The Mystic Experience

The Mystic Experience PDF

Author: Jordan Paper

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 0791484289

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The mystic, zero, or void experience—the ecstatic disappearance of self along with everything else—is considered by those who have had it to be the most beautiful, blissful, positive, profound, and significant experience of their lives. Offering both a descriptive and a comparative perspective, this book explores the mystic experience across cultures as both a human and cultural event. The book begins and ends with descriptions of the author's own mystical experiences, and looks at self-reported experiences by individuals who do not link their experiences to a religious tradition, to determine characteristics of this universal human experience. These characteristics are compared to statements of acknowledged mystics in diverse religious traditions. The mystic experience is also situated within other ecstatic religious experiences to distinguish it from similar, but distinct, experiences such as lucid dreams, shamanism, and mediumism. Jordan Paper goes on to look at how the mystic experience has been considered in various fields, such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, biology, and comparative religious studies.

Mystic Experiences with Himalayan Masters

Mystic Experiences with Himalayan Masters PDF

Author: Dr. Sant Dharamananda

Publisher: Enlight-n-Scent LLC

Published:

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13:

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This exciting and fascinating book chronicles Dr. Sant Dharamananda's real life experiences with the great Himalayan Masters. Explore the spirituality and ancient wisdom from the perspective of a practicing monk. Santji's life has been filled with incredible mystic experiences that will open your mind to a wider world, and fill you with the optimisim, love, and hope. Few words can sum up such an interesting and exhilarating life, and you'll find yourself turning each page in fascination and wonder.

Phenomenology and Mysticism

Phenomenology and Mysticism PDF

Author: Anthony J. Steinbock

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2009-12-22

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 0253221811

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Exploring the first-person narratives of three figures from the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic mystical traditions—St. Teresa of Avila, Rabbi Dov Baer, and Rūzbihān Baqlī—Anthony J. Steinbock provides a complete phenomenology of mysticism based in the Abrahamic religious traditions. He relates a broad range of religious experiences, or verticality, to philosophical problems of evidence, selfhood, and otherness. From this philosophical description of vertical experience, Steinbock develops a social and cultural critique in terms of idolatry—as pride, secularism, and fundamentalism—and suggests that contemporary understandings of human experience must come from a fuller, more open view of religious experience.

Mystics, Masters, Saints, and Sages

Mystics, Masters, Saints, and Sages PDF

Author: Robert Ullman

Publisher: Conari Press

Published: 2001-10-01

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9781573245074

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Organized chronologically, starting with Buddha and ending with contemporary seekers, this book focuses on the moment of enlightenment in the lives of saints and masters that led to their witnessing divine reality.

An Introduction to the Study of Mysticism

An Introduction to the Study of Mysticism PDF

Author: Richard H. Jones

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2021-12-01

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1438486340

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2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title The purpose of this book is to fill a gap in contemporary mystical studies: an overview of the basic ways to approach mystical experiences and mysticism. It discusses the problem of definitions of “mystical experiences” and “mysticism” and advances characterizations of “mystical experiences” in terms of certain altered states of consciousness and “mysticism” in terms of encompassing ways of life centered on such experiences and states. Types of mystical experiences, enlightened states, paths, and doctrines are discussed, as is the relation of mystical experiences and mysticism to religions and cultures. The approaches of constructivism, contextualism, essentialism, and perennialism are presented. Themes in the history of the world’s major mystical traditions are set forth. Approaches to mystical phenomena in sociology, psychology, gender studies, and neuroscience are introduced. Basic philosophical issues related to whether mystical experiences are veridical and mystical claims valid, mystics’ problems of language, art, and morality are laid out. Older and newer comparative approaches in religious studies and in Christian theology are discussed, along with postmodernist objections. The intended audience is undergraduates and the general public interested in the general issues related to mysticism.

The Heart and the Fountain

The Heart and the Fountain PDF

Author: Joseph Dan

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2002-04-18

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0195343905

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Joseph Dan is one of the world's leading authorities on Jewish mysticism. In this superb anthology, Dan not only presents illuminating excerpts from the most important mystical texts, but also delves into the very meaning of mysticism itself. Dan takes readers through the historical development of Jewish mysticism, from late antiquity to the modern period. He explores the Kabbalah, the esoteric tradition that delves into the secrets delivered by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, the emergence of Hasidism, and much more. He presents the great texts, from Hekhalot Rabbati, "The Greater Book of Divine Palaces," set in the temple in Jerusalem; to the apocalyptic vision of Abraham Abulafia in the thirteenth century; to the Zohar, perhaps the best-known volume of all. For each piece, he offers an extended introduction that deftly places the work in the context of its time and its antecedents. "Mysticism is that which cannot be expressed in words, period," Dan writes. In this remarkable volume, he guides us through that seemingly impenetrable barrier to show how the inexpressible has been expressed in some of the most profound and challenging writing in existence.

Dimensions of Mystical Experiences

Dimensions of Mystical Experiences PDF

Author: Ralph W. Hood

Publisher: Rodopi

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 9789042013391

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Main headings: Part 1. Conceptual issues in the empirical study of mysticism. - Part 2. The measurement of mysticism. - Part 3. The quasi-experimental elicitation of mystical experience. - Part 4. Mysticism, religious orientation, eroticism and death. - Part 5. Triggers and evaluation of mystical experience. - Part 6. The veridical nature of mystical experience. - Epilogue.

The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia

The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia PDF

Author: Moshe Idel

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1438407459

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This book represents the first wide-scale presentation of a major Jewish mystic, the founder of the ecstatic Kabbalah. It includes a description of the techniques employed by his master, including the role of music. There is a discussion of the characteristics of his mystical experience and the erotic imagery by which it was expressed. Based on all the extant manuscript material of Abulafia, this book opens the way to a new understanding of Jewish mysticism. It points to the importance of the ecstatic Kabbalah for the later developments in mystical Judaism.

The Journey Home

The Journey Home PDF

Author: Phillip L. Berman

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 0671502379

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Message of the oneness of creation and the Divine spark within us all, forms "an eternal theology."