Mystical Experience as Situated in Rulla's Three Dimensions of Self-Transcendent Consistency Theory

Mystical experience does not happen in a vacuum. It is a mediated experience taking into consideration the nature and context of the human person. This is God's respect for human freedom. However, spiritual transcendence is premised by the psychological constitution of the person, conscious and unconscious. Hence, there are degrees of freedom. L. Rulla's self-consistency theory situates freedom for self-transcendence according to three dimensions within a continuum. With this framework, mystical experience is evaluated according to the dialectical dynamic between needs and values in each dimension. And the Ignatian discernment of spirits becomes the lens by which to sift through the experience either as anomalously mystical or pathological.