Speculative Mysticisms in Unknown Spaces

In this paper, I examine the mystical aspects of the space opera novel series The Expanse, which describes humanity encountering an alien presence in outer space drawing upon Christian and Buddhist mystical metaphors. Despite the success of The Expanse and space opera novels more broadly, scholarly attention to its religious elements remains scarce. The paper aims to fill this gap by examining how mystical experiences in the series often manifest as erotic or violent, challenging some mainstream notions of space-born spirituality (such as the “overview effect”). It first surveys scholarship on mysticism in popular literature and on religion in science fiction. Then, it close-reads selected passages from the novel series. It concludes by comparing The Expanse to other recent space opera novels that do not imagine mystical unity in a violent or even erotic manner, but as a new default mode of consciousness for a space-borne humankind.