Mystical & Altered States of Consciousness
Constructivism (Contextualism)
The direct challenge to perennialism: holds that there is no “pure,” unmediated mystical experience at all — every mystical experience is actively shaped, from the moment it occurs, by the mystic’s pre-existing language, concepts, expectations, and cultural and religious background.
Proponents
Steven T. Katz
Evidence For
Points out that a Christian mystic reliably reports encountering God or Christ, while a Buddhist mystic reliably reports encountering emptiness or non-self — outcomes that consistently track each mystic's own tradition far more closely than they resemble each other, which is difficult to explain if all are tapping the same raw underlying experience.
Evidence Against
Critics respond that some mystics, including people with no religious background or training at all, report experiences with the same essential structure perennialists describe, which is hard to explain if mystical experience is entirely constructed from prior belief.
Transmissions
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