What is a Mystical Experience? Signs, Triggers and Real-Life Examples
Written by Kirsti Formoso, MSc. Transpersonal Psychology, BSc. Psychology
Have you ever wondered if you’ve had a mystical experience, a moment so powerful it felt like a true spiritual awakening? A time when the world fell silent, your awareness expanded, and you felt an overwhelming sense of oneness, connection, and joy?
Perhaps it was indescribable, yet you knew it had deep spiritual significance. Even decades later, you remember it vividly, as if it happened only yesterday.
I speak to many people about these extraordinary moments, often called spiritual experiences or exceptional human experiences (EHEs), and I’ve found that many people don’t know if they’ve had a mystical experience or not.
This guide will help you recognise the signs of a mystical experience, understand its triggers, and make sense of its meaning in your life. More importantly, it will offer ways to reconnect with that state so you can deepen your spiritual path and invite more moments of awakening.
SCIENCE MEETS SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
As a transpersonal psychologist, I’ve conducted several research studies into mystical experiences. I’ve also had my mystical experience research published in a peer-reviewed journal. Much of what I share in this article is based on scientific literature about mystical experiences and my own research.
I also share my own mystical experiences that led to my spiritual awakening. They serve as examples, each unique, yet sharing that same unmistakable quality of profound transformation. They provided me with a deep understanding of the mystical non-dual state and the tension that arises from identification with the egoic state within cosmic consciousness.
This blend of lived experience and scholarly study gives me a unique lens for understanding what mystical experiences are, why they happen, and how they can shape a person’s life.
WHAT IS A MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
A mystical experience is a special type of EHE that leads to profound spiritual awakening. It’s really what we’re searching for through all our spiritual practices.
A mystical experience is a sort of altered state of consciousness or peak state. It is as if our cognitive thinking brain goes quiet, enabling us to experience an expanded state of consciousness. Our awareness has a heightened clarity, and we feel as if we are connected to everything and that everything has a living presence. As if there is no separation in the world or the universe. A feeling of unity or oneness. A sense that we have no boundaries, that we extend beyond our personal body and identity.
During a mystical experience, many people feel that they are at a spiritual height, and some describe it as a sacred moment. In that moment, they are imbued with clarity, wisdom, and insight. At the same time, feelings of love, joy, and gratitude permeate every cell of their body.
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE EXAMPLES
I’ve had two mystical experiences. The first was fleeting, lasting just moments. It was during a guided meditation. At that moment, I was filled with love and joy. I felt connected to everything, as if I were everything, and yet there didn’t seem to be an I at all. And I had this sudden revelation that the world is a benevolent place, and it is us that make it not so. As fast as it came, it went. It was profound, emotional, and completely changed my worldview.
My second mystical experience came on just as fast, but there seemed to be no end to it. In that initial moment, I was struck by the beauty of a puddle. In it was the golden reflection of the orange-tinged street light above me. I was seeing with new eyes. I noticed the bark on the tree, the reflection of the light on the wet leaves. In total awe, I stopped in my tracks as everyone else busily hurried past me.
I was full of joy and wonder; the world was exquisite and magical, and I was in awe. It was as if I was seeing the world for the first time. Thoughts, judgments, desires, and aversions all receded, and all that was left was inner peace and a beingness.
It wasn’t just that my perception had become more expansive and lucid; I had changed. I was no longer a thing. I was no thing. And yet, I extended far beyond my physical body. I had no boundaries. No longer ruled by my beliefs, no longer weighted down by petty things, I was content with just being. I needed for nothing. I was at a silent retreat. That night, it took me a long time to reach my room. I walked in awe of this magnificent world filled with love, joy, and wonder.
This profound experience of absolute reality, spiritual insights and effortless joy was, for me, my most spiritually significant time in my life. One that will be with me for the rest of my life. It was an unexpected life-changing experience.
For more examples of mystical experiences and moments of enlightenment, check out IMERE.
HOW COMMON ARE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES
These specific types of spiritual experiences are, in fact, a common human phenomenon that has been documented across cultures and religious traditions for millennia. Over the last 40 years, one-third of North Americans have consistently reported to Gallup polls that they have had such an experience. We could say it’s all just part of spiritual life and the spiritual journey, but some people have these experiences totally unexpectedly. And that means that many people who’ve had this type of spiritual experience would never call it a mystical experience. That’s a term that’s used in psychology research.
ENLIGHTENING AND SPIRITUAL AWAKENING EXPERIENCES
Some people refer to their experience as an awakening experience, an enlightening experience, a transcendent experience, a religious, God or spiritual experience, a spiritual awakening, an insight experience, a cosmic consciousness experience, a peak experience or a non-dual experience. Others prefer terms like oneness experience and unity experience. And then some people like to give it no name, for any label would take away from what they experienced.
