Synthesis:Emergent Phenomena

Emergent phenomena include a range of effects and experiences that could be referred to as “spiritual”, “mystical”, “energetic”, “magical”, etc., in popular contexts. Basic definitions and a preliminary classification system can be found in the Emergent Phenomena page of the EPRC White Paper, while more extensive documentation and in-depth discussion, including a review of various existing terms and expressions related with this experiential domain can be found in Sandilands and Ingram (2024).

Building on this previous works, we propose a list condensing some of the most commonly reported effects in the large General Inventory of EPEEs found in Sandilands and Ingram (2024), which synthesized over 50 recent research publications. Also included are the results of the Varieties of contemplative experiences project, and other inventories like the Inventory of meditation experiences, the Inventory of nonordinary experiences, and Varieties of Spiritual Experiences.

Given the general, phenomenological, ontologically-neutral, and non-tradition-based nature of this list, it is included as part of the synthesis layer, as it lends itself well to the goal of a "rough clinical perennialism" and to supporting clinical pattern recognition and clinical recommendations, which can also link back to tradition-specific, emic typologies and views. In that sense it can serve as a bridge between the diverse perspectives of the Source Traditions, Disciplines, and Clinical Specialties.

Note that this list is meant to be enriched and evolve over time based on discussion between various contributors and stakeholders from various backgrounds, traditions, disciplines, etc.

