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This self-assessment Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30) , was originally developed by Roland R. Griffiths, William A. Richards, and colleagues . TraitProfiler provides an interactive digital version for educational, informational, and self-exploration purposes only.

Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30)

Background

The Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30) is a widely used self-report instrument designed to measure mystical-type experiences, altered states of consciousness, feelings of unity, transcendence, sacredness, and deeply meaningful spiritual experiences.
The MEQ-30 was developed by researchers including Roland Griffiths, William Richards, and colleagues as a refined version of earlier mystical experience scales used in consciousness research and psychedelic science.
The questionnaire evaluates experiences related to unity, transcendence of time and space, sacredness, intuitive insight, positive emotional states, ineffability, and encounters with perceived ultimate reality.
Research studies have demonstrated strong reliability and validity for the MEQ-30 across psychedelic research, meditation studies, spirituality research, altered states of consciousness studies, and transpersonal psychology.

Psychological Domains Measured

Mystical Unity
Measures experiences of oneness, unity, interconnectedness, ego dissolution, and merging with a greater whole.
Transcendence of Time and Space
Measures altered awareness of time, timelessness, spacelessness, infinity, and transcendence of ordinary reality.
Sacredness and Spirituality
Measures feelings of sacredness, holiness, reverence, spiritual elevation, and connection with ultimate reality.
Positive Mood and Emotional Elevation
Measures peace, joy, ecstasy, awe, tenderness, tranquility, and emotionally uplifting experiences.
Insightfulness and Noetic Quality
Measures intuitive insight, perceived profound knowledge, certainty of truth, and meaningful realization.
Ineffability
Measures difficulty describing the experience in words or communicating the experience to others.
The MEQ-30 is commonly used in consciousness research, meditation studies, psychedelic science, transpersonal psychology, spirituality research, and altered-state studies. The questionnaire is intended for research and educational purposes and should not be interpreted as a diagnostic instrument.

Procedure

This questionnaire is designed to evaluate subjective mystical-type experiences, altered states of consciousness, spiritual experiences, and emotionally transformative experiences.

Participants select the response option that best reflects the intensity or degree to which each experience occurred during a meaningful altered-state, spiritual, meditative, or consciousness-related experience.

The assessment focuses on unity experiences, sacredness, transcendence, intuitive insight, emotional elevation, timelessness, and ineffability.

Participation

This assessment is intended for educational, screening, and research purposes only.

Results should not be interpreted as proof of spiritual authority, supernatural experiences, or clinical diagnosis.

Experiences measured by the MEQ-30 may arise in various contexts including meditation, religious practice, contemplative states, psychedelic experiences, peak experiences, and emotionally transformative events.

Scoring & Interpretation

Responses are scored according to the intensity and frequency of mystical-type experiences and altered states of consciousness.

Higher scores generally indicate stronger experiences of unity, transcendence, sacredness, emotional elevation, intuitive insight, and mystical consciousness.

The MEQ-30 measures six primary experiential dimensions:
- Mystical Unity
- Transcendence of Time and Space
- Sacredness and Spirituality
- Positive Mood and Emotional Elevation
- Insightfulness and Noetic Quality
- Ineffability

Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30) Questionnaire

Instructions & Terms

Below is the Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30), a digitally adapted 30- items self-assessment questionnaire. This assessment does not provide a clinical diagnosis, medical determination, or substitute for professional psychological evaluation.

Question 1 of 30 Mystical Unity

Freedom from the limitations of your personal self and feeling a unity or bond with what was felt to be greater than your personal self.


Question 2 of 30 Mystical Unity

Experience of pure being and pure awareness (beyond the world of sense impressions).


Question 3 of 30 Mystical Unity

Experience of oneness in relation to an “inner world” within.


Question 4 of 30 Mystical Unity

Experience of the fusion of your personal self into a larger whole.


Question 5 of 30 Mystical Unity

Experience of unity with ultimate reality.


Question 6 of 30 Transcendence of Time and Space

Feeling that you experienced eternity or infinity.


Question 7 of 30 Mystical Unity

Experience of oneness or unity with objects and/or persons perceived in your surroundings.


Question 8 of 30 Insightfulness and Noetic Quality

Experience of the insight that “all is One.”


Question 9 of 30 Sacredness and Spirituality

Awareness of the life or living presence in all things.


Question 10 of 30 Insightfulness and Noetic Quality

Gain of insightful knowledge experienced at an intuitive level.


Question 11 of 30 Insightfulness and Noetic Quality

Certainty of encounter with ultimate reality (in the sense of being able to “know” and “see” what is really real at some point during your experience.


Question 12 of 30 Insightfulness and Noetic Quality

You are convinced now, as you look back on your experience, that in it you encountered ultimate reality (i.e., that you “knew” and “saw” what was really real).


Question 13 of 30 Sacredness and Spirituality

Sense of being at a spiritual height.


Question 14 of 30 Sacredness and Spirituality

Sense of reverence.


Question 15 of 30 Sacredness and Spirituality

Feeling that you experienced something profoundly sacred and holy.


Question 16 of 30 Positive Mood and Emotional Elevation

Experience of amazement.


Question 17 of 30 Positive Mood and Emotional Elevation

Feelings of tenderness and gentleness.


Question 18 of 30 Positive Mood and Emotional Elevation

Feelings of peace and tranquility.


Question 19 of 30 Positive Mood and Emotional Elevation

Experience of ecstasy.


Question 20 of 30 Positive Mood and Emotional Elevation

Sense of awe or awesomeness.


Question 21 of 30 Positive Mood and Emotional Elevation

Feelings of joy.


Question 22 of 30 Transcendence of Time and Space

Loss of your usual sense of time.


Question 23 of 30 Transcendence of Time and Space

Loss of your usual sense of space.


Question 24 of 30 Transcendence of Time and Space

Loss of usual awareness of where you were.


Question 25 of 30 Transcendence of Time and Space

Sense of being “outside of” time, beyond past and future.


Question 26 of 30 Transcendence of Time and Space

Being in a realm with no space boundaries.


Question 27 of 30 Transcendence of Time and Space

Experience of timelessness.


Question 28 of 30 Ineffability

Sense that the experience cannot be described adequately in words.


Question 29 of 30 Ineffability

Feeling that you could not do justice to your experience by describing it in words.


Question 30 of 30 Ineffability

Feeling that it would be difficult to communicate your own experience to others who have not had similar experiences.




Psychometric Norms

1
Participants
69%
Community Mean
0%
Sample SD
69%
Highest Observed Score
69%
Lowest Observed Score
2026–2026
Collection Period

Current normative data for theCurrent normative data for the Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ-30) are derived from 1 anonymous participant responses collected through TraitProfiler between 2026 and 2026. All response data are collected anonymously and are intended exclusively for educational, psychometric, and non-commercial research purposes.

Sources
  1. MacLean, K. A., et al. Factor Analysis of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire: A Study of Experiences Occasioned by the Hallucinogen Psilocybin. Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) vol. 25,11 (2011)