flow of sensory information, resulting in a perceived lack of physical boundaries. According to Newberg and d'Aquili, Newberg and d'Aquili conclude that mystical experience correlates to observable neurological events, which are not outside the range of normal brain function. They also believe that Why God Won't Go Away "received very little attention from professional scholars of religion". According to Bulkeley, "Newberg and D'Aquili seem blissfully unaware of the past half century of critical scholarship questioning universalistic claims about human nature and experience". Matthew Day also notes that the discovery of a neurological substrate of a "religious experience" is an isolated finding which "doesn't even come close to a robust theory of religion". Default mode network Recent studies evidenced the relevance of the default mode network in spiritual and self-transcending experiences. Its functions are related, among others, to self-reference and self-awareness, and new imaging experiments during meditation and the use of hallucinogens indicate a decrease in the activity of this network mediated by them, leading some studies to base on it a probable neurocognitive mechanism of the dissolution of the self, which occurs in some mystical phenomena. Spiritual development and self-transformation In mystical and contemplative traditions, mystical experiences are not a goal in themselves, but part of a larger path of self-transformation. For example, the Zen Buddhist training does not end with kenshō, but practice is to be continued to deepen the insight and to express it in daily life. To deepen the initial insight of kensho, shikantaza and kōan-study are necessary. This trajectory of initial insight followed by a gradual deepening and ripening is expressed by Linji Yixuan in his Three mysterious Gates, the Five Ranks, the Four Ways of Knowing of Hakuin, and the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures which detail the steps on the Path. See also Dhyāna in Buddhism Dhyana in Hinduism Default mode network Ego death Epiphany (feeling) Kensho Kundalini Meditation Nondualism Satori Sahaja Subitism Trance Notes References Sources Published sources Web-sources External links Institute for Mystical Experience and Education, including a Mystical Experience Questionnaire on mystical experiences Australian Institute of Parapsychology, AIPR Information Sheet: Mystical Experiences D. W. Shrader, Seven Characteristics of Mystical Experiences, personal account and theoretical exploration Esotericism Mysticism Neo-Vedanta New Age practices Nondualism