Mystical experience and dark therapy

Vol.16,No.2(2018)

Abstract
A new growing tradition of methodology dealing with the induction of mystical experience in the laboratory has emerged from the theory of predictive models of perception. With the methodological and theoretical framework based on previous experimental research, this study induced "unusual" experiences in participants in a controlled environment. However, I used a novel suggestive context, "Dark Therapy", which meets the required conditions for sensory deprivation of participants. The aim was to find out how mystical experiences emerge and how participants are influenced by their individual suggestibility and cultural framework (New Age). The experimental group was composed of participants with active experience in spiritual practices and these were compared with a nonreligious control group. Results suggest a connection between mystical experiences, higher ratings of suggestibility, and active spiritual practice. The paper also discusses the limitations and errors of the project, and possible future directions.

Keywords:
mystical experience; suggestibility; imaginative suggestibility; predictive models of perception; dark therapy; dunkelterapie; alternative spirituality; mystical experience in the lab

Pages:
7–25
References

Andersen, M., Schjoedt, U., Nielbo, K. L., & Sorensen, J. (2014). Mystical Experience in the Lab. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, 26(3), 217–245. | DOI 10.1163/15700682-12341323

Babbie, E. . (2007). The Practice of Social Research. Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.

Barnes, S. M., Lynn, S. J., & Pekala, R. J. (2009). Not All Group Hypnotic Suggestibility Scales Are Created Equal: Individual Differences in Behavioral and Subjective Responses. Consciousness and Cognition, 18(1), 255–265. | DOI 10.1016/j.concog.2008.07.006

Barrett, F. S., Johnson, M. W., & Griffiths, R. R. (2015). Validation of the Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire in Experimental Sessions with Psilocybin. J Psychopharmacol, 29(11), 1182–1190. | DOI 10.1177/0269881115609019

Boyer, P. (2001). Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. New York: Basic Books.

Danelová, E. (2010). Alternativní a okrajové psychoterapeutické směry: Co o nich víme? Diplomová práce. Masarykova Univerzita, Brno.

Delaney, C. (2003). The Spirituality Scale: Development, Refinement and Psychometric Testing of an Instrument to Assess the Human Spiritual Dimension. Disertační práce. The University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.

Delaney, C. (2005). The Spirituality Scale: Development, Refinement and Psychometric Testing of an Instrument to Assess the Human Spiritual Dimension. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 23(2), 145–167.

Frith, C. (2007). Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Granqvist, P., & Larsson, M. (2006). Contribution of Religiousness in the Prediction and Interpretation of Mystical Experiences in a Sensory Deprivation Context: Activation of Religious Schema. The Journal of Psychology, 140(4), 319–327. | DOI 10.3200/JRLP.140.4.319-327

Granqvist, P., Fredrikson, M., Unge, P., Hagenfeldt, A., Valind, S., Larhammer, D., Larsson, M. et al. (2005). Sensed Presence and Mystical Experiences Are Predicted by Suggestibility, Not by the Application of Transcranial Weak Complex Magnetic Fields. Neuroscience Letters, 379(1), 1–6. | DOI 10.1016/j.neulet.2004.10.057

Griffiths, R. R., Richards, W. A., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2006). Psilocybin Can Occasion Mystical-Type Experiences Having Substantial and Sustained Personal Meaning and Spiritual Significance. Psychopharmacology, 187(3), 268–283. | DOI 10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5

Jack, A. I. (1998). Perceptual Awareness in Visual Masking. Disertační práce. University College London, London.

Kalweit, H. (2006). Dunkelterapie: Léčba tmou a vize vnitřního světla. Praha: Eminent.

Kirsch, I., & Braffman, W. (2001). Imaginative Suggestibility and Hypnotizability. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(2), 57–61. | DOI 10.1111/1467-8721.00115

Kratochvíl, S. (2011). Experimentální hypnóza: 3., aktualizované a rozšířené vydání. Praha: Grada.

Lewis, J. R., & Kemp, D. (Eds.) (2007). Handbook of New Age. Leiden: Brill.

McGeown, W. J., Venneri, A., Kirsch, I., Nocetti, L., Roberts, K., Foan, L., & Mazzoni, G. (2011). Suggested Visual Hallucination without Hypnosis Enhances Activity in Visual Areas of the Brain. Consciousness and Cognition, 21(1), 100–116. | DOI 10.1016/j.concog.2011.10.015

Ondrašinová, M. (2010). Jak uchopit "neuchopitelné": Diskuze o detradicionalizované spiritualitě. In: D. Lužný & D. Václavík et al. (Eds.), Individualizace náboženství a identita (pp. 118–142). Praha: Malvern.

Pahnke, W. N., & Richards, W. A. (1966). Implications of LSD and Experimental Mysticism. Journal of Religion and Health, 5(3), 175–208. | DOI 10.1007/BF01532646

Pekař, R. (2015). Terapie tmou jako způsob (sebe)poznání (týden v temnotě na cestě k nám samým). Diplomová práce. Masarykova Universita, Brno.

Persinger, M. A. (2002). Experimental Simulation of the God Experience: Implications for Religious Beliefs and the Future of the Human Species. In: R. Joseph (Ed.), Neurotheology: Brain, Science, Spirituality, Religious Experience (pp. 279–292). San Jose: University Press.

Pike, S. M. (2004). New Age and Neopagan Religions in America. New York: Columbia University Press.

Sessa, B. (2012). The Psychedelic Renaissance: Reassessing the Role of Psychedelic Drugs in 21st Century Psychiatry and Society. London: Muswell Hill Press.

Spanos, N. P., Radtke, H. L., Hodgins, D. C., Stam, H. J., & Bertrand, L. D. (1983a). The Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale: Normative Data and Psychometric Properties. Psychological Reports, 53(2), 523–535. | DOI 10.2466/pr0.1983.53.2.523

Spanos, N. P., Radtke, H. L., Hodgins, D. C., Stam, H. J., Bertrand, L. D., & Moretti, P. (1983b). The Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale: Relationship with Other Measures of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Expectancies, and Absorption. Psychological Reports, 53(3), 723–734. | DOI 10.2466/pr0.1983.53.3.723

St-Pierre, L. S., & Persinger, M. A. (2006). Experimental Facilitation of the Sensed Presence Is Predicted by the Specific Patterns of the Applied Magnetic Fields, Not by Suggestibility: Re-Analyses of 19 Experiments. International Journal of Neuroscience, 116(9), 1079–1096. | DOI 10.1080/00207450600808800

Svoboda, M. (1986). Hypnotická schopnost ve vztahu k sociální ovlivnitelnosti. In: Sborník prací Filosofické fakulty brněnské univerzity, 35(I21), 45–56.

Švaříček, R. et al. (2007). Kvalitativní výzkum v pedagogických vědách. Praha: Portál.

Taves, A. & Asprem, E. (2017). Experience as Event: Event Cognition and the Study of (Religious) Experiences. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 7(1), 43–62. | DOI 10.1080/2153599X.2016.1150327

Taves, A. (2009). Religious Experience Reconsidered: A Building-Block Approach to the Study od Religion and Other Special Things. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Tobacyk, J. J. (2004). A Revised Paranormal Belief Scale. The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 23(1), 94–98. | DOI 10.24972/ijts.2004.23.1.94

van Elk, M. (2013). Paranormal Believers Are More Prone to Illusory Agency Detection than Skeptics. Consciousness and Cognition, 22(3), 1041–1046. | DOI 10.1016/j.concog.2013.07.004

Metrics

876

Views

0

PDF (Czech) views