Many of these labels mean different things to me. Working as a transpersonal practitioner, I sometimes need to be more specific about people's experiences. And the more specific, the more we can understand our experiences. So, if you'd like to know more about the nuances of terms like spiritual awakening, enlightening experience, mystical experiences and awakening experiences, you can get detailed descriptions on my spiritual experience glossary blog, The Varieties of Spiritual Experience: A Complete Guide.
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES AND TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Spiritual and religious experiences have been a topic of research in theological studies, anthropological studies, philosophical studies, perennial philosophy, psychopharmacology and transpersonal psychology. As you can imagine, people have been having these religious and mystical experiences since time began.
Transpersonal psychology is a branch of psychology that explores spiritual awakening and all that transcends the egoic identity. This includes altered states of consciousness, transpersonal experiences and exceptional human experiences. One of the most well-known, researched, and investigated transpersonal experiences is mystical experiences.
That means that rather than looking at your mystical, spiritual or religious experience as a mental illness where you're somehow thought of as delusional, which is how they have been traditionally viewed by psychologists, they are recognised for their benefits and potentially positive effects.
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE RESEARCH
William James, one of the most prominent figures in psychology, often referred to as the "Father of American Psychology", was the first psychologist to investigate mystical, religious and spiritual experiences. James gave a series of lectures at the University of Edinburgh between 1901 and 1902 called The Varieties of Religious Experience. In these lectures, James explored the psychological and personal aspects of religious experiences, examining them from a scientific and philosophical perspective. He encouraged his students to study these profound mystical experiences themselves.
Other pioneering writers and researchers found in mysticism literature are Evelyn Underhill, who wrote the iconic book Mysticism; Walter Stace, who wrote the book Mysticism and Philosophy; Rudolf Otto, and Ralph W. Hood.
WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES?
William James said that a mystical experience is an experience during which people experience a sense of oneness. He stated that an oneness experience, combined with noetic quality and ineffableness, is sufficient to establish an altered state of consciousness as mystical.
While James stated these as the prominent features of this very special type of spiritual experience, he also added that a sense of transiency and passivity can also be present. Walter Stace identified five additional characteristics, which he called objective reality, positive feelings, sacred and divine nature, paradoxicality and ineffability. Let’s take a deeper look.
7 SIGNS OF A MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
With over 50 years of research into mystical experiences, there’s no doubt about what makes a mystical experience a mystical experience. The research is clear about what a mystical experience feels like.
These are the 7 signs and characteristics of a mystical experience backed by science.
🔶 Oneness
Oneness, also called unity or non-duality, is the primary characteristic of mystical experiences, but it is not sufficient alone for a spiritual experience to be classed as mystical. For example, you can have an oneness experience at a concert or football match, but it probably isn't a mystical experience. This oneness experience feels like all is one and connected. Like, there is no separation between you and the rest of the world.
🔶 Noetic / Objective Reality
Noetic or objective reality is the sense that the experience is more real than anything else you've ever experienced. It is as if this state of pure consciousness is more real than your everyday, cognicentric state of consciousness. And, in this state, you have a sort of intuitive understanding, direct knowledge or wisdom. It is as if your vision becomes clear, and your perceptual, cognitive filters of expectation, belief and culture are removed, and no longer intermediate experience, but the experience is direct and uncluttered with pre-conceived ideas.
🔶 Positive Mood
Mystical experiences always have an element of positive feelings such as pure happiness, love, compassion, gratitude, exhilaration, or ecstasy. The positive mood, combined with the other aspects, makes many people feel like they’re at a spiritual height. They feel accepted and nurtured, connected and safe.
🔶 Altered Time and Space Perception
Alterations in our time and space perception seem to be a consistent feature of this type of spiritual experience. However, this aspect did not get much attention from early researchers in the field. And, while I experienced some sort of alteration in time and space perception, for me, it wasn’t a defining feature.
I think it gets so much attention in the literature and measurement of mystical experiences because most of the quantitative research on the subject is based on psychedelic mystical experiences. Obviously, psychedelics affect your time and space perception.
Chen et al. (2011) investigating the mystical state in monks brings up an important point. When in the mystical state, time and space become extraneous or unimportant.
🔶 Sacred and Divine Nature
Some people describe their experience as sacred and divine in nature. However, this religious framework will not resonate with everyone. Before I had a mystical experience, I was spiritual and believed in some sort of God or higher power or something that can't be put into words. After my experience, paradoxically, I felt that even more so and at the same time, I felt more atheist than I had ever felt in my life. Which leads me to the next dimension of the mystical state.
🔶 Paradoxical
Paradoxical elements refer to the contradictory or seemingly self-contradictory nature of mystical states, which can challenge conventional understanding and language. For example, I felt very strongly that I was both everything and nothing. Other people report a sense of oneness and separation. In a qualitative study I conducted, one participant who’d had a mystical experience during a Watsu treatment mentioned they felt as if they were the water and yet not even in water.
