Neo-Perennialism and Mystical Exceptionalism
Method & Theory in the Study of Religion September 22, 2025 Alberto Cavallarin 2 citations
Neo-perennialists claim that a cross-cultural category of experiences can be defined as 'mystical.' The author clarifies this project and defends its feasibility, then criticizes the narrow focus on mystical experiences in neo-perennialist research—both in the dominant understanding of mystical states and the tendency to study them exclusively among altered states. The essay analyzes criteria external to the phenomenology of extraordinary experiences that might justify restricting a neo-perennialist account to certain mystical states. It closes by calling for a refined definition of 'mystical experience' and for expanding cross-cultural study of altered states beyond the mystical.