THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
I first came across the term “mysticism” in the early 60’s when I read a book by the British philosopher, Walter Stace, called:-THE TEACHINGS OF THE MYSTICS. I’m basing most of my talk today on his commentary of this unique experience that he distilled from the broad range of mystical literature when he worked and lived in India.
From the introduction of his book, Stace attempts to distinquish mysticism from what is commonly referred to as the occult, ghosts,or spirits, and emphasizes that we should rather embrace it as a rare, NON-INTELLECTUAL STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS. The word, itself, comes from the Greek word:MYSTIKOS , which means hidden or secret. It appears that the mystic tradition has been a part of man’s history for millennia. Aldous Huxley called it the PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY, because it keeps arising anew, originally from the teachings of the ancient prophets, and founders of all religions to more contemporary times with Emerson, William Blake and Gandhi..
Williams James, the psychologist/philosopher, although. not a mystic himself, considered it to be the source and origin of all religion. James made the claim that our so called “normal consciousness” was only one special type, but underlying this was a potential form that was more real and entirely different. By choosing only to identify with the temporal world, modern man would have to “earn” the awareness again of what is infinite, or that which has eternal existence.
In general, the mystical consciousness paradoxically lacks any sensations at all , nor does it contain any concepts or thoughts according to the mystic. It is also considered to be not adequately describable by any language. It feels beyond words and thought, beyond even space and time and even beyond the feeling of there being an experiencer having the experience.
It is sometimes known as the “oneness experience” from those that have achieved it- an apprehension of the nonsensuous unity of all things. Usually the experiencer comes away from this radical realization transformed from its profound effect with a deep sense of peace, optimism and well being. The mystic masters have often described the experience as pure ecstasy or ultimate bliss, an insight into the real truth of all existence. There is an expansion of one’s awareness level that includes the whole cosmos. Some have termed it the “Cosmic Consciousness” and even many contemporary quantum physicists have used that phrase.. The self, time, and space, all the primary categories in which we frame our normal experience vanish, leaving behind an effective tone of pure consciousness-awareness without any images.
The experience, itself, defies verbal description and can only be hinted at with words, yet, most mystics, in their absolute elation of its effect and value make the attempt to relate this extraordinary experience to others, knowing that all verbalization falls short of conveying the actual felt meaning. It can be conceptualized, but, it itself, is not a concept.
Lest we think that these transcendental experiences were only the property of ancient meditators, prophets, sages or seers, there is a growing body of evidence of accounts of these experiences being studied in several psychology departments across the country under the heading of transpersonal psychology. Abraham Maslow, the humanist psychologist, referred to them as peak experiences , and they may be more commonplace than we think. In fact, Dr Charles Tart, a transpersonal psychologist , at the University of California, keeps a large archive on the inner net devoted exclusively to only scientists’ accounts. These are scientists in all fields, many with Ph.D.s, who have been brave enough to come forth to offer a description of their own spontaneous realization that had while working in science. Most confessing that they were absolute skeptics or completely ignorant of the whole claim of mysticism up until the time of their own “awakening.” The archive is called T.A.S.T.E., which stands for:- THE ARCHIVES OF SCIENTISTS’ TRANSCENDENTAL EXPERIENCES. Many, who reported these accounts, wrote privately to Dr Tart stating that they were initially reluctant to come forth, because they feared ridicule from their colleagues and were concerned about their identity being revealed. Yet many did think it important enough to overcome this and sent it in with their names. It continues to be a growing archive.
Our own UU tradition keeps an open mind about the mystical and it includes it as one of the many paths of religious diversity that we should respect and honor. In a survey that I saw on the inter net recently of 8000 UU’s in terms of what religious preferences they had, at least 6.7 percent said they were mystics, 13 % said they were theists, and 49% claimed to be humanists. It is still a small percentage , but it may be growing phenomena if we consider two Gallop polls taken of the general public on the question of whether one has ever had a mystical experience: in 1973, 27% polled said yes, and by 1990 that had gone up to 54%, with most claiming that the experience had a beneficial effect on their lives and outlook. I have known a few mystics, some are personal friends. I can’t say for sure if I have had one, but I’ve had many peak experiences and one in particular , that I experienced in the frozen wilderness of Northern Ontario, that changed the course of my life, but I will have to save that for another time.
William James identified four hallmarks of the mystical experience that he extracted from the world’s mystical literature, and these are:
INEFFABILITY –experience is more like a state of feeling rather than anything cognitive
A NOETIC QUALITY-experience is a sudden flash of profound truth or insight
TRANSIENCY-the experience is fleeting, yet seems eternal
PASSIVITY- the individual self dissolves away and feels sustained by a greater power
When we exam the testimony of the mystics of past and present, we are struck by the unanimity of agreement between all of the different cultures, religions and regions in the world where it occurs. The interpretation which necessarily comes afterwards, may vary, but the ultimate realization seems essentially identical in content. That, and the fact that those who have achieved this awakening are radically transformed in character gives the experience a legitimacy for believing it to be a worth while phenomenon for inquiry.
Stace believed we don’t have to assume the experience is miraculous or supernatural, for even atheists have encountered it. It most likely has been produced by the natural processes of evolution, i.e., if we think for a moment about the pervading electromagnetic spectrum that exists in the universe, we all know that only a small band is capable of being perceived by sense of vision. The rest is totally imperceivable without the use of technical instrumentation to detect it. By the same token, consciousness may be conceived as a broader spectrum also, in which we are mostly limited to the normal sensuous cognitive aspect, except for those rare peak experiences which occur in some individuals, spontaneously, without rhyme or reason. Some have acquired it after years of meditative discipline og yogi’s and sages through a rare moment of clarity in contemplation, such as the Dalai Lama. The Indian philosopher, Aurobindo, believed that all mankind would ultimately attain this deeper awareness through natural evolution, though it might take a million years.
