Hood's Mysticism Scale

Hood's Mysticism Scale is a psychometric instrument developed by Ralph W. Hood Jr. to measure mystical experiences. It's designed to be applicable across different cultures and religions, reflecting the universal aspects of mysticism. The scale includes items related to the unity, transcendence of time and space, and ineffability of these experiences.

Measurement of Connection (mystical) Experience

Connection Experience > APZ (Abnormal Mental States) Questionnaire, Hood's Mysticism Scale, Mystical Experience Questionaire 30 Item, States of Consciousness Questonnaire

Notes

The scale is a psychological tool used to measure an individual's tendency towards mystical experiences. It was developed by Ralph W. Hood Jr. and includes items that assess aspects such as:

• A sense of unity or oneness.
• A sense of sacredness.
• Noetic quality (a sense of encountering ultimate reality).
• Deeply felt positive mood.
• Transcendence of time and space.
• Ineffability and paradoxicality (difficulty in describing the experience in words).

Hood's Mysticism Scale Form D

Instructions: The attached booklet contains brief descriptions of a number of experiences. Some descriptions refer to phenomena that you may not have experienced. In each case note the description carefully and then place a mark in the left margin according to how much the description applies to your own experience. Write +1, +2, or -1, -2, or? depending on how you feel in each case.

+1: This description is probably true of my own experience or experiences. -1: This description is probably not true of my own experience or experiences. +2: This description is definitely true of my own experience or experiences. -2: This description is definitely not true of my own experience or experiences. ?: I cannot decide.

1. I have had an experience which was both timeless and spaceless.
2. * I have never had an experience which was incapable of being expressed in words.
3. I have had an experience in which something greater than myself seemed to absorb me.
4. I have had an experience in which everything seemed to disappear from my mind until I was conscious only of a void.
5. I have experienced profound joy.
6. * I have never had an experience in which I felt myself to be absorbed as one with all things.
7. *I have never experienced a perfectly peaceful state.
8. *I have never had an experience in which I felt as if all things were alive.
9. *I have never had an experience which seemed holy to me.
10. *I have never had an experience in which all things seemed to be aware.
11. I have had an experience in which I had no sense of time or space.
12. I have had an experience in which I realized the oneness of myself with all things.
13. I have had an experience in which a new view of reality was revealed to me.
14. * I have never experienced anything to be divine.
15. * I have never had an experience in which time and space were nonexistent.
16. *I have never experienced anything that I could call ultimate reality.
17. I have had an experience in which ultimate reality was revealed to me.
18. I have had an experience in which I felt that all was perfection at that time.
19. I have had an experience in which I felt everything in the world to be part of the same whole.
20. I have had an experience which I knew to be sacred.
21. * I have never had an experience which I was unable to express adequately through language.
22. I have had an experience which left me with a feeling of awe.
23. I have had an experience that is impossible to communicate.
24. *I have never had an experience in which my own self seemed to merge into something greater.
25. *I have never had an experience which left me with a feeling of wonder.
26. * I have never had an experience in which deeper aspects of reality were revealed to me.
27. *I have never had an experience in which time, place, and distance were meaningless.
28. *I have never had an experience in which I became aware of the unity of all things.
29. I have had an experience in which all things seemed to be conscious.
30. *I have never had an experience in which all things seemed to be unified into a single whole.
31. I have had an experience in which I felt nothing is ever really dead.
32. I have had an experience that cannot be expressed in words

• Item is reverse scored.

Note. Items corresponding to the 2-component solution are: nos. 1-2, 4, 6, 8, 10-12, 15, 18-19, 21, 23, 24, 27-32 (intense experience of unity); and nos. 3, 5, 7, 9 ,13, 14, 16-17, 20, 22, 25, 26 (affectively charged religious revelation). Items corresponding to the three-component solution are: nos. 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 19, 24, 27-31 (extrovertive mysticism); nos. 5, 7, 9, 13-14, 16-18, 20, 22, 25, 26 (religious interpretation); and nos.

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