What’s the difference between a Mystical Experience and a Transpersonal Experience?
Mystical and transpersonal experiences might be understood differently depending on which philosophical or spiritual tradition you follow. They also vary widely and are highly subjective and often influenced by cultural background, belief, and personal context. However, research has demonstrated a consistency across nations, cultures, traditions, and languages, which supports a non-constructivist argument for the existence of the numinous.
I like to distinguish mystical experiences from transpersonal experiences due to the difference in the focus on content (transpersonal) or context (mystical). For example, transpersonal experiences often involve things like near-death experiences, after-death communication, out-of-body experiences, kundalini awakening, clairvoyance, etc. These often present with extraordinary content, such as visuals, physical sensations, or experiences of other beings — however, the sense of self is usually stable (if expansive), and the subject-object duality typically remains intact. The subject-object duality is the perception of self as separate from other (or object), the sense or distinction of separateness (dualistic).
In contrast, with a mystical experience, the focus is more on context — the expansion of the sense of self into unknown realms where there is a shift from the typical subject-object duality into a greater Unity or Oneness. Often there is a feeling of the ego dying, a collapsing of the duality into non-duality. For example, in Advaita Vedanta philosophy, a mystical experience is described as a profound realization of the underlying unity of all existence, where the seeker directly experiences their true nature as being identical to the ultimate reality, often referred to as Brahman. This is often considered the pinnacle of spiritual awakening, and typically occurs through deep contemplation, meditation, and self-inquiry, which allows the person to gradually transcend the limitations of their individual identity and ego and become increasingly aware of the illusory nature of the separate self. As the mind begins to quiet and the veils of ignorance gradually lift, the seeker beings to perceive the underlying unity that pervades all of creation. This is the collapse of the subject-object duality, whereby a sense of pervasive Oneness resides.
The collapse of the subject-object duality and the pervasive Unity is considered the end of all suffering. When it occurs, time and space lose their significance and the person may feel a timeless and boundless presence. The distinctions between inner and outer vanish, self and other vanish, and a deep sense of interconnections with all of existence is felt. This is not an intellectual understanding, but a total and complete immersion beyond experience into transcendence — a knowing of one’s true nature beyond all concepts and words.
Mystical experiences fundamentally alter the indiviudal’s sense of self, other, reality, and the world. While transpersonal experiences may have an effect on all of these, these do not typically cause the deeper changes to the sense of Self. However, for those who have not had a deeper mystical experience, transpersonal experiences are often still reported as the most profound experience of one’s life.
