Abstract

Mysticism and the search for experiences of expanded consciousness are nothing new to the modern era, although their incorporation into the academic world is shakier. Robert Forman, writing in this journal, calls mysticism his 'somewhat unusual but increasingly accepted field' Forman calls the prima facie experience of mysticism the 'pure consciousness event' where the practitioner becomes 'utterly silent inside, as though in a gap between thoughts'. During this event, one becomes 'completely perception and thought- free'. He defines the pure consciousness event as 'a wakeful, but contentless . . . consciousness'