Mystical Experiencer: Male in mid-thirties
Current location: United Kingdom
Age at time of experience: 23
My most significant mystical experience occurred in the midst of mental anguish. I had a head full of existential thoughts and questions, loose bits of philosophy and Zen which wouldn't settle in my mind or make sense. Then when I was working alone in a quiet warehouse, I said out loud “I am an experience which the universe is having”.
I felt a huge wave of joy and peace wash over me, lifting me almost off the floor, and I couldn't stop laughing. Such a release! I couldn't explain it or make sense of it logically, but it made perfect sense. The presence of Life. The canvas on which all of Life is painted. I was it and it was me, while there was at the same time no “me”. From that point on, everything about Zen and mysticism which I read made perfect sense.
(NOTE: This was a one-off scenario, because nearly all other mystical experiences which have swallowed me have been in the woods, or anywhere natural and quiet. My most 'regular' peak experience will last for a few minutes when I am silent and alone in nature. My normal "self" drops away, as does any sense of time, and there is just this Presence to everything.)
