A mystical experience is an accurate but non-ordinary way of apprehending the world which is characterized by some combination of an intense, unitive feeling of connectedness, an awe-like amazement, an ineffability of description and a sense of certainty, as well as a direct insight into the meaning underlying all experience. This type of experience is not caused by external inputs and occurs without any pre-existing thought or mental process, leading to the expression of the experience being difficult to apply within a rational or scientific framework.

See also: phenomenological approach, infinite consciousness, cessation experience, insight meditation, dependent arising