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*** SHOW NOTES (not a transcript) ***
Lead: A little deeper dive into mysticism, what it is, and why we should carefully consider how we relate to God.
Intro: A couple quickies…note below the deal on the Ravi Zacharias book The Grand Weaver. Second, despite going long yesterday, there was more to explore on the idea of mysticism, so today we’ll wrap up that definition. Welcome to day seven of the recording-from-the-road roadshow!
Sponsor: (none)
Bible segment (read along with The Bible Project):
Passage: Proverbs 22-24
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Words: ~1608
Apologetics/reflections segment:
Mysticism (bold emphases mine)…
The view that it is possible to gain experiential knowledge of that which transcends the limits of human reason and sensory perception. When associated with a religious tradition (as is usually the case), the mystic holds that it is possible to gain an awareness of God or ultimate reality through certain kinds of experiences, which are often claimed to be ineffable. Theists interpret such experiences as making possible a special intimacy or oneness with God but deny the monistic claim that in such experiences the mystic becomes aware of an identity with God.(1)
Or…
Defined as “piety in so far as primary importance is attached to inner religious experience, to religion as occurring in the soul” (T. Andrae), or as “the sense of the presence of a being or reality through other means than the ordinary perceptive processes or the reason” (J. B. Pratt). W. James lists four characteristics of the mystical experience: ineffability, a noetic quality, transience, and passivity. In some cases the mystical experience leads to a sense of unification with the divine (unio mystica) or of loosing oneself into “the void” or “the infinite.” In others there is an experience of intimate fellowship with God that leaves personality intact. Accompanying phenomena include visions, auditions, trances, and states of ecstasy.
Whether or not there is mysticism in the Bible is mainly a matter of definition. The personal concept of God in biblical religion does not allow for a sense of unification, which is more characteristic of pantheistic religions.(2)
Or…
Criteria of Mysticism. Mystical experiences usually last only a short time and often produce a great sense of paradox. Although meditation makes such experiences more likely, they seem more something that happens to one than something that one can make happen. Psychologist William James, in his classic Psychology of Religion, named four main mystical characteristics: ineffability, noetic quality, transience, and passivity (1902, chaps. 16, 17). Other mystics and scholars have other criteria.
Unity. The sense of self as separate disappears in mystical experience. Christian mystic Meister Eckhart wrote: “Go completely out of yourself for God’s love, and God comes completely out of himself for love of you. And when these two have gone out, what remains there is a simplified One” (1981, p. 184).
Ineffability. Mystical experiences are ineffable. They do not translate well into words; understanding lies only in the experience itself. References to “a dazzling darkness,” “the formless Form,” or “the cloud of unknowing” “show the inadequacy of language to express the experience” (Johnson, 1953/1971, pp. 329–330).
Reality. Mystics insist strongly that their experiences are real, infinitely more real than the material world. Mystics may well say that they no longer believe but now know. Pascal wrote: “Fire! God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the wise. Security, security. Feeling, joy, peace. Joy, Joy, Joy, tears of joy” (1670/1889, p. 2).
Transcendence of Time and Space. Mystics lose their sense of time and space. St. John of the Cross said that people may “remain in deep oblivion and afterward will not realize where they were, or what occurred, or how the time passed” (1991, p. 195).
Noetic Quality. Mysticism gives infused knowledge, knowing that does not come by sense or thinking. From Teresa of Avila: “The intellect does not work, but … it understands because God desires that it understand” (1976, p. 74).
Joy and Love. We already heard of Pascal’s joy. Although mystical experience transcends emotion, mystics later are usually flooded with highly positive emotion. Intense love for everything typically follows.(3)
So, here are my questions for you to ponder:
Does God speak? If so, how? What does He say about how He communicates with us?
Does God ever ask us to ‘turn ourselves loose into the void’ or otherwise become person-less?
Is there ever a time when we are “one with God” or He is “one with Creation?”
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Psalm 5
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Words: ~197
Take action:
Watch The Bible Project’s videos (plural!) on Proverbs (below) if you haven’t already.
Love you!
-R
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources
(1) C. Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 78.
(2) Helmer Ringgren, “Mysticism,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 945.
(3) M. J. Meadow, “Mysticism,” ed. David G. Benner and Peter C. Hill, Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 778–779.
Love me some Ravi Zacharias, so today’s Kindle deal got my attention. The Grand Weaver for two bucks. (And BTW, this link is to Amazon, but if you prefer Apple or another ebook seller, go look — I think they may have the same deal).