The Objectivity of Spiritual Experiences: Spontaneous Mental Imagery and the Spiritual Space

After ritual ingestion of Ayahuasca, people experience spontaneous mental imagery called mirações, which are understood not as hallucinations but as a genuine mode of perception in a non-physical yet objective spiritual space. This space is shared by ceremony participants, is multidimensional, and contains the physical and psychological levels of existence. Mirações connect different entities—body, thoughts, feelings, culture, mind, soul—within consciousness. Exploring this spiritual space during the ceremony is regarded as a process of spiritual development.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to investigate the nature of spontaneous mental imagery that people experienced after ritualistically ingesting Ayahuasca. The combination of ingestion of Daime and the participation in a ceremony appear to reliably promote the occurrence of spontaneous mental imageries, referred as mirações, which were considered as a process of perception, the moment when different entities (physical body, thoughts, feelings, culture, emotions, mind, soul, spiritual space, etc.) become connected within consciousness. Mirações are believed to take place in a non-physical - although very objective - “spiritual space,” which is believed to the shared by participants in the ceremonies. The spiritual space is immaterial and multidimensional, precluding, nesting and informing the material world. The spiritual space is perceived as original, generating dispositions, intentions, and meanings, and as containing within it the physical and psychological levels of existence. The exploration of that space during a ceremony was considered a process of spiritual development.