Hello,
I would like to make a small presentation of the fundamental concepts of Christian mysticism on this thread. But, I welcome (and hope to encourage) anyone wishing to jump in and question, or correct what is presented.
With transcendent, non-theistic, mysticism, only the terminology differs between the world’s major religious traditions; not the ideology. ‘Mysticism’ itself differs from most other ideologies in that it does not require faith, nor a simple adoption on the basis of one’s preferences. ‘Mysticism’ is experience based, that is, it insists that you personally verify all of its claims with your own interior interrogation.
Christian mysticism dates back to the early church, and, like St. Augustine, draws from neo-platonic sources. Protestantism also has produced its share of mystic writers, such as Jacob Boehme, and William Law. Probably the best exponent of Christian mysticism, among its many excellent proponents, is Meister Eckhart, a fellow student with Thomas Aquinas, studying under Abertus Magnus in the 12th century.
“There is something in the soul which is only God, and God was eternally in this without interruption and the human person is one with God in this. So you might say that all things and God too are yours. Empty yourself of your ego and of all things and of all that you are in yourself and consider yourself as what you are in God.� (Meister Eckhart)
Mysticism is saying that God can be directly experienced. But, since only God can directly experience God, you must empty yourself of all that is not God until only the “something in your soul which is only God� remains. The Christian mystic does not wish for ‘their’ soul’s salvation, but rather its destruction. Why? So that nothing may come between God and God. As one mystic put it, “The only sin is ourselves.�
The theist, Christian or otherwise, is seen in a mystic’s eyes as ‘self-seeking’ rather than ‘God-seeking.’ The theist holds that God is ‘a superior being,’ but superior to whom? That God is the ‘master,’ but master of whom? That God is the ‘Creator,’ but creator of whom? Why, of THEM, of course. God must share a place with THEM, worry about THEIR soul and THEIR well-being, respond to THEIR prayers, i.e. “Lord save ME,� ME, ME.
OTOH, the Christian mystic says:
“Lord kill me.� (Jacob Boehme)
“The proper faith in man is that he die to self, to his self-desire, and that he direct his desires in all his wishes into God's will, taking nothing for his own possession, but considering himself in all his acts as God's servant and worker, and thinking that all he does and desires, God in fact does.� (Ibid.)
Thank you, NS
To be continued:
What Christian Mysticism is all about
Moderator: Moderators
Post #2
“All creatures are a mere nothing.
I do not say that they are something very slight or even something, but that they are a mere nothing.� (Mester Eckhart)
Non-mystic Christians “believe� (to hold as true without supporting evidence) in God, and “know� that the world, with them in it, exists. Whereas, the mystic “knows� directly and personally that God exists, and “believes� that the world, with them in it, does not exist except as an illusion.
Granted, this position seems counter-intuitive. But, given careful consideration, we come to realize that we have no direct experience with the external world. Empirical evidence relies upon the senses, and the imperfect senses are simply nerves, which are not connected to the world, but connected to our brain. Each night, as we dream, entire worlds arrive in our minds that have no known counterpart in reality. We are given dream bodies, dream thoughts located in those bodies, and dream events to perform with our dream bodies within a dream world. The mystic takes ‘this world’, our body, mind, and actions, to be just one more dream.
“The more you strip yourself of the products of the imagination and involvement in external, worldly things and the objects of the senses, the more your soul will recover its strength and its inner senses so that it can appreciate the things which are above." (Albertus Magnus)
What the mystic cannot doubt is the direct, constant, and unchanging, experience of Spirit/Self/God. This experience is not unique to a Self-realized mystic, since all sentient being have it. What is unique to the realized mystic is that he identifies himself with the experience of Spirit, and never takes himself to be his body, mind, or acts.
“The soul can recognize God's existence and even God's presence, and God's activity within it: it is not necessary for it to seek without, it has only to follow Augustine's advice and enter within itself, when it will see that it was never without a 'virtual' knowledge of God."
(St. Bonaventure)
Peace, NS
I do not say that they are something very slight or even something, but that they are a mere nothing.� (Mester Eckhart)
Non-mystic Christians “believe� (to hold as true without supporting evidence) in God, and “know� that the world, with them in it, exists. Whereas, the mystic “knows� directly and personally that God exists, and “believes� that the world, with them in it, does not exist except as an illusion.
Granted, this position seems counter-intuitive. But, given careful consideration, we come to realize that we have no direct experience with the external world. Empirical evidence relies upon the senses, and the imperfect senses are simply nerves, which are not connected to the world, but connected to our brain. Each night, as we dream, entire worlds arrive in our minds that have no known counterpart in reality. We are given dream bodies, dream thoughts located in those bodies, and dream events to perform with our dream bodies within a dream world. The mystic takes ‘this world’, our body, mind, and actions, to be just one more dream.
“The more you strip yourself of the products of the imagination and involvement in external, worldly things and the objects of the senses, the more your soul will recover its strength and its inner senses so that it can appreciate the things which are above." (Albertus Magnus)
What the mystic cannot doubt is the direct, constant, and unchanging, experience of Spirit/Self/God. This experience is not unique to a Self-realized mystic, since all sentient being have it. What is unique to the realized mystic is that he identifies himself with the experience of Spirit, and never takes himself to be his body, mind, or acts.
“The soul can recognize God's existence and even God's presence, and God's activity within it: it is not necessary for it to seek without, it has only to follow Augustine's advice and enter within itself, when it will see that it was never without a 'virtual' knowledge of God."
(St. Bonaventure)
Peace, NS
