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Mysticism, from the Greek μυω (mueo, "to conceal"), is the pursuit of achieving communion with, or conscious awareness of ultimate reality or divine spirit; the belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that are central to being and directly accessible by subjective experience; or the belief that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge. In the Hellenistic world, ‘mystical’ referred to "secret" religious rituals.

Mysticism is intuitive knowledge of transcendent concrete objects, not the phenomenal or material concrete objects of ordinary perception. The mystic sees things that are not part of ordinary experience. William James used the words "ineffable" (means that it cannot or should not be spoken) and "noetic" (from the the Greek νοῦς nous: "relating to consciousness or intuition'), to describe the mystical experience.

Types of mystical experience

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy features four main common classifications of mystical and religious experiences:

Extrovertive

mystical consciousness of the unity of nature overlaid onto one's sense perception of the world.

Introvertive

any experience that includes sense-perceptual, somatosensory, or introspective content. An experience of “nothingness” or “emptiness,” in some mystical traditions, are examples of introvertive experiences.

Theistic

experiences which are purportedly of God.

Non-theistic

purportedly of an ultimate reality other than God or of no reality at all.

Mysticism and epistemology

In the context of epistemology, mysticism refers to using non-rational methods such as meditation, prayer, chanting, or entheogens to invoke the non-sensory transcendent experience or numinous "feeling". (Rudolf Otto, 1923) A classical book on mysticism is "Cosmic Consciousness" by Richard M Bucke, 1898.

Subjectivity and mysticism

Theistic, pantheistic, and panentheistic classical pantheist/cosmotheist metaphysical systems most often understand mystical experience as individual communion with a god or goddess. One can receive these very subjective experiences as visions, dreams, revelations, prophecies, and so forth. St. Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic mystic of the 13th century, defined it as cognitio dei experimentalis (experiential knowledge of God). In Catholicism the mystical experience is not sought for its own sake, and is always informed by revelation and ascetical theology. This causes the subjectivist tendency of mysticism to be curtailed, as experiences not aligned with truths otherwise known are discarded.

Self-transcending self-discovery

In philosophy, the term Perennial Philosophy is used, and relates to a primary concern:

[W]ith the one, divine reality substantial to the manifold world of things and lives and minds. But the nature of this one reality is such that it cannot be directly or immediately apprehended except by those who have chosen to fulfill certain conditions, making themselves loving, pure in heart, and poor in spirit. (Aldous Huxley, 1945)

Some mystics use the term to refer to a manner wherein the mystic plumbs the depths of the self and reality in a radical process of meditative self-discovery to discover the true nature of reality experientially. Historically in some cultures and traditions, mind-altering substances -- often referred to as entheogens -- have had a place as a 'guide'; others use rituals and methods such as meditation, self-reflection or self-enquiry.

Mysticism and syncretism

Mystics of different traditions report similar experiences of a world usually outside conventional perception, although not all forms of mysticism abandon knowledge perceived through normal means. Based on extraordinary perception, mystics may believe that one can find true unity of religion and philosophy in mystical experience.

Elements of mysticism exist in most religions and in many philosophies. Some mystics perceive a common thread of influence in all mystic philosophies that they see as traceable back to a shared source. The Vedic tradition is inherently mystic; the Christian apocalyptic Book of Revelation is clearly mystical, as with Ezekiel's or Daniel's visions of Judaism, and Muslims believe that the angel Gabriel inspired the Qur'an in a mystical manner. Indigenous cultures also have cryptic revelations pointing toward a universal flow of love or unity, usually following a vision quest or similar ritual. Mystical philosophies thus can exhibit a strong tendency towards syncretism.

Some systems of mysticism are found within specific religious traditions and do not relinquish doctrinal principles as a part of mystical experience. For example, Christian mystics, through the centuries, have not decided that Jesus is not God after all: in other words, not all mysticism results in syncretism. In some definite cases, theology remains a distinct source of insight that guides and informs the mystical experience. For example, St. Thomas Aquinas' mystical experiences all occurred squarely within the love of the Catholic Eucharist.

On the difficulty of defining mysticism

Readers frequently encounter seemingly open-ended statements among studies of mysticism, throughout its history, for example in Taoist thought and in studies of Kabbalah. In his work, Kabbalah, Gershom Scholem, a prominent 20th century scholar of that field, stated: The Kabbalah is not a single system with basic principles which can be explained in a simple and straightforward fashion, but consists rather of a multiplicity of different approaches, widely separated from one another and sometimes completely contradictory. (Scholem, 1974)

In Catholic traditions, mystical theology is informed by revelation, which averts an apparent tendency to become lost in formless thought. Christian mystics, too, are obligated to obey the forms of ascetical and moral theology, as following Christ is their primary objective, rather than seeking mystical experiences for their own sake. [1]

Theosophy and Occultism

The late 19th century saw a significant increase of interest in mysticism in the West that combined with increased interest in Occultism and Eastern Philosophy. Theosophy became a major movement in the popularization of these interests. Madame Blavatsky and G. I. Gurdjieff functioned as central figures of the theosophy movement. This trend later became absorbed in the rise of the New Age movement which included a major surge in the popularity of astrology. At the end of the 20th Century books like Conversations with God (a series of books which describes what the author claimed to be his experience of direct communication with God) hit the bestseller lists.