A Proposed Typology of Common Emergent Phenomena

1. Aesthetic experiences (e.g. involving art, people, or nature)
2. Arousal phenomena, e.g. Changes to arousal and energy levels (physical or mental) (big range: agitation, restlessness, elation, excitement, fatigue, etc.) temporary, chronically, or even permanently (e.g. permanently higher levels of available psychic energy)
3. Experiences of numinosity, sacredness, holiness, sacrality, divinity (or the opposite: evil, sin, devil, etc.), mysterium tremendum or augustum, whether in a personal form or not, feeling connected to a “higher power” however defined
4. Changes to personal behavior (very broad, perhaps to be refined e.g. lifestyle changes, changes to habits (can be instantaneous, e.g. cured addiction, etc.), higher concern for ethics (or the reverse), engaging in altruistic activities, sense of increased spontaneity (or the reverse, inhibition), engaging in risky or unethical before as a result of EPEE-related stuff)
5. Changes to cognition, e.g.
   1. Increased or decreased ability to concentrate
   2. Mental quiescence (e.g. wispy or absence of thoughts, or turbulence (e.g. mind racing)
   3. Clarity of thought or confusion and difficult or muddled thinking
   4. Increased or decreased memory
   5. Increased or decreased decision-making capacities
6. Death-related experiences:
   1. End of life phenomena (strange things that can happen when a person is dying)
   2. Near-Death Experiences
7. Entity encounters and sensed presences
   1. Sense of encountering a deceased relative
   2. Sense of encountering various beings, e.g. “seemingly autonomous entities,” “nonphysical entities”
   3. Perceiving inanimate objects as sentient and animate
   4. Sensing “presences”
8. Energy-like phenomena (sensing tactile sensations e.g. forces, power, vibrations, tensions, cascades, fizzing, thrills, tingling, etc. at various places in the body which can sometimes last a long time (e.g. years) and be quite debilitating, or the reverse, be ecstatic and blissful)
9. Spontaneous movements
10. Shifts to motor capacities (lost or increased balance [think psychedelics], slower or faster reflexes)
11. Existential shocks, shifts, and transformations (changes to deep structures of one's lived world like sense of agency, sense of what is real or not (including functional or dysfunctional derealization, etc.), sense of ownership, sense of control over experience, sense of self (loss or changes, including depersonalisation) self-other or self-world boundaries, etc.) and interpretations thereof
12. Emotions
    1. Strong emotions (+ or -), maybe not an EPEE per se, including experiences of love, compassion, awe, reverence, humility, euphoria, deep peace, rejuvenation, etc., or the reverse, extreme fear, sadness, irritability; common groups reported in the Inventory, by decreasing prevalence:
       1. Fear, dread, worry, anxiety, panic, and/or terror
       2. Disenchantment
       3. Peace, Tranquility, and/or Calm
       4. Happiness, and/or Joy
       5. Sadness, depression, or dysphoria
       6. Alienation, Disconnection, Isolation, or Loneliness
       7. Mood swings or emotional lability
       8. Love
    2. Changes to various aspects emotional life (intensification, flattening, evenness, balance, rawness, lability, "stickiness")
    3. [[Mood cycling, emotional lability]]
    4. [[Prolonged periods of destabilization/difficulty]], often following a “peak experience” but not always
13. Flow states, Immersion in a specific activity or phenomenon, absorption states, sense of “union”, unity, oneness, harmony, etc.: big range
14. Health changes
    1. Spontaneous healing, remission,
    2. Unexplained medical symptoms and health decline
15. Hedonic tone changes
    1. Bliss or the reverse
    2. Inability to experience pleasure in activities previously found pleasurable
16. Insights, Intuitions, Epiphanies
    1. Sense of receiving "revelations", "messages", "information", "channeling", etc.
    2. Intuitive experiences (ranging from sudden insights into specific problems (like a math problem or artistic project) to spontaneous knowledge of sometimes remote events (e.g. knowing something about someone who is in another country)
    3. Strong sense of "knowing", of having understood something truer, deeper, sometimes perhaps ultimate, about reality or aspects of it
17. Paradigm shocks, shifts, and transformations
    1. changes to own's views and beliefs about the world (its origins, nature, meaning), ontology (the constituents of the cosmos and its inhabitants, including oneself), truth and the ways to attain it or sources of valid knowledge, soteriology (sense of and views about one's existential condition, sense of having been or needing to be saved from something or to attain something specific that will be salutary)
    2. "Ontological shock"
18. Spontaneous sensations, perceptions, or visions
    1. Open or closed-eyes, short to long-lasting, simple to highly complex and multidimensional endogenous images, sensations, or perceptions, ranging e.g. from simple or complex "visuals”, immersive scenarios, visions, visionary experiences, full on "hallucinations" in all modalities (seeing angels, hearing music, hearing voices or receiving communications as if real external perceptions, tactile sensations with no apparent cause, etc.),
    2. Endogenous light or color perceptions or colors (e.g. diffuse halos or discrete bursts of light, fractals, geometric shapes, and patterns)
    3. Painful sensations in the body (e.g. pins and needles in the face and.or limbs, etc.)
19. Structural changes to perception and sense spheres, whether transient or permanent (e.g. decreased sensate thresholds, higher or lower sensate clarity, perceptual speed, intensity of sensations, increased perceptual abilities, etc.)
20. Pain (e.g. head pressure, headache, or migraines)
21. Physiological effects and changes, whether transient or permanent (very broad... e.g. arousal, cardiovascular and breathing changes, neuroplasticity, brain structure and function, gastrointestinal effects (digestion, nausea, disgust, vomiting) thermal changes, “transverberation-type phenomena => heart marks, stigmata, faster reflexes)
22. Psychological changes, whether transient or permanent (many things, Recalling or re-experiencing disturbing or traumatic memories, increased or decreased empathy and "theory of mind", derepression, fluidity of consciousness, phases of high energy and activity (up to mania), phases of confusion/depression/paranoia/hallucinations, psychological insights [e.g. feeling like a personal conflict or trauma was almost immediately resolved], maturing, losing one's shit more or less temporarily, rumination, obsessive thinking about a problem, unusual ideation,  ...)
23. Seemingly miraculous or magical occurrences, powers, or abilities, "PSI", such as past-life experiences, clair-X, telepathy, telekinesis, etc., and interpretation thereof
24. Changes to one's sexuality (libido, orientation, fantasies, behavior, etc.)
25. Changes to one’s social life and intersubjectivity (e.g. sense of communion/deep connection with one’s relationships or the reverse, isolation alienation and disharmony, increased or decreased desire to see or talk to or communicate with other people, changed ability to connect with others, changed perception of self or other in social situations, etc.)
26. Changes to spatial and/or temporal experience, permanent or temporary (e.g. space expansions or contractions, dimensionality or flatness, lack of sense of space or increased sense of spatiality, speeding or slowing or time perception, reversal of time perception, suspension of time perception, loss of sense of time, sense of eternality, sense of simultaneity, etc.)
27. Changes to sense of embodiment/perception of the body/body image/body configuration, transient or permanent, e.g. transient experiences of feeling disembodied, that body parts are distorted, loss of awareness of all or parts of one’s body, etc., all the way to full on Out-of-body experiences, astral travelling, etc., Experiencing other “realms”, alternate realities/worlds, etc., or permanent experiences of loss of hard bodily boundaries, etc.
28. Sense of being controlled by an external force or energy, invaded, possessed...
29. Sleep-related experiences and changes (experiences on the border of sleep and waking (Exploding head syndrome, dark figures, nightmares, etc.), lucid dreaming, lucid dreamless sleep, changed sleep pattern, decreased or increased need for sleep)
30. Synchronicities
31. Synesthesia
32. Changes to one's core values
33. Vestibular effects like dizziness, disorientation, or lightheadedness
34. Changes to one's vocation, life-orientation, desires, etc., e.g. becoming deeply aware of one’s life purpose, goals, and/or priorities, or the reverse, loss of a sense of purpose, or lack of drive or motivation to pursue goals previously valued as meaningful
35. Changes to degree of "wakefulness" or "awakeness" (increased baseline wakefulness, experiencing “loss of consciousness” while meditating, developing an ability to induce "cessations" of consciousness, experiences of all-encompassing  "awareness" (awake presence, formless jhanas, etc.)