Mystical experiences are often described as “ineffable,” or beyond language. However,
people readily speak about their mystical experiences if asked about them. How do people
describe what is supposedly indescribable? In this study, we used quantitative linguistic
analyses to interpret the writings of 777 participants (45.5% female, 51.0% male) who
recounted their most significant spiritual or religious experience as part of an online survey.
High and low scorers on a measure of mystical experiences differed in the language they …