Examples in major traditions

Examples of major traditions and philosophies with strong elements of mysticism are:

Christian Gnosticism
Christian mysticism
Eastern Orthodox Hesychasm
Javanese mystical movements
Sumarah
Judaic Kabbalah
Mormonism, being founded on visions, revelations, and angelic ordination
Mystery religions and cults
Native American Ghost Dances of the late Nineteenth Century were mystical in origin
The New Age movement
- Near Death Experiences
Quakerism in its theology
Sufic Islam
Taoism
Tibetan Buddhism
Transcendentalist Unitarianism
Vedantic Hinduism
Yoga
Zen Buddhism

Hindu mystics

Some examples of Hindu mystics:

Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji

Tukaram

Chinese mystics

Lao Zi (Lao Tze)

Zhang Sanfeng

Christian mystics

Some examples of Christian mystics:

St. John the Apostle (? -101)

Clement of Alexandria (? -216)

St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

St. Gregory I (590-604)

Saint Anselm (1033-1109)

Hugh of Saint Victor (1096–1141)

St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

Albertus Magnus (206-1280)

Mechtild of Magdeburg (1210-1279)

St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1275)

Angel of Foligno - (c.1248-1309) )

Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - 1327/8)

Richard Rolle (c. 1290 - 1349)

St. Gregory Palamas (1296 - 1359)

St. Bridget of Sweden (1302-1373)

Julian of Norwich (1342-c.1416)

Margery Kempe (c.1373-1438)

Paracelsus (1493-1541)

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)

Jakob Boehme (1575-1624)

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)

Michael de Molinos (1628-1696)

Sarah Wight (1632-?)

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

William Blake (1757-1827)

Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824)

Jakob Lorber (1800 - 1864)

Max Heindel (1865 - 1919)

G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897-1963)

Islamic mystics

Some examples of Muslim mystics (also called sufi): Persian:

al-Ghazali, (d. 1111)

al Hallaj (d. 922)

Abu Yazid Bistami aka Bayazid of Bistam

Turkish:

Indian:

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, aka Khwaja Gareeb Nawaz

Khwaja Nizamuddin Chishti, aka Nizamuddin Auliya or just Khwaja Nizamuddin

Qalandar Baba Auliya

Amir Khusro

Jewish mystics

Some examples of Jewish mystics:

Shimon bar Yochai (c.200)

Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (1240-1291)

Moses ben Shem Tob de Leon (1250-1305)

Isaac Luria (1534-1572)

Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746)

Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810)

Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935)

Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)

Other mystics

Some examples of other mystics:

Rufus Jones (Quakerism)

Plotinus (Neo-Platonist)

Walt Whitman

Heinrich Himmler (Nazi mysticism)

Aleister Crowley (magick and Thelema)

Gurdjieff

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Chapel Tibet

References

Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, Perennial 1945, ISBN 006057058X
Rudolf Otto, The Idea of the Holy, Oxford 1923, ISBN 0195002105
Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah, Meridian 1974, Plume Books 1987 reissue: ISBN 0452010071

External links

Mysticism in Catholic Encyclopedia
Who's Who in the History of Mysticism by Professor Bruce B. Janz
ChristianMystics.com includes many short essays covering various aspects of Christian mysticism
Alphabetical List of Mystics
Christian Mysticism
Evelyn Underhill's classic work A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness
Mysticism in World Religions
Neo-Tech Neo-Tech a philosophy that says mysticism in all its forms is the "number one enemy of human life" and whose explicit mission is its total elimination
Modern Mysticism and the After-Life - an empirical investigation
Islamic Mysticism
AbstractAtom.com: Information on Buddhism (especially Indian and Tibetan), the philosophy of Brahman, and Buddhist atomism
Planet Baha'i Mysticism Resources A look at mysticism in the Bahá'í Holy Writings, its relationship to mystical elements in other religions, and its impact on the lives of individual Bahá'ís.
Bahá'í Mystics A collaborative exploration of Bahá'í mysticism using Wiki software.
Millennial Mystics Offered by a Bahá'í artist, this site presents studies and study aids on Bahá'í mysticism, emphasizing its connection to the arts.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
How to recognise a mystical experience - criteria, triggers and stages

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	'''Mysticism''', from the [[Greek language\|Greek]] μυω (''mueo'', "to conceal"), is the pursuit of achieving communion with, or conscious awareness of [[ultimate reality~~]], [[God~~]] or [[divine]] [[spirit]]; the belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that are central to being and directly accessible by subjective experience; or the belief that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge. In the Hellenistic world, ‘mystical’ referred to "secret" religious rituals.		'''Mysticism''', from the [[Greek language\|Greek]] μυω (''mueo'', "to conceal"), is the pursuit of achieving communion with, or conscious awareness of [[ultimate reality]] or [[divine]] [[spirit]]; the belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that are central to being and directly accessible by subjective experience; or the belief that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge. In the Hellenistic world, ‘mystical’ referred to "secret" religious rituals.

	Mysticism is intuitive knowledge of transcendent concrete objects, not the phenomenal or material concrete objects of ordinary perception. The mystic sees things that are not part of ordinary experience. [[William James]] used the words "[[ineffable]]" (means that it cannot or should not be spoken) and "[[noetic]]" (from the the Greek νοῦς ''nous'': "relating to consciousness or intuition'), to describe the mystical experience.		Mysticism is intuitive knowledge of transcendent concrete objects, not the phenomenal or material concrete objects of ordinary perception. The mystic sees things that are not part of ordinary experience. [[William James]] used the words "[[ineffable]]" (means that it cannot or should not be spoken) and "[[noetic]]" (from the the Greek νοῦς ''nous'': "relating to consciousness or intuition'), to describe the mystical experience.