The psychical and the mystical: Boundaries, connections, common origins

The Psychical and the Mystical: Boundaries, Connections, Common Origins

Paul Marshall

Notable exceptions aside, researchers in the fields of mysticism and parapsychol­ogy have not taken an active interest in each other’s domain of study. Mysticism scholars have tended to regard psychical phenomena as unworthy of academic study, as lesser phenomena that mystics themselves view with suspicion. For their part, parapsychologists have been inattentive to mystical experience despite their interest in a variety of extraordinary experiences. However, one type of mystical experience – the unitive apprehension of the natural world – does appear to have connections with psychical cognition, and other links are evident too, including shared triggers and predisposing factors. It follows that the psychical and the mystical require interdisciplinary study and a theory capable of explaining both. To this end, filter theory and kundalini yoga are invoked to suggest that psychical and mystical cognitions derive from a common source.