Author: Isabella Asel
Are human beings only made of what can be seen? Or is there another inner world—one that reveals itself in dreams, intuition, deep loneliness, or the unexpected fractures of life—yet can never be fully captured in words?
The more I studied psychology, the more important this question became for me. Trying to understand a person only through visible behavior, observable reactions, or outward psychological symptoms is often not enough. At times, a person reveals themselves more in silence than in speech, more in the meaning they give to events than in the events themselves, and more in inner experiences they cannot fully explain than in anything directly measurable.
I am Isabella Asel. I completed my undergraduate studies in the Department of Psychology at St. Clements University, and I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Northwest. Throughout this academic journey, I have increasingly come to believe that psychology should not only study human behavior, but should also engage more deeply with the search for meaning, states of consciousness, inner transformation, and the symbolic life of the mind.
Why does mysticism affect people so deeply?
Mysticism has always been one of the areas that attracts human curiosity most intensely. This is because mysticism is not only an attempt to understand the outer world; it is also an attempt to understand the inner world. Sometimes this takes the form of a religious experience, sometimes a philosophical inquiry, sometimes a spiritual awakening, and sometimes a silent inward journey in which a person confronts their own self.
But there is an important point here: if mysticism is reduced only to mysterious events, extraordinary claims, or experiences that seem impossible to explain, the subject becomes narrower than it really is. What is truly compelling is what mystical experiences correspond to within human psychology.
Why does a person feel a deep inner calling?
Why do some dreams remain unforgettable for years?
Why do certain symbols evoke powerful emotions?
Why do some people emerge from great suffering with an entirely different vision of life?
Why do human beings seek not only healing, but also a deeper knowledge of themselves?
These are special questions that stand at the border between psychology and mysticism.
What has Clinical Psychology taught me?
My training in Clinical Psychology taught me that human suffering cannot be addressed only at the level of symptoms. Anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, loneliness, fear, identity confusion, or inner emptiness are all clinically important experiences. Yet it is equally important to recognize that these experiences do not carry the same meaning for every individual.
For one person, anxiety may be only a symptom. For another, it may be the sign of a need long suppressed, a truth long ignored, or an inner conflict long avoided.
For one person, loneliness may be a social deficiency. For another, it may be a call toward the inner self.
For one person, trauma may be sheer destruction. For another, it may become the beginning of a long and painful transformation.
Clinical Psychology teaches us to understand these processes in scientific ways. Yet I believe that the human search for meaning, symbolic thinking, intuitive awareness, and experiences of inner transformation also deserve to be examined within a broader academic framework.
An area still missing in academic literature
The psychological literature is undeniably strong. There is a vast academic body of work on human behavior, personality development, trauma, psychopathology, therapeutic approaches, cognitive processes, and emotional regulation. But mystical experiences, symbolic life, states of consciousness, intuitive perception, the role of dreams, and the search for meaning still await more systematic exploration.
These themes are often discussed in scattered ways across philosophy, the psychology of religion, cultural studies, or consciousness research. From a psychological perspective, however, there is a serious gap in the literature here.
Human beings are not only creatures who fall ill, heal, react, or adapt. They are also beings who search, question, create symbols, are moved by dreams, attribute meaning to intuition, and sometimes feel called toward an unseen truth.
This gap in the literature is precisely what draws my attention at the doctoral level.
Why might Mystical Psychology matter?
For me, Mystical Psychology is not a popular fascination; it is a serious field of human experience that deserves academic attention. It may allow us to read human inner experience with greater care from a psychological perspective.
The goal is not to move away from scientific psychology. On the contrary, it is to examine the psychological dimension of what are called mystical experiences in a more careful, more conceptual, and more academically grounded manner.
When a person says, “There is a cycle in my life that keeps repeating,” this may not be a casual statement. When someone says, “My dreams feel as if they are telling me something,” it may be more than an ordinary nighttime event. When a person says, “There is an emptiness in me that I have never been able to explain,” this may not be only a clinical symptom; it may also express a deeper existential search.
At this point, psychology turns toward understanding not only visible behavior, but also the invisible inner story behind it.
Dreams, symbols, and consciousness
One of the common fascinations among people interested in mysticism is dreams. Throughout history, dreams have not been seen only as mental images; they have also been understood as messages, symbols, warnings, or the language of the inner world.
Modern psychology approaches dreams from different angles. Yet the role of dreams in a person’s meaning-making remains deeply intriguing. Some dreams fade immediately; others stay in the mind for years. Some symbols awaken intense feelings. Some images can be linked to turning points in a person’s life.
Consciousness, too, is one of the most mysterious areas of human psychology. Beyond ordinary waking awareness, intense moments of perception, intuitive insight, inner illumination, or spiritual shifts after great suffering all deserve closer psychological study.
These are not easy subjects to explain. Perhaps that is exactly what makes them so compelling.
Why do human beings seek meaning?
Human beings do not only want to live; they also want to understand the meaning of what they live through. When viewed through psychology, mysticism becomes one of the deepest territories of this search for meaning.
When a person suffers, they do not only ask, “How can this pain end?” Sometimes they also ask, “What is this pain telling me?”
When a person feels alone, they do not only ask, “How can I become more social?” Sometimes they also wonder, “What is this loneliness calling me toward?”
When a person feels trapped in repeating patterns, they do not only ask, “Why does this keep happening?” Sometimes they ask, “What am I failing to see?”
These are the questions that stand where Clinical Psychology, existential psychology, and mystical thought intersect.
My doctoral ideal and my intended contribution to academia
After completing my master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, I hope to pursue doctoral work focused on deep inner experience, the search for meaning, and Mystical Psychology. For me, this is not merely a personal interest; it is also an important field for academic life.
I believe the psychological literature needs clearer concepts, more disciplined research, and stronger academic discussion in this area.
In the future, I would like to produce literature reviews, academic articles, conceptual analyses, and interdisciplinary studies. My goal is not to treat mysticism as a romantic or abstract subject, but to help build a scientific field of discussion that seeks to understand the deeper layers of human psychology.
The task of academia is not only to repeat what is already known. Sometimes it is also to take seriously the questions that have not yet been sufficiently explored. I believe that many dimensions of the human psyche, consciousness, symbolic world, and search for meaning still await careful discovery.
Why is psychology important for people interested in mysticism?
Many people who are interested in mysticism believe that human beings carry meanings beyond the visible world. When that interest is brought into conversation with psychology, an even more careful and profound field of reflection opens.
Psychology invites us to ask:
Why does a person assign mystical meaning to an experience?
Why is a symbol powerful for some people?
How can what we call intuition be understood psychologically?
What is the relationship between dreams, the unconscious, and the search for meaning?
Is inner transformation the same thing as psychological healing?
These questions may not have immediate or simple answers. Yet sometimes the essential task is not to answer too quickly, but to ask the right question.
The human being behind what is visible
Psychology has taught me that behind visible behavior lies a much deeper world. Mysticism, meanwhile, shows that throughout history human beings have tried to understand that depth through symbols, dreams, rituals, inner experiences, and many different languages of meaning.
Today, academic psychology has an important opportunity: to engage human experience with a broader, more careful, and deeper language.
Perhaps the psychology of the future will not only ask, “Why do human beings experience anxiety?” but also, “Why do human beings seek meaning?”
And perhaps the path to understanding the person lies in taking seriously not only visible behavior, but also invisible inner journeys.
Maybe this is where psychology becomes most exciting of all: when it tries to understand not only what a person does, but what they seek, what they intuit, what they believe, and what deep meaning they are trying to follow.
