"Just as in earthly life, lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls bend in a soft whisper, so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer, he can, as it were, creep into God." --Soren Kierkegaard
The "mystical experience" has been called the genesis of all religions. Most world religions can be seen as a codification of an original "revelation" or primary mystical experience -- Moses had his on the mountain, Jesus in the desert, Muhammad in a cave and the Buddha sitting under a Bodhi tree. Most mystics believe that the supreme being or the Divine, however defined, must not only be thought about, but directly and personally experienced.
"Mysticism," from the Greek mystikos ("an initiate"), is the knowledge and personal experience of states of consciousness or aspects of reality that lie beyond normal human perception, including the experience of connection with a supreme being.
On this Global Spirit program we focus our attention on the Abrahamic faiths, to shed light not only on the deep mystical traditions within Islam, Christianity and Judaism, but the connections and similarities among them. The program features three engaging studio guests: Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man, Brother David Steindl-Rast and Lynn Barron. Rabbi Omer-Man is a teacher and co-founder of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality.
"If you look at Moses, he had the experience of the ineffable, with the burning bush almost wordless. And then he was told: 'Go out into the world, liberate your people,' and his response was, 'Who me?' And God said, 'yes you!' So it is the experience, immediately translated into action, sometimes even into political action. The Prophet Mohammed had to go to Mecca and start organizing the tribes and placating and removing the idols. So it is both mystical but immediately translated into a social, sometimes political reality." --Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man
Brother David Steindl-Rast is a Benedictine monk with a deep connection to Christian mystical thought and experience. Originally from Austria, Brother David is an internationally renowned author and has studied Zen Buddhism and other religious traditions.
"We shouldn't put the great mystics up on a pedestal as if they were a different kind of people. The mystic is not a different kind of human being, but every human being is a different kind of mystic. Abraham Maslow already explored what makes human beings particularly creative, particularly resilient -- that is, what makes great people. He came to the conclusion, to his own greatest surprise, that it was the mystical experience. And he actually wrote about it. But in psychological literature it didn't sit so well, so he changed the term from 'mystical experience' to 'peak experience' because it is the peak of consciousness." --Brother David Steindl-Rast
Naqshbandi sufi teacher Lynn Barron is a practicing modern-day mystic who has had several mystical experiences that have become central to her teaching:
"I kept having this sense of someone saying: 'Come to me! come to me, come to me, come to me!' And it was saying: 'Stay in the light. That is the way. Stay in the light.' And then at some point of arrival, it said, almost like a little giggle or something: 'Ha! you finally made it! It's been a long journey!" --Lynn Barron
Lynn's Sufi tradition has its origins in the Islamic faith. While Christian and Jewish mystical practices are mostly internal in nature (and therefore somewhat difficult to represent visually), the Sufi path that follows the teachings of the Persian poet Jalaluddin Rumi has a practice called sema, which has both an internal and an external dimension. This is the practice of the whirling dervishes. The following video sequence, from the One Through Love project, provides a dervish's experience of the sema. It is narrated by the Turkish sufi teacher and whirling dervish Jelaleddin Loras, and, along with other videos in the multi-lingual OneThroughLove.org series, is subtitled in Persian, Turkish and Arabic.
The Mystical Experience is now showing on many public TV stations (check local broadcast schedules at www.GlobalSpirit.tv.
Global Spirit is a unique inquiry into humankind's belief systems, wisdom traditions, and states of consciousness. Presented by British actor-comedian John Cleese and hosted by author and spiritual seeker Phil Cousineau, this new series takes viewers on a mind and soul-expanding journey, exploring the relationships between ancient wisdom traditions, diverse belief systems, world religions and modern science. Produced & Directed by Stephen Olsson, GLOBAL SPIRIT is a co-production of CEM Productions and Link TV.
Stephen Olsson is a HuffPost blogger.
You drink coffee, you wake up.
You stay awake for 48 hours, you hallucinate.
Not mystical. Happens every time, and we know why. Some day we will learn that ancient ignorance is no longer a 2012 virtue...
Rubbish, if the whirling dervish had achieved union with the creator, how come then their countries are miserable and they all dervishes want to flee to the non mystical secular West?
I agree, getting a green card is mystical!
Really? You really want to make the comparison between mysticism and the Nuremberg rallies? This is a joke right?
Many claimed a mystical experience at the Nuremberg rallies of the 1930’s.
Many claimed a mystical experience at the Nuremberg rallies of the 1930’s
There are many other motions conducive to transcendent unification within group worship, more practical certainly than individuals whirling greatly space from each other. One of the best is saltation, hopping up and down.
1) About the quote of Soren Kierkegaard, stating: …”so the mystic longs for the moment when in prayer, he can, as it were, creep into God.” Notice, the “longs for” refers to anticipation, which describes condition before the actual realization. Because, the actual realization of the divine, is entirely unprecedented, a total surprise impossible to have been predefined by the intellect.
“The divine process of applied deification,” –ask about it, I shall inform you,- is all about that; that is basically ego preparation to merit the unprecedented surprise.
2) The music induced whirling of dervishes, is just an escape of the now and definitely no real means to realize the divine. The whirling of dervishes is adaptation of the southern Italy’s “Tarantella dancing ecstasy,” for girls and boys too, slaves, coming from southern Italy and enclosed in Ottoman harems.
3) Last but not least; for goodness sake, take into account Jesus the Christ. When so, then to compartmentalize Jesus just as another mystic would roughly be like treating a shepherd like a ship.
The Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel dined with me, and I asked them how they dared so roundly to assert that God spake to them; and whether they did not think at the time, that they would be misunderstood, & so be the cause of imposition.
Isaiah answer'd. 'I saw no God, nor heard any, in a finite organical perception; but my senses discover'd the infinite in every thing, and as I was then perswaded, & remain confirm'd, that the voice of honest indignation is the voice of God, I cared not for consequences but wrote.'
I also asked Isaiah what made him go naked and barefoot three years? he answer'd, 'the same that made our friend Diogenes the Grecian.'
I then asked Ezekiel why he eat dung, & lay so long on his right & left side? he answer'd, 'the desire of raising other men into a perception of the infinite...