Ecstatic Aura as Mystical Experience in Dostoevsky’s Epilepsy
Balkan Journal of Philosophy May 13, 2019 P. Dimkov
Fyodor Dostoevsky, the renowned Russian novelist, suffered from epilepsy, and his novels contain detailed descriptions of seizures likely drawn from personal experience. The type of epilepsy he had is often called "Dostoevsky's epilepsy with ecstatic aura," characterized by a blissful, ecstatic sensation before a seizure. This article reviews the literature on Dostoevsky's epilepsy and compares the ecstatic aura with mystical experience, concluding that the two states are identical: mystical experience can occur during an ecstatic aura. A neuroscientific explanation of this experience is provided, followed by a philosophical analysis.