There is a need for an umbrella term to encompass all experiences that alter consciousness, from simple illumination to full mystical union. “Spiritual experiences” serves best for this range.
Spiritual experiences include all experiences that affect consciousness. Mystical experiences, by contrast, are a subset: they are unitive. They involve an experience of oneness with Ultimate Reality.
Dreams, visions, and similar phenomena fall under spiritual experiences, but they are not mystical in themselves. This distinction helps separate the wheat from the chaff, since not all spiritual experiences lead to the same outcome.
Because the Mystic’s goal is union with Ultimate Reality, visions, dreams, and revelations are not central and are often distractions. The aim is to fix one’s gaze on Ultimate Reality so as to become like it; the goal is transformation.
