Phenomenology of Mystical Psychedelic Experiences: The Case of Existential Anxiety

The essay interprets psychedelic peak experiences as mystical events that cannot be reduced to mere psychological effects or explained by natural science. It argues that mainstream scientific ontology is a version of the 'ontology of presence,' which creates a gap between science and human experience. Existential anxiety, understood through Heidegger's ontology, is presented as the core dimension of spiritual transformation. The phenomenology of mystical psychedelic experiences is interpreted as overcoming this anxiety by facing nothingness and transforming one's stance into a sense of original belongingness to the field of emptiness, as described by Nishitani. Various aspects of psychedelic experience are explained through this ontological transformation.

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Abstract

Abstract The essay offers an interpretation of psychedelic peak experiences. It criticizes the quasi-scientific naturalistic attempts to explain such experiences and offers an alternative ontology underlying a more complex sense of naturalism, thus defending an entheogenic view irreducible to mere psychological effects. First, the mainstream ontology in the paradigm of natural sciences is exposed as being a version of the ontology of presence. This fact is shown as the reason for the phenomenological gap and the impotence of the natural sciences to address human experience. Next, existential anxiety is interpreted in terms of Heidegger’s ontology and is suggested as the core dimension of possible spiritual transformation. Finally, the phenomenology of mystical psychedelic experiences (MPE) is interpreted in terms of overcoming existential anxiety– a well-documented effect of MPE – and explicated in ontological terms. The psychedelic experience is shown to be mystical in a sense of transcending the everyday mode of existential denial of the enigmatic nature of the universe by facing the nothingness in a way that transforms one’s stand within it into a stand of original belongingness to the field of emptiness (Nishitani). Different aspects of psychedelic experience are explained and co-related in terms of such a transformation.