In The Sociology of the Paranormal: A Reconnaissance, Andrew Greeley presented results of a 1975 survey of 1,467 Americans.  Describing their religious, transcendental, or mystical experiences, some 55% of those surveyed described their experience as "a feeling of deep and profound peace."

Interestingly, 27% of those surveyed also reported "a confidence in my own personal survival."  This confidence confuses some Zen Buddhists, as their peak experience of awakening erases any sense of an egocentric self.  How then, can others experience a confidence in personal survival?

This should not be confusing.  In our mundane, day-to-day consciousness, we identify strongly with the egocentric self.  We cling to our identity of our individual self separate from all others, and are constantly vigilant to any threats or dangers to that self.  This, in turns, can lead to a sort of paranoia, a feeling that we're constantly at risk and that we have to continually be alert to any threats to our safety and well-being. Our consciousness is like a radar system, constantly scanning for little bleeps that might pose a threat, and if we identify with our radar system, then of course we're going to feel paranoid.

But in transcendental moments of awakening, that self starts to slip away.  We may not lose the self altogether, but we're more aware of the smallness of the self compared to the vastly larger universe, or to our conception of god, or to various other metrics depending on our belief system.  The egocentric "target" that must be protected becomes smaller, less significant, and therefore, there's less to worry about.  That distant thunder, in most likelihood, is not a lightning bolt being hurled in my direction.  That distant shouting is not necessarily someone yelling at me. In fact, in the grandest scheme of things, my coming and going is a relatively small part of it all.

With a diminished target to protect, there's less to worry about, and that can feel like an improved confidence in our own personal survival.  Of course, if we completely extinguish the ego-self, there's nothing left to survive but there's also nothing left to protect, so why worry about what might or might not happen?