Religious
and Spiritual Experience
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profound and exquisite writings. Mystics attempt to express their sublime
states, yet are constantly aware of the shortcomings of language, whether
conceptual or poetic. Mystical experiences may also include supranatural
manifestations, such as visions, voices or presences and in some cases
physical marks such as the stigmata.
There are mystics in most religious traditions, who very often bring a
new vision. However, it has to be admitted that they are often completely
different from the norm. There is at times a thin line between mental
imbalance and life lived within a consciousness of another level of exis-
tence. Their behaviour sometimes does not conform to what is generally
accepted. The ecstasies of Ramakrishna and Teresa
of Avila are challeng-
ing. However, many profound insights have come through mystics, who
have deepened our understanding: Plotinus (205–270), Muhammad Ibn
‘Arabi (1165–1240), St John of the Cross (1542–1592) and Meister
Eckhart (1260–1327) to name but very few. Ramakrishna (1836–1886)
explored the mystical experiences at the heart of Hinduism, Islam and
Christianity and found them to be the same. In his view God had made
many religions to suit the needs of different times and places, just as a
mother cooks different dishes for the members of her family.
There are schools of thought supporting this, such as Aldous Huxley in
The Perennial Philosophy,
who sees a similarity between the mystical
experiences within different religious traditions. This leads them to claim
a common core. Many interpreters, however, look
closely at the differ-
ences between the experiences of various religious traditions, and main-
tain that all experience, including that of the mystics, is determined by
prior expectation as well as subsequent interpretation and thus deny any
common core.
Mystical experiences may come after specific practice, and most reli-
gious traditions have mystical branches and techniques associated with
them. Hindus use various types of yoga; the Greeks had their Mysteries,
reserved for the initiated; Buddhists use various
forms of meditation and
in Zen impossible questions known as
koans
are used to pierce logical
thought; the Sufis of Islam have the poetry of love, music and the dance
of the whirling dervishes; the Jewish Kabbalists use the Tree of Life.
These are just a few ways in which individuals can prepare themselves for
an experience of the divine, but it cannot be induced. Many experiences
take the mystics beyond the boundaries of their tradition, sometimes
revealing greater depths of understanding of doctrine, but often moving
beyond the teachings. It has often
been the case that the mystics, although
they were trained within their specific religious traditions, they have
found themselves on the margins when their extraordinary experiences
became known. Their revelations did not always conform to received
Mystics
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doctrine. In fact, Meister Eckhart was condemned by the church. Yet
mystics are often innovators and can offer a deeper understanding of
faith.
Such experiences can also happen with no preparation at all. Blaise
Pascal (1632–1662) was a French mathematical genius, who excelled in
the fields of physics and geometry and invented an adding machine called
‘la pascaline’. He was also known for his wager: that as we cannot know
whether there is a God or not, it is more sensible to believe, as if you
believe and are right, you
gain paradise, if you believe and are wrong, that
is the end anyway, as it would be if you disbelieve and are right. However,
if you disbelieve and are wrong, you risk eternal damnation.
This rational approach was shattered by Pascal’s pivotal religious
experience, which took place on 23 November 1654. He wrote down
what happened to him on this ‘Night of Fire’ and afterwards kept his
‘memorial’ or ‘amulet’, sewn into his clothes. The parchment was discov-
ered after his death and it recounted his realization of the
God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not
of the philosophers
and savants.
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This was certainty, this was a revelation of God as a powerful reality
and of Jesus Christ. It caused Pascal tears of joy and led to complete
submission. He subsequently led a semi-monastic life and composed
the
Lettres Provinciales
(Provincial Letters) on Jesuit theology and began
a treatise on miracles which developed into a work of ‘Thoughts’ or
Pensées, which were published posthumously.
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