THE MYSTIC
Though mysticism may be associated with religion, it need not be. The mystic often represents a type that the religious institution (e.g. church) does not and cannot produce and does not know what to do with if and when one appears. Sill, mysticism has its fount in what is the raw material of all religion and is also the inspiration of much of philosophy, poetry, art, and music, a consciousness of a "beyond," of something which, though it is interwoven with it, is not the external world of material phenomena. It is a consciousness of an "unseen" over and above the seen. In the developed mystic this consciousness is present in an intense and highly specialized form. Though he may not be able to describe it in words, though he may not be able to logically demonstrate its validity, to the mystic his experience is fully and absolutely valid and is surrounded with complete certainty. He has been "there," he has "seen," he "knows."
Mystical experience, however, is not the sole domain of the mystic, according to some. As Ram Dass points out, there are many planes of awareness, many levels of consciousness. William James said, "Our normal waking consciousness is but one type of consciousness, while all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie other types of consciousness and we spend our entire lives not knowing of their existence. But apply the requisite stimulus and there they are in their completeness."
The word "mystic" has its origin in the Greek Mysteries, the Eleusinian Mysteries. A mystic was one who was initiated into these mysteries, through which he gained an esoteric knowledge of divine things and was "reborn into eternity." His goal was to breakthrough the everyday world into that of eternity and timelessness. This entailed a secret wisdom about which it was unlawful for him to speak. The word "mystery" (mysterion) comes from the Greek word "muo," to shut or close the lips or eyes.
Both Vedanta and Buddhism are rooted in mysticism. Even the nontheistic Buddhism has its mystical aspects, without calling it such, found for example in the jhana meditation of early Buddhism and in satori in Zen. Dr. D. T. Suzuki described his own satori in ZEN BUDDHISM: SELECTED WRITINGS OF D. T. SUZUKI (New York: Anchor Books, 1956), pp. 103-108. It gives the flavor of all mystical experience.
1. Irrationality. "By this I mean that satori is not a conclusion to be reached by reasoning, and defies all intellectual determination. Those who have experienced it are always at a loss to explain it coherently or logically."
2. Intuitive Insight. "That there is noetic quality in mystic experiences has been pointed out by (William) James...Another name for satori is "kensho" (chien-hsing in Chinese) meaning "to see essence or nature," which apparently proves that there is "seeing" or "perceiving" in satori...Without this noetic quality satori will lose all its pungency, for it is really the reason of satori itself. "
3. Authoritativeness. "By this I mean that the knowledge realized by satori is final, that no amount of logical argument can refute it. Being direct and personal it is sufficient unto itself. All that logic can do here is to explain it, to interpret it in connection to other kinds of knowledge with which our minds are filled. Satori is thus a form of perception, an inner perception, which takes place in the most interior part of consciousness.
4. Affirmation. "What is authoritative and final can never be negative. Though the satori experience is sometimes expressed in negative terms, it is essentially an affirmative attitude towards all things that exist; it accepts them as they come along regardless of their moral values."
5. Sense of the Beyond. "...in satori there is always what we may call a sense of the Beyond; the experience indeed is my own but I feel it to be rooted elsewhere. The individual shell in which my personality is so solidly encased explodes at the moment of satori. Not, necessarily, that I get unified with a being greater than myself or absorbed in it, but that my individuality, which I found rigidly held together and definitely kept separate from other individual existences, becomes loosened somehow from its tightening grip and melts away into something indescribable, something which is of quite a different order from what I am accustomed to. The feeling that follows is that of complete release or a complete rest---the feeling that one has arrived finally at the destination...As far as the psychology of satori is considered, a sense of the Beyond is all we can say about it; to call this the Beyond, the Absolute, or God, or a Person is to go further than the experience itself and to plunge into a theology or metaphysics."
6. Impersonal Tone. "Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Zen experience is that it has no personal note in it as is observable in Christian mystic experiences."
