Religion Brain & Behavior
March 31, 2026
Kurt Stocker, Matthias Hartmann, Frederick S. Barrett et al.
After administration of LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, or DMT, mystical oneness—the core of mystical experience—showed dose-sensitive strong correlations with luminous light and renewal, and a moderate-to-strong correlation with ego disintegration. These findings from 386 healthy participants across 15 studies support a broader, dynamic model of mystical experience, where mystical oneness unfolds with ego disintegration, renewal, and luminous light. The results offer insights for psychedelic-assisted therapy.
NOOSPHERIC STUDIES
March 31, 2026
Kirill Bovykin
No Summary
Wah Academia Journal of Global Religions
March 30, 2026
Salvia Islam, Hamza Bin Anees, Aiman Aiman
Spiritual longing in Ghani Khan's Pashto poetry functions as a form of devotion rather than emotional yearning, according to a qualitative thematic analysis. The study identifies patterns of desire, separation, and ecstatic suffering that align with Mansur al-Hallaj's doctrine of fanā (self-annihilation). Ghani Khan sustains longing as an existential condition that destabilizes the ego and guides the self toward fanā, rather than resolving desire through symbolic union. The paper reconfigures longing as worship, where devotion is enacted through sustained yearning, self-dissolution, and spiritual risk, contributing to Pashto literary studies and comparative mysticism.
American Journal of Islam and Society
March 27, 2026
Wissam Iman Nuwayhid
This book presents a bilingual edition and study of a major Sufi work on the divine names by the North African mystic ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī, a direct intellectual heir of Ibn al-ʿArabī. The author's travels across Sunni-ruled cities from Tlemcen to Konya to Cairo and Damascus formed a pan-Islamic Sufi nexus. Yousef Casewit's edition, translation, and commentary make this philosophically nuanced treatment of the Qur'anic divine names accessible to non-Arabic readers for the first time, situating it within Islamic metaphysics, Qur'anic hermeneutics, and Sufi theology.
Topoi
March 18, 2026
Scott Ryan Maybell
This article argues that Mormonism can be understood as part of a mystical atheist tradition, as described in Brook Ziporyn's work. It contends that Latter-day Saint thought, which views divine persons as embodied, leads to a theology of time where God is not omniscient in the classical sense. Because divine persons exist within the same global incoherence as all persons, they are fallible and can change their minds. The author proposes that atheist philosophers should take on a Luciferian task: arguing directly with divine beings, whether or not they exist, to challenge their claims of absolute authority. Good argumentation, the article suggests, can and should alter divine perspectives.
Journal for social science archives
March 17, 2026
Dr. Sherhzad Ameena Khattak, Salvia Islam, Malik Umer Bin Ajmal
Self-negation in Ghani Khan's Pashto poetry, analyzed through the mystical philosophy of Mansur al-Hallaj and the doctrine of fanā (annihilation of the self), is not a denial of life but an existential condition that enables authentic vision and spiritual awareness. Using qualitative thematic analysis, the study finds that Ghani Khan translates metaphysical self-annihilation into lived human experience through images of fragility, transience, and decay, reconfiguring fanā as both a spiritual and existential process. This situates his work within the Hallajian tradition, highlighting self-negation as a central poetic and philosophical principle.
Poornaprajna International Journal of Philosophy & Languages (PIJPL)
March 10, 2026
Ramanathan Srinivasan, P. S. Aithal
1 citation
Tamil Bhakti literature, a major mystical tradition centered on devotion and inner realization, shares common themes—love, surrender, self-annihilation, and experiential knowledge of the Divine—with Sufi, Christian Mystical, and Zen Buddhist traditions. This paper uses an exploratory qualitative method, collecting data via keyword searches in Google, Google Scholar, and AI-driven GPTs, to compare Tamil Bhakti saints (Nāyaṉmār and Āḻvārs) with these global traditions. The analysis shows that Tamil Bhakti mysticism transcends South Indian religious theology, establishing a soteriological grammar of interiority. The paper places these saints within a contemporary global mystic community, highlighting their relevance to modern spirituality and peace.
Religions
March 2, 2026
Cogen Bohanec
The concept of biophilia—the innate human affinity for nature—is expanded by adding a mystical dimension termed spiritual biophilia, drawn from the writings of modern Jain Ācārya Śrīmad Rājcandra. The paper argues that spiritual experiences can deepen ecological connections and promote ethical stewardship of the environment. By integrating insights from ecology, mysticism, and Jain philosophy, it advocates for a holistic nurturing of both the planet and the human spirit. Śrīmad’s works support the biophilia hypothesis and link it to mystical experiences from a Jain perspective, potentially encouraging interfaith dialogue and sustainable living. The study suggests that spiritual biophilia can enrich environmental education, policy, and personal commitment to preserving the natural world.
OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
March 2, 2026
Elif Özgen
Movement has historically served as a healing practice tied to meaning-making and social balance. This paper traces the continuity of movement-based performative practices in Turkish health culture, including religious and mystical rituals, folk dances, and music-associated healing traditions. Using a conceptual, historical-comparative, and interpretive framework from performance studies, health anthropology, art therapies, and architectural theory, it examines relationships among ritual, movement, healing, and space. The trajectory from ancient rhythmic body practices to Seljuk and Ottoman hospitals and contemporary complementary health approaches shows continuity of healing through bodily experience and spatial interaction. Ritual components such as rhythm, repetition, breath, and centering can inform design strategies for sensory regulation and emotional balance in wellness spaces. The argument provides a conceptual basis for human-centered, healing-oriented spatial approaches.
The Psychoanalytic Review
March 1, 2026
Shalini Masih
Psychoanalysis can move beyond its traditional focus on repression and interpretation by embracing a "mystical unconscious." Drawing on mystical traditions and clinical encounters with spirit possession, the author argues for a stance of "witnessing" in therapy. Concepts like the mystical vertex, internal third, and the analyst as a double reframe psychoanalysis as an art of profound attunement. This approach welcomes spectral, sublime, and sacred psychic experiences not as pathology but as meaningful enactments of suffering, cultural memory, and transformation. Psychoanalysis becomes an aesthetic and spiritual communion.