There has been recent inquiry into the intersection between Eastern spirituality and psychedelic mysticism in Religious Studies. An essential similarity between the phenomena is the utilization of non-ordinary states of consciousness to incite metaphysical understandings about the nature of reality and consciousness. In this research, I wish to explore the relationship be- tween induced non-ordinary states of consciousness, ineffability, and religious autonomy. Through a comparative inquiry of corresponding themes and arguments, this research entails a thematic and textual analysis of philosophical sources by four key figures from the Jain adhyat- mik movement and the western psychedelic movement. Despite the array of differences between these two movements, these noetic mystics enunciated a corresponding goal: the reclamation of the self as the supreme source of religious authority. This research concludes that adhyatmis and psychonauts advocated the individual’s right to attain perennial knowledge and empowered the role of the layperson in religion by utilizing non-ordinary states of consciousness as epistemological sources, emphasizing the ineffability of the self and experience, reconsidering the status quo, and advocating for philosophical pluralism and equanimity.