7. Feeling of exaltation. "That this feeling inevitably accompanies satori is due to the fact that it is the breaking-up of the restriction imposed on one as an individual being, and this breaking up is not a mere negative incident but quite a positive one fraught with significance because it means an infinite expansion of the individual."
8. Momentariness. "Satori comes upon one abruptly and is a momentary experience. In fact, if it is not abrupt and momentary, it is not satori.
Mystical experience, however, is not the sole domain of the mystic, according to some. As Ram Dass points out, there are many planes of awareness, many levels of consciousness. William James said, "Our normal waking consciousness is but one type of consciousness, while all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie other types of consciousness and we spend our entire lives not knowing of their existence. But apply the requisite stimulus and there they are in their completeness."
The word "mystic" has its origin in the Greek Mysteries, the Eleusinian Mysteries. A mystic was one who was initiated into these mysteries, through which he gained an esoteric knowledge of divine things and was "reborn into eternity." His goal was to breakthrough the everyday world into that of eternity and timelessness. This entailed a secret wisdom about which it was unlawful for him to speak. The word "mystery" (mysterion) comes from the Greek word "muo," to shut or close the lips or eyes.
Both Vedanta and Buddhism are rooted in mysticism. Even the nontheistic Buddhism has its mystical aspects, without calling it such, found for example in the jhana meditation of early Buddhism and in satori in Zen. Dr. D. T. Suzuki described his own satori in ZEN BUDDHISM: SELECTED WRITINGS OF D. T. SUZUKI (New York: Anchor Books, 1956), pp. 103-108. It gives the flavor of all mystical experience.
1. Irrationality. "By this I mean that satori is not a conclusion to be reached by reasoning, and defies all intellectual determination. Those who have experienced it are always at a loss to explain it coherently or logically."
2. Intuitive Insight. "That there is noetic quality in mystic experiences has been pointed out by (William) James...Another name for satori is "kensho" (chien-hsing in Chinese) meaning "to see essence or nature," which apparently proves that there is "seeing" or "perceiving" in satori...Without this noetic quality satori will lose all its pungency, for it is really the reason of satori itself. "
3. Authoritativeness. "By this I mean that the knowledge realized by satori is final, that no amount of logical argument can refute it. Being direct and personal it is sufficient unto itself. All that logic can do here is to explain it, to interpret it in connection to other kinds of knowledge with which our minds are filled. Satori is thus a form of perception, an inner perception, which takes place in the most interior part of consciousness.
4. Affirmation. "What is authoritative and final can never be negative. Though the satori experience is sometimes expressed in negative terms, it is essentially an affirmative attitude towards all things that exist; it accepts them as they come along regardless of their moral values."
5. Sense of the Beyond. "...in satori there is always what we may call a sense of the Beyond; the experience indeed is my own but I feel it to be rooted elsewhere. The individual shell in which my personality is so solidly encased explodes at the moment of satori. Not, necessarily, that I get unified with a being greater than myself or absorbed in it, but that my individuality, which I found rigidly held together and definitely kept separate from other individual existences, becomes loosened somehow from its tightening grip and melts away into something indescribable, something which is of quite a different order from what I am accustomed to. The feeling that follows is that of complete release or a complete rest---the feeling that one has arrived finally at the destination...As far as the psychology of satori is considered, a sense of the Beyond is all we can say about it; to call this the Beyond, the Absolute, or God, or a Person is to go further than the experience itself and to plunge into a theology or metaphysics."
6. Impersonal Tone. "Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Zen experience is that it has no personal note in it as is observable in Christian mystic experiences."
7. Feeling of exaltation. "That this feeling inevitably accompanies satori is due to the fact that it is the breaking-up of the restriction imposed on one as an individual being, and this breaking up is not a mere negative incident but quite a positive one fraught with significance because it means an infinite expansion of the individual."
8. Momentariness. "Satori comes upon one abruptly and is a momentary experience. In fact, if it is not abrupt and momentary, it is not satori.
posted by Donald L. Simons at
6:03 AM
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