spiritual experiences
“What if there is no ‘path’ to enlightenment? “A further issue with the term ‘mystical’ is its
What if our awakening experiences – those meaning in popular discourse. For Happold and
temporary but powerful moments of insight, Underhill, a ‘mystic’ is a person who has
clarity, acceptance and self-transcendence – are managed to expand and intensify his or her
not directing us toward permanent states of normal consciousness, and so has a more intense
happiness, oneness and freedom? Instead of and truer vision of reality, and a new relationship
ascending a clearly marked path, we might find to the world – including an awareness and sense
ourselves drifting on an immense and merciless of connection to the divine. However, in popular
ocean.” discourse, the term ‘mystical’ is often used to
Berryman, K. (2023, February 27), Your refer to transgressing the boundaries of modern
consciousness has been completely transformed. science or reason, as with phenomena such as
Now what? Psyche. [Link] alien abductions, astrology or crystal healing.
consciousness-has-been-completely-transformed- Maslow’s term ‘peak experience’ is more
now-what satisfactory.” Page 74
“These experiences include flow, deep happiness,
“An experience in which our state of being, our relief or appreciation but they do not appear to
vision of the world and our relationship to it are involve the shift in perception, the sense of
transformed, bringing a sense of clarity, revelation, meaning and connection or
revelation and well-being in which we become unity which spiritual or mystical experiences
aware of a deeper (or higher) level of reality, bring.” Page 74
perceive a sense of harmony and meaning, and Taylor, S. (2012). ‘Spontaneous Awakening
transcend our normal sense of separateness from Experiences: Exploring the Phenomenon
the world.” (Taylor, 2012, p.74) Beyond Religion and Spirituality.’ The
Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 44, (1),
Taylor, S. (2012). ‘Spontaneous Awakening 73-91. [Link]
Experiences: Exploring the Phenomenon [Link]
Beyond Religion and Spirituality.’ The
Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 44, (1),
73-91. [Link]
[Link]
Taylor (2012) claims that ‘awakening
experiences’ (or what are traditionally called
‘spiritual experiences’) with religious and spiritual
practices is misleading. (p. 75).
Maslow’s peak experience
“Moments of great awe, moments of intense
happiness, or even, rapture, ecstasy or bliss…. All
separateness and distance from the world
disappear as the person feels one with the world,
fused with it, really belonging to it, instead of
outside, looking in…The feeling of seeing the
ultimate truth, the essence things, the secret of
life, as if veils had been pulled aside.”
[Link]
● Maslow believed that peak experiences
occur accidentally, and are spontaneous
‘moments of grace’
● ‘In general, we are "Surprised by Joy"..
Peaks come unexpectedly .... You can't
count on them. And hunting them is like
hunting happiness. It's best not done
directly. It comes as a by-product, an
epiphenomenon, for instance, of doing a
fine job at a worthy task you can identify
with.’
● But if they are associated with certain
activities and situations, these must
involve certain identifiable psychological
changes
Different types of Peak Experiences:
Elation: momentary joy which occurs when we
witness ‘acts of moral beauty’ – that is, someone
acting altruistically or selflessly . People reported
a warm feeling in the chest, a sensation of
expansion in heir heart, an increased desire to
help, and increased sense of connection with
others (Haidt, 2000)
Awe: ‘deep appreciative wonder' at the immensity
beauty and complexity of a phenomenon that
takes on universal significance e.g. through art,
nature, human excellence. (Keltner & Haidt,
2003)
Permanent awakening experiences Trick of the mind? Why Enlightenment?