🔶 Ineffable
Quite naturally, then comes the ineffable. The fact that the experience can not be explained by words. That no amount of words could do it justice. We just don't have the language and vocabulary to describe such an experience. And forget trying to explain it to someone who’s never had one.
THE NEUROSCIENCE OF PURE CONSCIOUSNESS
Several studies into the neural correlates of mystical experiences show changes in how the brain works. The part of the brain linked to self-focus, called the default mode network (DMN), quiets down. At the same time, different brain areas start working together in new ways. This can create feelings of unity, awe, and a loss of ego or boundaries.
And while the brain activity during mystical experiences is consistent across different triggers, it doesn't mean we can reduce the experience to a brain-based experience. It just means that when we have these experiences, certain brain regions become active.
HOW LONG DO MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES LAST?
Most mystical experiences are sadly over very quickly. They’re fleeting. As quickly as they happen, they disappear, and we’re flung back into our normal state of consciousness, wondering what just happened and how we can have the experience again.
William James suggested that this special type of spiritual experience is transient, and the experiencer is passive, having no control. If we did, we’d all revel in the experience for a lot longer. So, for the last 100 years, people have thought that mystical experiences last only a few moments.
However, more recent research, including my own peer-reviewed and published research, suggests otherwise. And some people, including myself, find their mystical experiences last for years.
WHAT CAUSES MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES
Drawing on my own research again, 49% of my participants unsurprisingly cited spiritual or religious practices as being a significant trigger of their mystical experience. The participants were able to cite more than one trigger. 29% said that they were in nature, and 28% cited psychological trauma as being a trigger. 18% reported no discernable trigger or other.
Both of my mystical experiences happened in the context of spiritual practices. The first happened during a guided mindfulness meditation while I was on an 8-week Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction course for mature students. And the second happened when I was on a week-long silent retreat with a prominent spiritual teacher.
While these are the common causes of mystical experiences, anything from giving birth to attending a live performance can induce this special type of altered state of consciousness. Another very common trigger is psychedelics. Now, I'm not talking about tripping at a nightclub. When people on their spiritual path use psychedelics for ritual, spiritual or therapeutic reasons, mystical experiences can happen.
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES AND PSYCHEDELICS
After I had my first mystical experience, I wanted to understand what had happened to me, so I fervently started searching scientific papers to find out. At that time, there were a handful of studies on the subject. But then I hit jackpot. Most of the psychology literature mentioning mystical experiences was coming out of the Johns Hopkins Centre for Psychedelic Research. To be honest, there still weren’t that many papers on the subject.
It turns out that the healing effects of psychedelics are positively correlated with the strength of the mystical experience people have during their psychedelic experience. In other words, the stronger the mystical experience, the more healing people reported, and the more persistent the positive effects were.
Today, there are hundreds of research studies about psychedelics and mystical experiences. And while psychedelic therapy is not all about mystical experiences, they do play a prominent role in the therapeutic model.
HOW TO HAVE A MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
No one really knows how to trigger a mystical experience. It’s not an exact science. And while researchers have had great success in psychedelic therapy research, it’s still not a given. The researchers cannot guarantee that participants will have a mystical experience.
Some say it’s a matter of Grace. Others take objection to this notion. Some research suggests there are other factors that influence people’s ability to have a mystical experience. For example, people with a disorganised attachment style are more prone to trait absorption and therefore, more likely to experience altered spiritual states.
Evidence is sparse and therefore inconclusive, but we do know that certain factors can increase the potential for having a mystical experience.
To increase your chances of having a mystical experience, try these things;
1. Meditation and Mindfulness Practices - Regular meditation helps quiet the mind and cultivate present-moment awareness, which is conducive to mystical experiences.
2. Spending Time in Nature - Immersing yourself in the beauty and tranquillity of nature can create a sense of interconnectedness, which often leads to mystical or transcendent experiences.
3. Psychedelic or Entheogenic Substances (with caution and legally) - Under the right conditions and with proper guidance, substances like psilocybin, LSD, or ayahuasca have been known to trigger profound mystical experiences, though it’s important to approach them responsibly.
4. Deep Breathing and Breathwork - Techniques like holotropic breathwork or pranayama can induce altered states of consciousness, enhancing the likelihood of a mystical experience.
5. Intention Setting - Setting a clear and sincere intention to seek a deeper connection to the divine, the universe, or your higher self can open the door to mystical experiences.
6. Spiritual Practices (Yoga, Prayer, Chanting) - Engaging in spiritual practices like yoga, prayer, or chanting can help raise consciousness and facilitate experiences of transcendence or unity with the divine.
