mystical-experience

A mystical experience is a state of profound unity, transcendence, and sensed sacredness — the feeling that the boundary between self and world has dissolved and what remains is more real than ordinary awareness.

In psychedelic research, the Mystical Experience Questionnaire measures four dimensions: the "mystical" quality (pure being, unity with surroundings, sense of reality, sacredness), positive mood (amazement, bliss), loss of usual time-space sense, and the sense the experience cannot be adequately conveyed in words. Mystical experiences are the mediator of psilocybin's most lasting effects: in MacLean et al. 2011, only the participants who had mystical experiences during the session showed the openness gain that persisted at 14 months. The experience is not guaranteed by the drug — set, setting, and individual variation determine whether a session occasions one — which is why the openness gain is a subgroup effect, not a universal one.