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Abstract

Mystical experience maintains perceptual status despite lacking spatio-temporal location because individuation occurs through description and background belief. The cognitive value of these experiences does not depend on sense-perceptual criteria like predictive success; rather, they are validated through socially established doxastic practices within specific traditions. While reports of mystical awareness often use figurative language, they denote a direct presentation of an external, currently present reality, distinguishing such experiences from introspection or memory. Although religious and philosophical practices exhibit higher levels of interpersonal disagreement than sensory perception, this diversity does not necessarily override the prima facie rationality of the practitioner. The mastery of a religious practice involves navigating these disagreements, though the resulting perceptual beliefs remain significantly entangled with the background doctrines of the specific tradition. Consequently, the reliability of mystical perception cannot be easily divorced from the belief systems that provide the conceptual framework for identifying the object of experience. – AI-generated abstract.