 At the end of the first volume of The World as Will and Representation (1818), Schopenhauer intimates that the ascetic experiences an inscrutable mystical state of consciousness that looks like nothing at all from the standpoint of ordinary, day-to-day, individuated and objectifying consciousness. Conversely, he adds that from the standpoint of the ascetic’s mystical consciousness, where only knowledge remains and where “the will [to live] has vanished,” the physical world itself, with all of its suns and galaxies “is – nothing,” likening this consciousness to “the Prajna-Paramita of the Buddhists” (WWR, Section 71) to conclude the book. He also states in the same section that this mystical consciousness has an ocean-like calmness, tranquillity, confidence and serenity, adding that if one were to seek a positive characterization of the mystical state, we could refer loosely to words and phrases such as “ecstasy,” “rapture,” “illumination” and “union with God.” Schopenhauer recognizes a positive content to the ascetic’s mystical experience, but he regards the experience as ineffable.