Is there a difference between Psychedelic Mystical Experiences and Non-Psychedelic Mystical Experiences?

This is a question I've been fascinated by for a long time. And I'm not the only one. There have been many debates on this subject. Theologians tended to think they couldn't possibly be the same, while transpersonal psychologists tended to think they were. The argument goes if the fruits are the same the roots are unimportant. Basically, if you've had a transformative and healing awakening experience, it doesn't matter if psychedelics were involved or not.

And I agree. Who cares how it came about? But I'm curious. Certainly, they are very similar. There's no doubt about that. And, whether you've had a profound mystical experience under the influence of psychedelics or not, the potential for tremendous transformation is there. But are they the same?

WHAT ARE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES EXPERIENCES

Mystical experiences are a special type of altered state of consciousness where you feel like you transcend your personal boundaries and merge into something greater, like a oneness or unity. This altered state of consciousness is accompanied by a sense of pure consciousness and ultimate reality, absolute reality, or objective reality, intuitive understanding, positive moods, noetic quality, temporal and spatial alterations, ineffable and sometimes paradoxical nature.

WHAT CAUSES A MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE

This particular type of spiritual experience, or spiritual awakening, has been documented throughout religious traditions such as Christian mysticism and Hinduism since time immemorial. They are closely associated with a spiritual life, spiritual practices and religious practices.

But mystical experiences are associated with other triggers such as psychological turmoil, nature and psychedelic drugs.

COMPARING PSYCHEDELIC AND NON-PSYCHEDELIC MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES

Many people believe that psychedelic mystical experiences and mystical experiences that occur without psychoactive substances because they both have healing and transformational potential. But there's hardly any research that actually compares them, let alone confirms this assumption.

For example, at Johns Hopkins Centre for Psychedelic Research researchers compared psychedelic God encounter experiences with non-psychedelic God encounter experiences. And well, the psychedelic mystical experiences tended to score significantly higher on the mystical experience questionnaire and it's latent factors.

But in research where the researchers used a different scale to measure the mystical or spiritual experience the results were quite different. Non-psychedelic mystical experiences seems to score higher on dimensions of unity, spiritual experience, blissful state and insightfulness.

THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

One of the challenges of comparing these two types of awakening experiences is how researchers measure them.

The most widely used questionnaire for measuring mystical or spiritual experiences today is the MEQ30. This questionnaire was revised from the MEQ43 which is largely based on the theory and framework of Walter Stace, who conducted a thorough investigation of the core characteristics of this type of spiritual awakening.

However, the MEQ30 has been revised and developed within the psychedelic drugs research carried out at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Psychedelic Research.

Despite calls the the MEQ30 to be validated on non-psychedelic mystical experiences, the MEQ30 is now being used for non-psychedelic mystical experiences and to compare the two types. But for a scale to be valid on a different population than the one it was intended for it must be tested on that population. In this case, the MEQ30 should be tested on people who've had such an experience without psychedelics.

Because if psychedelic and non-psychedelic mystical experiences are subjectively different this will skew and bias the research results. So, the question is, are non-psychedelic and psychedelic mystical experiences subjectively the same? And is the MEQ30 a good measure for non-psychedelic mystical experiences, or should we be using a different questionnaire?

TESTING THE MEQ30 ON NON-PSYCHEDELIC MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES

To find out, I conducted some research, which involved getting people who've had these experiences without psychedelic drugs to fill out the MEQ43 and, consequently, the MEQ30. If you'd like to read the peer-reviewed article about my research, you can find it here.

So, what did I find when I analyzed the results? It appeared that there may actually be some nuanced subjective differences in these experiences, which means there might also be a more appropriate questionnaire to measure non-psychedelic mystical experiences.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PSYCHEDELIC AND NON-PSYCHEDELIC MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES

Before I get into the differences, I want to emphasise that there are far more similarities than differences. No wonder there's been such debate. The main difference that I noticed in my research results was that while having a psychedelic experience, people tend to lose their sense of time and space, whereas with a non-psychedelic experience, people don't lose their sense of time and space, rather time and space lose meaning, and become sort of irrelevant.

MEQ43 REVISION FOR NON-PSYCHEDELIC MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES

I investigated what a questionnaire would look like with an alternative set of questions and whether different subjective characteristics of non-psychedelic mystical experiences would emerge. To do this, I used a statistical analysis called exploratory factor analysis, which reveals important underlying characteristics of mystic experience and indicates which questions are most important for capturing them.

 THE UNDERLYING CHARACTERISTICS OF NON-PSYCHEDELIC MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES

As expected, the new questionnaire for measuring non-psychedelic mystical experiences, the MEQ25, is quite similar to the MEQ30, but there are some important differences.

While some of the core characteristics sound the same, they include different questions. For example, MEQ30 questions about losing one's sense of time or awareness of where they are were, are not in the new Time Space Transcendent subscale. Plus, the new subscale, Ineffable and Paradoxical, has a question that accounts for a common characteristic of mystical experiences, paradoxicality, that is not in the MEQ30.

NOETIC PERSPECTIVES AND TRANSFORMATION

The most interesting difference is the emergence of a subscale that specifically measures the noetic characteristics. This is important because the noetic aspect of ME is associated with a positive impact on spirituality, health, family life, purpose, and a reduced fear of death. It's also potentially the nexus of the therapeutic potential of mystical experiences. In other words, it might be what makes these experiences so transformative.

From my own experience, I think I would agree, but, for me, the noetic aspect and paradoxicality were also the most challenging aspects of my experience to integrate. I don't think I'm alone, new research on integrating mystical experiences is emerging and organisations like ACISTE provide support for integrating these transformative experiences.

LENGTH AND INTENSITY OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES

While the research seems to be pointing to the fact that the intensity of these experiences is not effected by their triggers, the length of the experience is. This is probably the single biggest difference between psychedelic and non-psychedelic mystical experiences.

Psychedelic mystical experiences are limited to the duration of the psychedelic drugs whereas spontaneous enlightening experiences that don't involve psychedelic drugs have no such limits. How long mystical experiences last is probably the biggest surprise in recent research.

THE FUTURE OF MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE RESEARCH

Being the only questionnaire to cover all the characteristics of mystical experiences laid out by Stace and especially emphasizing the noetic aspect, the MEQ25 could help researchers understand both the challenges of integrating people's enlightening experiences and the potential enduring transformational effects.

But before the MEQ25 can be used to advance our understanding of non-psychedelic mystical experiences, the questionnaire would have to be tested on a bigger sample. This would ensure that the results are not specific to our participants but that the scale measures typical non-psychedelic mystical experiences.

What's more, my research findings should be considered with caution. After all, it was a research project for a post-graduate Psychology degree, and that meant time and resources were limited, which undoubtedly had an impact on the project's robustness. That said, as a preliminary piece of research, it raises questions and draws attention to the need for more research in this area.

My research developed a potential new questionnaire for measuring non-psychedelic mystical experiences, which is great but doesn't really help us compare the two experiences. For that, researchers would need to choose a combination of measures that captures all the nuances of both types of mystical experience.

THE FRUITS OF SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

Whether psychedelics are involved or not, people report that these experiences are the most spiritually significant experiences of their lives. They are life changing and transformative. And they are a marker on anyone's spiritual path that should be honoured and integrated properly to get the most benefit. The fruits of a mystical experience are far reaching and have the potential to make us a better human being. And these benefits are found no matter the trigger or cause.