Final answer:
The term refers to an individual's sense of connection with something transcendent, often associated with religious or mystical experiences that are central to one's feeling of being connected to the divine or the natural world.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term in question refers to an individual's deep sense of connection with something beyond the physical world—a transcendent reality that evokes profound feelings of awe, gratitude, compassion, and forgiveness. This term can possibly be associated with a religious experience, where one feels the presence of or a union with the divine. This sense is not merely a neurochemical activity but comprises an essential aspect of many individuals' life experiences, often described as a mystical experience.
Such experiences can contribute to an individual's understanding of self and their place in the universe, as seen in various religious and philosophical traditions. For instance, in Hinduism, the bondage of the individual self, or atman, to the material world is seen as something to be overcome on the path to liberation. This view holds that transcendent experiences can lead to a profound emotional and psychological transformation—a sense of being connected to the natural world, and a transition to a more peaceful state of being as suggested by Tornstam's theory of gerotranscendence.