Mysticism Essays

Timothy Paul Winters Barfoot REL 301 23 April 2016 Final Thoughts on Mysticism In the book, “Mysticism Its History and Challenge” I found Part one: The Phenomenon of Mysticism on the chapter of the Mystical Experience to be fascinating. As mysticism has many definitions which make it ambiguous. That mysticism is assessable from all religions because mystical experiences derive from a single source regardless of the faith. The author Bruno Borchert asserts that a mystical experience is like “being

exist in scholarship in relation to what Sufism essentially is and what it means. Nevertheless, the common view perpetuated by scholarship is that Sufism can be defined as the mystical or interior aspect of Islam, commonly referred to as ‘Islamic mysticism’ which is practiced by an unknown amount of Muslims in our current society today (Elias, 1998; Khanam, 2006; Pazouki, 2002; Khanam, 2006). It is a movement that essentially aims at intensifying the religious experience of Islamic faith practices

Sufism Hopes and Fears Since the poet Rabi'a al-Adawiyya Sufis have strived to not be guided by their hopes and fears but instead by having pure love for god. Despite this, all Muslims hope to become close to god in “Paradise”, which is after death and the last judgment. Sufis believe that they can achieve this in their life on earth and fully embrace God’s presence. A quote from Rabi'a al-Adawiyya shows this perspective, "O God! If I worship you for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship

Religious experiences come in many different forms from personal contact with a divine being, visions, near death experiences (NDEs), and more. The most vivid and life-changing religious awakenings often come from a close brush with death. Why is this? I would argue that it is because most people come to the conclusion that someone or something must have saved them from death, otherwise how would they have survived? Surely one isn’t that lucky, especially if the incident was extreme and should have

Never Underestimate A Woman In Medea, Euripides portrays Medea’s character as a very knowledgeable woman. Medea clearly interprets the characteristics of mysticism to the Athenian audience. Euripides, a powerful tragedian uses Medea’s rhetoric to get a medium of revenge. Medea is partially divine and has a type of sorcery, which leads to the persuasion of being able to stay an extra day and have a master plan to kill Creon, the princess and her children. Creon, the king of Corinth wants Medea and

Twilight Twilight (1988) is perhaps Wiesel’s most complex literary work and it can be viewed as a sort of madness. The reader cannot formulate a clear picture of what happens to each patient after a certain point. This story is presented from a madman’s perspective, Raphael. It absolutely leaves the reader with puzzling questions about the world, oneself, faith, life, and even God. The Mountain Clinic resembles this sheer of madness. The Holocaust is told in flashbacks and soliloquys. The title

William James was a late 19th and early 20th century American philosopher. In this paper, I will be examining a portion of one of his works The Varieties of Religious Experience. Specifically, section 11.2 Mysticism which delves into the topic of mystical experiences. First James lays out some definitions that are key to understanding his arguments. He then argues three warrants for why a person should believe in mystical experiences. It is these three warrants and their arguments that I will be

For hundreds of years in Egypt, prior to European colonialization, Sufism, or otherwise popularly known as Islamic Mysticism, dominated the religious landscape of Egypt, essentially making practices that most scholars consider particularly Sufi today indistinguishable from just “ordinary” Islamic ones. Nile Green in his book, Sufism, makes this point, arguing that “By diversifying their spiritual method and vernacularizing their means of communication, and by founding brotherhoods and saint cults

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom,” is a quote by Aristotle, providing a vivid understanding that if someone knows who they are as a person, it is difficult to persuade them into thinking otherwise. However, if one is ignorant of their identity, it is easy to provide them with conflicting thoughts as well as confusion toward their culture, customs, race or anything particularly having to do with their background. In Bless Me, Ultima, the author exhibits the most frequently used cultural

The portion of this week’s reading that I found most interesting was Siddhartha Gautama’s search for the ultimate Enlightenment. Gautama became a wandering monk and studied under spiritual teachers. These teachers taught him meditation techniques which allowed him to enter a profound state of trance. This allowed him to learn the sphere of nothingness in which the mind transcends all thought. However, Gautama quickly mastered this technique and began to learn the sphere of neither perception and

