Valerius
Regular Member
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Mysticism refers to the personal, experiential side of various religions, where an individual seeks an inner (immanent) experience of God, usually through the means of meditation or prayer. Often, it goes outside to the boundaries of religion.
Mysticism is found in such religions as: Christianity (Christian Mysticism / Isihasm); Judaism (Kabbalah / Merkabbah); Islam (Sufism); Hinduism (Advaita and various other Hindu branches); Buddhism (as a whole). Elements of all that were also found in ancient Greek philosophy.
A profound realization of these religious currents is that the ultimate object of the religious experience (God) is not an outside being in the sky, but an inner experiential reality. Not only that, but (in the case of Advaita) this inner reality is named directly to be the human consciousness, but understood as the "awareness" level of consciousness, the silent observer behind the mind, beyond thought and rationality, the level of experience accessible to all humans when they stop their mind with all its chatter and mental processes. While in Advaita this is pointed out directly, in the other mystical branches of other religions, this is stated more subtly, and not that directly, but more or less, they point to exactly the same thing.
This ultimately leads to a sort of dual perspective on the human being - from one side, there is the mind with its processes and with its by-product, "the ego"; and from another side, the pure consciousness/pure awareness level, which only exists and observes but does not act.
Overall, the implications of that train of thought is that the mind with its ego are relative mental processes that cannot express the fullness of the human nature. Mysticism tends to see the mind/ego as an illusion, or an imperfect being, a separate creature. On the other hand, pure consciousness on its own is detached from earthly affairs and distant, but whole in its seeming emptiness, a sort of potentiality waiting for its actualization.
Another implication is the idea of Oneness - since all humans beyond the mind are made of empty consciousness, this is said to be the ultimate ground of being, a universal all-encompassing mind, same for everybody - all minds and egos are different, but the consciousness/awareness level of the humans is exactly the same.
I'd invite people to have some interesting 3 AM afterparty discussion on the matter, hopefully not too serious and not too religious a discussion.
Mysticism is found in such religions as: Christianity (Christian Mysticism / Isihasm); Judaism (Kabbalah / Merkabbah); Islam (Sufism); Hinduism (Advaita and various other Hindu branches); Buddhism (as a whole). Elements of all that were also found in ancient Greek philosophy.
A profound realization of these religious currents is that the ultimate object of the religious experience (God) is not an outside being in the sky, but an inner experiential reality. Not only that, but (in the case of Advaita) this inner reality is named directly to be the human consciousness, but understood as the "awareness" level of consciousness, the silent observer behind the mind, beyond thought and rationality, the level of experience accessible to all humans when they stop their mind with all its chatter and mental processes. While in Advaita this is pointed out directly, in the other mystical branches of other religions, this is stated more subtly, and not that directly, but more or less, they point to exactly the same thing.
This ultimately leads to a sort of dual perspective on the human being - from one side, there is the mind with its processes and with its by-product, "the ego"; and from another side, the pure consciousness/pure awareness level, which only exists and observes but does not act.
Overall, the implications of that train of thought is that the mind with its ego are relative mental processes that cannot express the fullness of the human nature. Mysticism tends to see the mind/ego as an illusion, or an imperfect being, a separate creature. On the other hand, pure consciousness on its own is detached from earthly affairs and distant, but whole in its seeming emptiness, a sort of potentiality waiting for its actualization.
Another implication is the idea of Oneness - since all humans beyond the mind are made of empty consciousness, this is said to be the ultimate ground of being, a universal all-encompassing mind, same for everybody - all minds and egos are different, but the consciousness/awareness level of the humans is exactly the same.
I'd invite people to have some interesting 3 AM afterparty discussion on the matter, hopefully not too serious and not too religious a discussion.