That cult of secrecy may have kept out the dilettantes and hustlers. But predictably, it has also led to a proliferation of myths and misconceptions, with hosts of bogus babas and fake gurus peddling the so-called secrets to gullible takers.
For most scientists, who see themselves as the inheritors of Enlightenment's rationalist legacy, doing research into mystical matters is tantamount to committing professional harakiri. There is, however, an intrepid band of mavericks who have ventured into this `twilight zone' minus the the X Files approach. ``(But) the harsh reality of science is that those who study mysticism and meditation rarely hear even the sound of one hand clapping among their colleagues, to paraphrase a Zen saying,'' muses Bruce Bower in Science News.
That hasn't discouraged the mavericks from issuing a manifesto of sorts called Varieties of Anomalous Experience under the aegis of the American Psychological Association. The essence of their argument is that mystical experiences occur on a continuum that defies the conventional neuro-science notion that there is a single type of awareness, which is either on or off, as if controlled by a light switch.
The authors argue that conscious experience instead comes with ``a dimmer switch that varies in sweep and intensity from one person to another and gets wired up mainly by cultural forces and expectations''.
More striking, says one of the co-authors, psychologist David M. Wulff, of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, ``Not every mystical experience is necessarily religiously inspired. They can still be striking, such as the transcendent feelings musicians sometimes get while they perform.
``These experiences can include a sense of existing in a unitary place outside of space and time or feeling immersed in a kind of objective or ultimate reality that eludes verbal description,'' Dr Wulff adds. ``For many people having mystical experiences, physical objects recede from view in the wake of feelings of peace, joy, and having encountered the sacred or divine.''
More important, anomalous experiences aren't just reported by people on the fringes of society or by those who've had mental and neurological disorders. Explains Etzel Cardena, one of the editors of the Anomalous Experiences report, ``National surveys in the US and the UK find that roughly one-third of all adults say they've had, for example, a moment of sudden religious awakening or felt close to a powerful, spiritual force that seemed to lift them out of themselves.''
In fact, pioneering work done in the 1960s by physician Walter Pahnke at University of Berkeley, California, suggests that healthy people who are open to mystical experiences and have them in a supportive situation - a novitiate undergoing esoteric practices under the benevolent gaze of a spiritual master, for example - seem to enjoy lasting, positive after-effects. In contrast, Oriental experts also warn that most mystical practices, if performed wrongly or without proper guidance, can harm and be extremely counter-productive.
The late William James alluded to something similar in his magnum opus, Varieties of Religious Experience. He quoted the writings of the English poet John Addington Symonds which describe periodic `moods' resembling mystical states, complete with submergence of self and space and halting of time. But the poet also reportedly dreaded these moods. Curiously, the sage Patanjali, in his treatise Yoga-Sutras, also hints at a black backlash, a sort of depressive barrier which must be braved by those aspiring to the ultimate experience of samadhi. Also, these `barriers', or transitory states, which can allegedly scorch the body and produce death-like fearsome states, have been described in great detail by the Maharashtrian mystic poet and yogi Jnandeva in his 13th century commentary on the Bhagvadgita, Jnaneshwari.
What does one make of these experiences, such as the uncoiling of the inner kundalini through what are called subtle centres or chakras? How `real' or subjective are these phenomena which are often couched in the most extravagant metaphorical terms? Can conventional science ever hope to unravel or validate these essentially elusive spiritual will-o- wisps?
Over the years, laypersons and experts alike have been tantalised by such questions. Says Dr Cardena, ``Let's not renounce (such) mystical experiences as inherently impossible to study scientifically.'' To do that would perhaps be to throw out the precious baby along with the bathwater.
Mystical Experiences
MUMBAI: `Whatever is sacred, whatever is to remain sacred, must be clothed in mystery,' wrote the French poet Mallarme. The ancient yogis of India would certainly agree with him. They believed that in order to be successful, their mystical practices had to be performed in secrecy and to be revealed only to those who were truly deserving.
Not Necessarily Religiously Inspired[Original headline: Scientists stalk secrets of `kundalini' ]
The Times of India | Vithal C. Nadkarni - June 4 2001