Shia and Sunnis tend to be the most common and well-known dimensions in the religion of Islam and little is known about Sufism. Muslim theologians and scholars even view Sufism with suspicion and question it due to its unorthodox ways of practicing Islam. The readings from Abdullah Ansari of Herat and Rumi present the many teachings of Sufism and how those who follow this dimension of Islam try to connect to God closer by taking part in more spiritual practices. It’s a more spiritual form of Islam

Mysticism: It refers to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences. Gnosticism: It is the teaching based on Gnosis, the knowledge of transcendence arrived at by way of interior, intuition means. It is nearer the truth to say that Gnosticism expresses a specific religious experience. An experience that does not lend itself to the language of theology or philosophy, but which is instead closely affinitized to

Dear J. Alfred Prufrock, the great Greek philosopher, Socrates, once said, “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing”. It is in my opinion that Socrates summarized you life in the one line. Prufrock, your writing is divine genius, but it is clear to see that you are facing the most pure and overwhelming questions concerning the very folds of the universe all at once. Not to discount the valid earthly problems of everyday life. As in betwixt your elegant lines containing the

The Gnostic Religion The term “Gnosticism” comes from the Greek word “gnosis,” which means knowledge or a knowing. As an alternative messiah-religion, Gnosticism traces its root back to the beginning of the Christian Church. Some researchers even suggest that it existed before Christianity, in the pre-Christian Judaism. The teachings of Gnosticism had been so influential to the culture of the time, that it threatened the early church, and possibly earned a mention in the Christian Bible. Gnosticism

Why was Sufism successful? Sufism was a burgeoning successful movement. It was equal to Christian and Buddhist mystics. They believed in a direct and personal path to the experience of God’s presence (pg. 220). The emotional connections to divine truth, the workings of reasoning and the revealed word was all relied upon. The Qur’an was not viewed as the only path to get to God, and sometimes they danced until they fell into a trance while searching for his grace. The practice of Sufis spread

Mysticism means many things to many minds and is undeniably a term that is used in varying contexts with different shades of meanings. Many have used this term to designate a special mark of spiritual disposition, and others have employed it to mark off a higher and final development of life itself. Anyone who reflects God or the Holy Spirit as the vital, determining norm or principle of his or her life could validly be called “Mystical.” Mysticism means, the attainment of higher levels of being

The term “Mysticism” comes from the Greek μυω, meaning “to conceal.” In the Hellenistic world, ‘mystical’ referred to “secret” religious rituals. In early Christianity the term came to refer to “hidden” allegorical interpretations of Scriptures and to hidden presences, such as that of Jesus at the Eucharist. Only later did the term begin to denote “mystical theology,” which included direct experience of the divine (See Bouyer, 1981). Typically, mystics, theistic or not, see their mystical experience

A very good morning to ladies and gentlemen. On this glorious morning, I, Goh Sher Li who was a student from Bachelor Degree in Marketing Year 1 in Tunku Abdul Rahman University College would like to thank the lecturer for giving me this opportunity to share about “fear”. In my speech, I am going to share with you what is “fear” and my experience of “fear”. "Fear" is one of the selections of my coursework topic. I still remember that day I first saw it in the lecture hall although just a few second

Gregory Palmas (1296-1359) was born into a highly respected family of the Byzantine Aristocracy in Constantinople. Although his education focused heavily on Aristotelian disciplines (rhetoric, physics, and logic), Palmas decided to forgo his future in politics in order to become a practicing monk. Accordingly, he underwent an extensive theological education, which was supplemented by the instruction of spiritual masters (i.e. Nikodemos). At the age of 26, Palmas made a life altering decision to adopt

The term ‘New Age’ refers to a wide range of mind-body-spirit ideas, interests and therapies from across the globe that started to become prominent in the late 1970s. Heelas (2008) estimates that there are 2,000 such activities and 146,000 practitioners in the UK. According to Heelas (1996), the wide range of ideas and activities of the New Age are characterised by two common themes: self-spirituality and detraditionalisation (the rejection of tradition ‘external’ religions and sources of spiritual