Mystical Love: The Universal Solvent
Anthropology of Consciousness March 1, 2020 Charles Laughlin, Melanie Takahashi
Mystical experiences are altered states of consciousness opposite to everyday ego-centered awareness, and a key factor in them is what the authors term 'mystical love.' Humans appear to have a need to alter consciousness away from ordinary waking states. Ritual practices across cultures—such as ingesting psychotropic substances, daily activities that devalue ego-centeredness and promote love and selfless service, and meditation on loving kindness and compassion—are used to incubate intense feelings of non-romantic love, empathy, and compassion, preparing individuals for mystical experiences whose results are interpreted within each person's cycle of meaning.