Thoughts on the Ineffability of the Mystical Experience
Ineffability has been proposed as an important feature of the mystical experience. Various psychological processes may contribute to this ineffability, including expansion of awareness from center to margin of the field of consciousness (building on thoughts of William James and Frederic Myers); an...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
2002
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| In: |
The international journal for the psychology of religion
Year: 2002, Volume: 12, Issue: 3, Pages: 141-160 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
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| Summary: | Ineffability has been proposed as an important feature of the mystical experience. Various psychological processes may contribute to this ineffability, including expansion of awareness from center to margin of the field of consciousness (building on thoughts of William James and Frederic Myers); an attentional shift from a discrete figure to a large, complex, novel ground; limitations imposed by the nature of the "object" of the experience and by our vehicles of perception and cognition; difficulties of memory transfer from mystical to ordinary states of consciousness; and constraints imposed by brain structures, culture and tradition, and self-fulfilling prophesies. This focus on the limitations of vehicles of expression does not deny that exposure to a transcendent realm may also account for aspects of ineffability. |
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| ISSN: | 1532-7582 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The international journal for the psychology of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1207/S15327582IJPR1203_02 |