How Can We Understand Transcendent Experiences?

Spirituality requires both curiosity and skepticism.

I wrote about the dubious existence of souls here. In the article, I wondered why some people assume that near-death experiences (NDEs) prove that there is an afterlife. Seems like a stretch to me. There is NOT a way to know whether an NDE is the last thing we see when we die or the first thing we see when we reincarnate. I suspect it’s the former. But I can NOT know.

I attended the University of Virginia, where Drs. Raymond Moody and Ian Stevenson pioneered groundbreaking NDE research. Both were reluctant to claim that NDEs prove the afterlife. Stevenson said that his investigation was suggestive of reincarnation, but it “was not flawless and it certainly does not compel such a belief.” Moody said much the same thing in his last book.

Still, there are many things that we all experience that we can NOT prove in an objective sense. Imagine that you have an NDE that seems more real than anything that happens in everyday life. How do you describe it? How do you know that your mind is NOT playing tricks on you? And how do you ever know that your mind is NOT playing tricks on you? How do you understand it?

Objectivity and Subjectivity

Commonly, we think of objectivity and subjectivity in terms of facts and opinions, AI says, “Objectivity refers to information based on observable, verifiable facts, independent of personal feelings. Conversely, subjectivity is rooted in individual experiences, opinions, feelings, or interpretations. Objectivity aims for neutral truth, while subjectivity reflects personal perception.”

Generally, the Western worldview is dualistic, individualistic and objective. Newtonian physics, which was the predominant scientific understanding for centuries, reinforced this perspective. Newtonian physics holds that things are discrete objects, interacting like billiard balls. Systems are atomistic or reductionist; the whole is the sum of the parts. If people and things are discrete, then we view others objectively, as if we are seeing them from the outside looking in. Theologically, God or the Universe is “apart” from us.

Generally, the Eastern worldview is non-dual, interconnected and subjective. Quantum physics, which has been the predominant scientific understanding for 100 years, reinforces this perspective. Quantum physics holds that everything is linked in an interconnected field. Systems are holistic or relational; the whole is within the parts, as if in a hologram. If people and things are connected, then we view everything subjectively, as if we are seeing everything from the inside looking in. Theologically, God or the Universe is “a part of us.”

In The Way, I describe three perspectives for seeing reality. With a microscope, we are essentially made of the same stuff, matter and energy. Yet with the naked eye, we are apparently separate. With a telescope, we are essentially so interconnected that we see communities, not individuals, or galaxies, not planets. But we live everyday life in the middle band of apparent separation.

My friend, Danu Poynter, writes, “When I zoom all the way out, life is amazing. And when I zoom all the way in, life is also amazing. But, in the middle band, it can sometimes feel like stress, confusion, and low-level chaos.” What if transcendent experiences are changes in perspective, where we subjectively glimpse a state that is objectively always the essential nature of reality?

Mystical, Peak or Transcendent Experiences

A mystic is a person who seeks union with God or unity with the Universe through contemplation and self-surrender. Every tradition, including Christianity, has its mystics, but Christianity is generally more doctrinal and less mystical than other traditions. A mystical experience is sometimes called a peak or a transcendent experience.

Philosopher Douglas W. Shrader identified seven hallmarks of mystical experiences: These are ineffability, noetic quality, transitory, passivity, unifying, timeless, and encounter with the True Self.  Researchers estimate that 30% to 50% of the population has had at least one mystical, peak, or transcendent experience.

These experiences can occur while meditating or praying, encountering art or nature or music or sports, having seizures or strokes, receiving brain stimulations or taking hallucinogenic drugs. Some NDEs are often described in these terms, as are some out-of-body (OOB) experiences. Approximately 10% of the population has had each of these experiences.

In Zen, my primary tradition, practitioners can experience kensho, which is a mystical experience that is often described as a glimpse of the True Self. (In Buddhism, the True Self is no-self.) Kensho signifies a profound, often fleeting, insight into the nature of existence, which is emptiness or lack of separation. As the Heart Sutra says, “Form is emptiness. Emptiness is form.”

If we believe that transcendent experiences are NOT real, then maybe we should take a closer look. And if we believe that transcendent experiences prove some speculative metaphysical thesis, then maybe we should take a step back. Spirituality requires both curiosity and skepticism.

How Can We Understand Transcendent Experiences?

What are we to make of a middle-aged man who has an NDE on an operating table, a soccer mom who has a peak experience at a waterfall, or a Zen practitioner who has kensho in meditation?  First, if anyone claims to have had a powerful experience, I believe them. I can’t have someone else’s experience. Just because it didn’t happen to me does NOT mean that it didn’t happen.

Still, we can acknowledge that the experience is subject to interpretation. Once, a good friend told me that he experienced a miraculous cancer cure. “Now I know that the Christian God is real, because I prayed to Him and He cured me,” he exclaimed. Now, I am really glad that my friend was cured, and I am really convinced that something special happened to him.

Still, I asked, “Could the chemotherapy or surgery have cured you? Could intention or positive thinking have cured you? Some people believe that we answer our own prayers by using intention. Could Krishna or Zeus have cured you, even though you prayed to another god? Or could your cure have resulted from a false positive, a random act of nature or another unexplainable reason?”

Usually, when I respectfully ask someone if they know that they experienced an act of God, rather than an act of nature, they readily admit that they do NOT know and that they can NOT know. Also, many readily admit that their minds might be playing tricks on them. Some think that it is more likely than not that they saw what they expected or wanted to see.

I have also met some former Christians who either cured themselves, cured others or witnessed cures in religious settings. Others witnessed things that they attributed to demons at the time. Although they no longer believe in God or Jesus or angels or devils, they are unsettled that they do NOT have any better explanations for these occurrences now.

Spirituality Requires Both Curiosity and Skepticism

The Universe is always becoming increasingly complex, diverse and interconnected. The more that we know, the more that we know that we do NOT know. In a black-and-white Newtonian world, there are no paradoxes, but in a Technicolor quantum Universe, there are paradoxes all around us.

I wrote about believing responsibly here. As I wrote there, spirituality involves a balance between imagination and wonder on one hand, and discipline and skepticism on the other hand. That is, spirituality requires a blend of curiosity and skepticism.

Ultimately, it requires humility, too. There are simply some things that we can NOT ever know. As the Lankavatara Sutra says, “Things are not as they appear, nor are they otherwise.“

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