Of the two types of mystical experience mentioned by Stace, there is the extraverted one where there is an actual apprehension of the one source of the physical world that shines through the multiplicity and diversity that appears to exist in the external world. Dr Starratt’s experience would be exemplary of this type.
The introverted type is considered to be of a higher level that stems from the introspection and leads to the discovery of one of at the profoundest depth of human personality. Here the knower and known coalesce and become one or non-dual in a state of pure consciousness, what I think Paul Tillich, the great 20th century German theologian, referred to as the GROUND OF BEING..
Dr Amit Goswami, the Quantum Physicist, who wrote the standard text in Quantum Physics that is studied by all graduate physics students, came upon the experience at once, while he was arguing with a friend, when his friend shouted to him that –“consciousness is prior and unconditioned. It is all there is! There is nothing but God.” On hearing this, Goswami states in his book:THE SELF-AWARE UNIVERSE, that those words lifted the viel for him and shifted his whole whole perception of the world in a flash. He says in this book and I quote him here-“that we do not see it because we are so enamored of the experience, of our own melodramas, of our attempts to predict and control , to understand and manipulate everything rationally. In our efforts, we miss the simple thing- the simple truth that all is God,” which is the mystic’s way of saying all is consciousness.
Then there is the famous English poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, who had these experiences early as a young child. They later came on spontaneously in the beginning, but he later developed the ability of regaining the experience just by simply repeating his own name over and over to himself in a meditative trance like a mantra. Even Gandhi writes about an inner voice that he would intuit in deep contemplation whenever he was in a precarious situation that he could put his total trust in. He came to believe that Truth is God from that insight.
Why some are able to achieve these transcendental states and how so many things can trigger them remains a mystery. Although, there is an important connection between religion and mysticism, It was Stace’s contention that the connection was more secondary than primary or immediate. Each culture and religion tends to divest the experience in terms of its own dogma or creed. We must keep in mind that the interpretation of it can only resonate with what is remembered afterwards. None of it can be exactly identical to the living experience, itself. It tends naturally to be structured in the language of the individual’s culture or tradition.
Stace recognized three kinds of religious interpretations:
The THEISTIC- which interprets the “oneness” experience a s union with God or the eternal being. This became the meaning for the Jewish, Christian , and Sufi faiths
Then there is the MONISTIC MYSTIC- who interprets it as union with the absolute or impersonal soul of the universe. This is the way the Hindu conceptualizes it and it is called Samadhi
Finally the BUDDHIST interpretation- The experience is of no God at all, but rather an experience of the VOID, pure formless emptiness which is called Nirvana.
What is to be noted here in the universal testimony of many mystics is the transformation of character in which the individual undergoes the transition as an egotistical self to a more selfless person in thought and deed. Thus we may consider that Both Jesus and the Buddha were truly mystics in their time. Some mystics fervently believe that the mystical consciousness is the real secret fountain of all LOVE , which is the origin from where all morality flows. Selfishness and cruelty result from a misperception that we are disconnected, separate and alienated from others and our environment. But the mystic testimony counters this by insisting that the deeper truth is we are really all one, no one is an island. The Buddhist, who believein no God, still hold up Compassion as being the highest goal of all mankind on account of this insight:- that love, in the final analysis , is the only source of true moral behavior.
Even the skeptic among us, can likely find in the experience of the mystic something that can only be qualified as being sacred, and this feeling is as close to a religious experience as one can hope for. Most scientists , because they study the empirical world, believe that all truth is limited to the avenue of the senses. To the mystics this can only be a partial truth. I t will take time before scientific paradigm gives way and the mystical understanding is understood as a greater truth. But, ever so slowly, this may be happening as more accounts of transpersonal experiences come out in the open, pointing to the idea that Teilhard De Chardin, scientist /theologian stated in ;THE PHENOMONON OF MAN, that we as conscious beings will eventually evolve collectively into a greater consciousness which he called the Noosphere and achieve the highest truth of creation.
In concluding my talk today, I allude to the work of the late psychiatrist,Victor Frankl, who survived the Holocaust and went on to develop Logotherapy:- the understanding that the will to meaning is vitally important to ur mental health and survival. He discovered this insight from his observations at the Nazi death camp: those that life had a purpose were more likely to endure and survive the horrible suffering, than those that gave up on life as being meaningless. Frankl came to an understanding that all spirituality had its basis in man”s unconscious, constitutes the full spectrum of human existence. Like the human eye, there exists a blind spot in our consciousness wher spirit has its origin. So there , no self observation is possible. At this spot we may fully subscribe to what the Indian Vedas were expressing when they wrote 3000 years ago:” that which does the seeing cannot be seen, that which does the hearing cannot be heard, that which does the thinking cannot be thought”.
A few individuals have penetrated this viel or blindspot in a strange fleeting moment to become witness to this greater reality that exists beyond the threshold of most of us. They have endeavored to bring this light , this realization with resonating words that can only be feeble to the task. Most of us have not achieved this, but we can, at least be receptive to its wisdom and possibility for our own spiritual journeys. So I encourage you all to take time to explore the varied accounts that make up the mystic literature, both past and present, with the hope that they might inspire you beyond you r boundaries, and, who knows, if you might be next in line to be truly awakened and transformed by the COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS. GO IN PEACE.
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