Mystical-Type Experience at The Virtual Reality Interface. Technics, Aesthetics, and Theology in the Search for Cosmic Connection
Iluminace June 1, 2020 D. Strutt 2 citations
New digital immersive technologies like Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are increasingly presented with spiritual or quasi-religious framing in tech media and events. The author attended a communal guided VR ritual called Isness at a psychedelic consciousness conference, which raised questions about whether these technologies offer genuine mystical connection or instead diminish authentic mystical experience by trying to manifest the ineffable. The article explores the ontological reflections VR and AR might enable and the cultural or existential needs they appear to address.