7. Sensory Deprivation - Practices like sensory deprivation tanks or meditation retreats that reduce external stimuli allow for deep introspection and often result in mystical insights or altered states.
8. Reading Sacred or Mystical Texts - Exposure to spiritual literature (such as the Tao Te Ching, The Bhagavad Gita, or The Upanishads) can spark profound realisations or shifts in perception that lead to mystical experiences.
9. Cultivating Gratitude and Humility - Approaching life with deep gratitude and humility can open you up to mystical moments, as it invites the experience of unity and connection with all beings.
10. Participating in Rituals or Ceremonies - Group rituals, religious ceremonies, or spiritual gatherings can create a powerful atmosphere that helps facilitate mystical experiences through shared intention and collective energy.
These practices foster the conditions for profound spiritual experiences, often leading to insights or feelings of unity, interconnectedness, and transcendent awareness.
MEASURING MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES
Measuring mystical experiences is as challenging as measuring anything else that is subjective. We all have different ideas of what, on a scale of 1- 5, 5 actually means. Added to that is the fact that, by their very nature, this specific type of spiritual experience is ineffable, and things get a lot more complicated.
Nevertheless, there are several questionnaires that can be used for measuring mystical experiences. I won't go into too much detail here, but if you're interested, I discuss the different tools in my blog, measuring mystical experiences.
It's important to remember that these questionnaires were designed for research purposes and nothing else. However, my participants and clients have reported back to me that completing mystical experience questionnaires has provided them with a great opportunity to reflect on their experiences. Most people find it very helpful. But I must say that some people don't find it useful at all. Like labelling and talking about their experience, doing questionnaires seems to take something away from their experience.
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES AND TRANSFORMATION
The transformational and therapeutic effects of mystical experiences are well documented. At one point in time, this special type of spiritual experience was referred to as quantum change experiences or religious conversion experiences. This is because they hold tremendous potential for spiritual transformation.
Nowhere else has this been seen more than in psychedelic research. A significant part of measuring the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is the Persisting Positive Effects scale, which measures the transformation that participants undergo.
But these transformations are not limited to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy experiences. In 2004, William R. Miller published his research on quantum change. He interviewed 55 participants about their positive psychological transformation and categorised them into either a mystical type experience or an insightful type. One thing that stood out for Miller was that something had changed on a most fundamental level of their identity. These experiences don't just change our behaviour and beliefs. They change our identity.
These transformational experiences are why psychedelics are receiving such big headlines. Researchers have had tremendous results with people suffering from previously difficult-to-treat psychological problems, such as treatment-resistant depression, existential crisis in terminally ill cancer patients, people suffering from addictions, and anorexia.
My own life-changing transformation was mind-boggling. On the outside, I looked no different, but everything had changed for me. I remember writing in my journal about a year in, "What the bleep just happened to my brain?". It was literally rewired. And I wasn’t the only one that noticed I’d changed. Even my doctor noticed there was something different about me.
SHARING YOUR MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
Talking about spiritual experiences is a personal matter. There are advantages and disadvantages to talking about your experience with other people. If you do decide to share your experience, be very careful who you choose to share it with. It will affect how you process and integrate your experience. Above all, honouring your experience should take prime consideration.
INTEGRATING MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES
Just as spiritual practice is a major contributor to having a mystical experience, it's also a major contributor to integrating your experience. Research suggests that the more people engage in spiritual practices after their experience, the stronger the persisting positive effects are.
Certainly, reflecting and journaling on your experience can help you understand it better and learn more from it, and that's what integration is all about. Between my own experience and those I've helped, I find reflecting on your experience is the single most powerful tool for integrating your mystical experience into ordinary life. And I don't just mean the actual experience, I mean reflecting on your journey afterwards as well.
Reading spiritual literature can also be really helpful. Connecting with others can reduce feelings of isolation and help you learn and grow from other people's experiences and journeys, too.
Most people who have mystical experiences, if not all, experience some sort of positive psychological transformation. But we can milk it. We can take this opportunity, this gift and run with it. Transform ourselves for the better through focused integration practices.
Spiritual practices like meditation and breathwork can help us to tap into our higher selves and our spiritual or transpersonal aspects. They help us experience stillness and non-duality again and again. Practices like yoga and tai chi help us to get into a flow state, which, I believe, is a precursor to the mystical state. Mindfulness can bring that mystical state into our everyday life.
HONOUR YOUR MYSTICAL OR SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
Not everyone will have a mystical experience in their life. If you are lucky enough to enjoy this special type of spiritual experience, see it as a gift and honour it. No doubt it will be the most of one of the most spiritually significant experiences of your life and I believe you have had this experience for a reason. They are powerful experiences, even if they are only momentary. They hold powerful transformational potential. You have been given a gift. What will you do with it?
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