| Have you ever wondered about mystical | | | | still. Specifically, humans once existed in a higher state |
| experiences? Many books have been written | | | | of some sort and maintained some relationship with |
| describing what they are, how to have one, and how | | | | beings that were not human. There was some sort of |
| one may benefit from such experiences. Most seem | | | | connection between humans and some supreme |
| to written from some religion’s perspective that | | | | power, whether or not that power is personified. |
| naturally excludes those who do not follow that religion. | | | | However, this connection was broken for some |
| In reality, the mystical experience is not any one | | | | reason (the reasons vary between cultures). There |
| religion’s method of seeing that religion’s higher | | | | also persists a belief that a person can reconnect or |
| power; it is a glimpse into a physical reality of our | | | | reestablish this connection through either physical or |
| world. The ability to see this physical reality is not | | | | mental actions that grant access to the higher plain |
| confined to any one religion or a set of religions, but is | | | | humans once roamed freely. [See Mercia Eliade’s |
| open to anyone who will develop the proper mindset. | | | | The Myth of the Eternal Return for a deeper |
| In my book, Physical Mysticism: The Brain and Mystical | | | | exploration on this subject] |
| Experiences, I argue that mystical experiences are | | | | In my book, I explore the religious and mystical |
| simply a byproduct of the way normal brains function | | | | traditions in Chinese religions, as well as Hinduism, |
| and that any individual, regardless of religious | | | | Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to |
| background, can become a mystic. What individuals | | | | demonstrate that these motifs are present in each, |
| experience during a mystical event is produced by the | | | | even though the expressions of the motifs are |
| brain and not by some spiritual being or by peering into | | | | different. In reality, the Nirvana one can experience in |
| some spiritual plane. What it is, in fact, is experiencing | | | | Buddhism is the same presence of God one might |
| part of the material world around us, a part that is | | | | experience in the so-called Western, monotheistic |
| normally obscured by sensory distractions and ways | | | | religions. The experience of mystical enlightenment is |
| of thinking. | | | | nearly identical in all traditions. |
| In brief, the first part of the argument is that one’s | | | | I also explore just how the human brain actually works |
| DNA determines that a normal human will have a | | | | and how this functionality is what produces the |
| human type of brain that processes sensory | | | | mystical experience. Seeing Nirvana or the face of |
| information in a certain way and that one’s | | | | God is not seeing into some higher existence or |
| environment helps to lay a foundation of memories on | | | | connecting with a Grand Unity (as Newberg, |
| which a belief system is constructed. Memories, which | | | | D’Aquili, and Rause call it in their book, Why God |
| are physical structures in the brain, server as filters | | | | Won’t Go Away), but is simply using a natural |
| through which future sensory information is processed. | | | | function of the brain to see what is there all the time. |
| As one matures, he or she develops a sense of self | | | | What one does see or sense is the |
| that is an expression of this web of memory built belief | | | | interconnectedness of all life. |
| systems. | | | | Many animal species can smell things we cannot, |
| The latest brain research shows this to be true but it is | | | | sense movement we do not notice, and see much |
| fairly commonsensical as well. Take any person and | | | | better than humans are able to see. That we do not |
| look closely at friends, family, living situations, diet, and a | | | | normally share these experiences with animals does |
| host of other environmental factors and it will be easy | | | | not mean the smells, movements, and sights do not |
| to see how a person’s beliefs fit those factors. | | | | exist. We all know better than that. What humans do |
| Taken another way, a person cannot believe | | | | have the capacity to do is shape and reshape |
| something he or she was never taught or never | | | | personal beliefs to allow different perceptions of the |
| learned. Even in those cases where someone seems | | | | world. By changing our beliefs, we can see the world in |
| to break free from one mindset, there will be beliefs | | | | new and different ways. |
| present in the brain that facilitated the paradigm shift. | | | | The mystical experience, available to all who are willing |
| From here, the argument is that because of similarities | | | | to have one, is attuning one’s senses to the |
| in environmental cues and brain structures, humans as | | | | physical reality of the interconnectedness of all life and |
| a species seem prone to share certain beliefs, even | | | | the absence of a true separation between me and not |
| though those beliefs are expressed somewhat | | | | me. Becoming a mystic simply entails reshaping |
| differently from culture to culture. Nearly all cultures | | | | one’s personal beliefs such that he or she believes |
| developed some sort of mysticism and some form of | | | | it is possible and then works to being about the |
| religion. There are some beliefs in older cultures that | | | | experience, no god or God required. |
| recur universally. In many cultured, these beliefs persist | | | | |