Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2002, Page 129
consensus about the NDE: ego defense vs. mystical consciousness right hemisphere and
visual cortex activity vs. awareness of alternate realities hypoxia or anesthesia aftereffect
fantasy proneness post-stress artifact or the DSM‘s ―religious or spiritual problem.‖
Chapter 11 focuses on healing experiences such as the shamanic and those that occur in the
context of alternative therapies. A problem of definition exists: healing vs. curing
spontaneous remission or partial improvement, and what caused it ―personal myth‖ or
―consensual reality‖ spiritual or psychological? Positively motivated, cortically aroused
people, the fantasy-prone, and the hypnotizable show more improvement than the ―stoic‖ or
―hopeless‖ in reported healing experiences. The ―placebo effect‖ is an example of the power
of positive perception. Alternative methods can be detrimental if they replace medical or
psychiatric treatment, and such methods cost time and money.
Chapter 12 concludes the book with a review of the mystical experience that ―diverges in
fundamental ways from ordinary conscious awareness‖ and with a ―strong impression‖ that
the person has encountered a higher reality or consciousness. There are individual
differences among mystical experiences. Such experiences can be spiritual or even sexual,
might quickly fade or persist, can be drug-induced or drug-free, and those having such
experiences can clearly perceive or transcend external reality. Variables reported include
religious conversion or belief in the paranormal, subliminal consciousness, mediating brain
structure and neural pathways, regression in service of ego, pre-egoic formless self, and
self-actualized transcendence.
The authors conclude that ―mysticism eludes empirical study,‖ and they question
―assumptions, methods, and modes of thought of Western scientific investigation.‖
Those who have ―worked in the vineyards‖ of anomalous experiences for decades might ask
why it took the APA so long to acknowledge these mental processes. That might be a valid
question, but this book more than makes up for the delay with its clear description of the
variety of anomalous experiences and its concise summary of alternative explanations and
their research bases. I highly recommend this book.
Frank MacHovec Ph.D.
Center for the Study of the Self
Gloucester, Virginia
consensus about the NDE: ego defense vs. mystical consciousness right hemisphere and
visual cortex activity vs. awareness of alternate realities hypoxia or anesthesia aftereffect
fantasy proneness post-stress artifact or the DSM‘s ―religious or spiritual problem.‖
Chapter 11 focuses on healing experiences such as the shamanic and those that occur in the
context of alternative therapies. A problem of definition exists: healing vs. curing
spontaneous remission or partial improvement, and what caused it ―personal myth‖ or
―consensual reality‖ spiritual or psychological? Positively motivated, cortically aroused
people, the fantasy-prone, and the hypnotizable show more improvement than the ―stoic‖ or
―hopeless‖ in reported healing experiences. The ―placebo effect‖ is an example of the power
of positive perception. Alternative methods can be detrimental if they replace medical or
psychiatric treatment, and such methods cost time and money.
Chapter 12 concludes the book with a review of the mystical experience that ―diverges in
fundamental ways from ordinary conscious awareness‖ and with a ―strong impression‖ that
the person has encountered a higher reality or consciousness. There are individual
differences among mystical experiences. Such experiences can be spiritual or even sexual,
might quickly fade or persist, can be drug-induced or drug-free, and those having such
experiences can clearly perceive or transcend external reality. Variables reported include
religious conversion or belief in the paranormal, subliminal consciousness, mediating brain
structure and neural pathways, regression in service of ego, pre-egoic formless self, and
self-actualized transcendence.
The authors conclude that ―mysticism eludes empirical study,‖ and they question
―assumptions, methods, and modes of thought of Western scientific investigation.‖
Those who have ―worked in the vineyards‖ of anomalous experiences for decades might ask
why it took the APA so long to acknowledge these mental processes. That might be a valid
question, but this book more than makes up for the delay with its clear description of the
variety of anomalous experiences and its concise summary of alternative explanations and
their research bases. I highly recommend this book.
Frank MacHovec Ph.D.
Center for the Study of the Self
Gloucester, Virginia
