New research published in the journal Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice provides evidence that mystical experience is a spiritual rather than a wholly pathological phenomenon. The study found that women who reported having mystical experiences tended to also have greater spiritual intelligence. Mystical experiences, which are characterized by feelings of unity, ineffability, peace and joy, and alterations in one’s sense of time and space, have been regarded as a correlate of psychopathological conditions such as schizophrenia. But the new findings indicate that there …