(Enlightenment)
Plateau Experiences • Psychoanalytical - Freud: regression
• Neurological: abnormal experiences
A continuous or ongoing form of the peak caused by abnormal brain chemistry
experience, in which its characteristics are • Religious – gift from (or encounter with)
established as permanent deep-rooted traits. In God
this state, as Maslow describes it, ‘There is • Reductionist – ‘positive illusion’, a
nothing exceptional and nothing special, but one reaction to intense suffering; the creation
lives in a world of miracles all the time’ (Maslow, of an illusory reality in which ‘everything
1972, p. 113). is alright’ - ‘narrative construction’
Whereas in the peak experience, characteristics • Transpersonal – glimpse of an expanded
such as awe and mystery are dramatic and reality which is normally hidden – a
powerful, in the plateau experience, they are glimpse of the future of evolution?
’constant rather than climactic’ (ibid.).
Mysticism in Eastern perspectives Mysticism in Western perspectives
Other states of inducing trances
Definitions of Mysticism – Mysticism in the World of
Religions
Parrinder, G. (1976). Mysticism in the World’s Religions.
Oxford University Press, USA.
Atman and Brahman – Page 48
Associated with Hinduism (not popular
Hinduism)
There is no difference of the two, there is
separation. You are one of the whole
universe. Page 7
We are deluded into thinking we’re
separate. Maya (illusion)
Moksha (freedome): Transcend the
illusion of separateness
Samadhi (esctasy): becomes one with the
universe
Scriptural sources:
The Vedas (Vedic- Knowledge)
Upanishads (800-400 BCE)
Bhagavad Gita Page 8
Roughly same time as Greek philosophy
The ‘Axial Age’ - turning inside, Happold, F. C., & Frederick Crossfield Happold.
pondering about life (1990). Mysticism. Penguin.
Mystic experiences from ‘Eight Limbed
Path of Yoga’
Yama
Niyama
Asanas
Prananyama
Pratyahara
Dharana
Dhyana
Samadhi
Tantra: Holistic view of Body, Mind,
Spirit
Chakras
Spiritual evolution
Kundalini
Daoism
Harmony between Heaven, Humanity,
and Earth Wuwei, Ziran
Neidan – Inner Alchemy (shaping our
inner beings and turning our ways from
the external world)
Deep Ecology and Ecopsychology
Taylor, Steve (2017). The Leap: The
Psychology of Spiritual, Hay House,
London.
Page 20
Mystic experiences are just products of the physical
mind?
Page 35
Page 36
Characteristics of Mystical states
Page 45
Page 46
Ordinary state of Consciousness Non-ordinary state of Consciousness
“What if, rather than bein objective, our Awakening experiences as ‘a clarity of vision, a
normal consciouness is limited and heightening of physical perception’(Evelyn Underhill, as
blinkered and gives us what is in some cited in Taylor 2010) and ‘an appearance of newness
ways a false picture of reality? What if we beautifies every object’ (William James in The Varieties
only see the world in this way because we of Religious Experience, cited in T 2010).
are ‘asleep’? (Taylor, 2010, p.23)
Awakening experiences as ‘being alive’
Taylor, S. (2010). Waking from sleep.
London: Hay House.
Plato’s metaphor of reality
[Link]
allegory-of-the-cave-explainede
(Taylor, 2010, p. 24-25)
Awakening experiences as something that changes us
‘inside’
Page 27
Awakening experiences evokes love and compassion
Page 27
Beyond time
Page 36 ibid
Why is it different from ordinary consciouness?
Taylor 2010 Page 28
Drug-induced spiritual experiences Non drug-induced spriritual experiences
Triggers of awakening experiences:
Psychological turmoil (e.g., stress, depression
loss, bereavement
Nature
Meditation
Watching or listening to an arts performance (e.g.,
a dance performance, music, play)
HD (homeostasis disruption) states, where
pronounced physiological changes result in
awakening experiences (Taylor, 2010)
Participating in creative performance (e.g.,
playing music, dancing)
Athletic activity (e.g., running, swimming)
Reading spiritual literature
Sex
Prayer
No discernible trigger
Taylor, S. (2012). ‘Spontaneous Awakening
Experiences: Exploring the Phenomenon
Beyond Religion and Spirituality.’ The
Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 44, (1),
73-91. [Link]
[Link]
