In general some go forward on a spiritual quest for hidden truth or wisdom, the goal of which is union with the divine or sacred (the transcendent realm). Forms of mysticism are found in all major world religions. In addition, by analogy in the shamanic and other ecstatic practices of non-literate cultures, and in secular experience, as well.

In the 20th century mysticism ("the treasure hidden in the centers of our souls") has undergone a renewal of interest and understanding. There is a growing mood of expectancy similar to that which marked its role in previous times. Such a mood stems in part from the feeling of alienation that many persons experience in the modern world. The split and confrontation between the fundamentalists and modernist in major world cultures has focused the need for mysticism of the spirit. This mystical spirit was once put down as a cultic religion of the cloistered elites. Mysticism (or the mystical faculty of perceiving transcendental reality) is said now to be there for all men and women. Yet, few use it. The British author Aldous Huxley has said, "a totally unmystical world would be a world totally blind and insane,. " The Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore has noted that "Man has a feeling that he is truly represented in something which exceeds himself." Very recently Dephra Chopra, Zinn, and others are providing electronic "Incredible Journeys" to facilitate entering and enjoying such a state of mind, by something like biofeedback a connection.

The Nature and Significance of Mysticism of the Spirit

The goal of spiritual mysticism is union with the divine or sacred. Generally, the path to that union was developed over the centuries by following four stages:

• purgation (of bodily desires),
• purification (of the will),
• illumination (of the mind),
• and unification (of one's will or being with the divine).

If "An object of man's existence is to be a Man or Woman , that is in harmony with the divinized state. Then one's self must restore equilibrium as the Chinese balance "Chi." This was essential to the early medicine of Paracelsus in the West. Mysticism for some is a way of return to the source of being, a way of counteracting the experience of alienation. Mysticism has always held, and parapsychology also seems to suggest, that the discovery or satisfactory identification of a nonphysical element in man's personality is of utmost significance in this quest for equilibrium in a world of apparent chaos.

Mysticism's apparent denial of self-centeredness, or its self-negating, is part of a psychological process or strategy that does not really deny the person. In spite of the "flaky" fringe of the dilettantes, the maturer forms of mysticism satisfy the dfferemt sides of the human personality: rationality, ecstasy, and righteousness.

The spiritual but not religious know there is something non-mental, illogical, paradoxical, and unpredictable about the mystical phenomenon. Yet, it is not perceived as irrational or anti-rational or "religion without thought."

Zen (Buddhist intuitive sect) masters say, it is knowledge of a most adequate kind. Still, it cannot be expressed in words.

If there is a mystery about mystical experience, it is the way it shares consciousness with universal life. Spiritual mysticism, is a way of living in depth. Humans find a meeting ground at various levels of reality. It is more than one-dimensional. There is an interaction and correspondence between levels

"What is below is like what is above; what is above is like what is below"
(Tabula Smaragdina, "Emerald Tablet," a work on alchemy attributed to Hermes Trismegistus)

They are not to be equated or confused. At once a praxis (technique) and a gnosis (esoteric knowledge)occurs. Mysticism consists of a way or discipline.

The relationship of many of the faithful to mysticism, what they often call "personal religion raised to the highest power" - is ambiguous. Because many of them were born again to faith without examining their Self they fear spiritual mysticism with a mixture of respect and misgivings. (They are not sure they have permission to do this.) The mystical spiritual person often represents a personality 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. Institutional religion and mystical practices ism have been uneasy bedfellows. It is instructive to observe, however, that mysticism has been the core of Hinduism and Buddhism. This is all to the good because these religions better understood by Christians, Jews, and Muslims seem to give the mystical persons a more permissive atmosphere than existed earlier. In fact, mysticism was a disturbing element in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and for the fundamentalists it still is. Consider the words of an Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli who noted of the 13th-century Christian monastic leaders St. Francis and St. Dominic, "they had saved religion but destroyed the church." .Some modern church leaders still put a heavy foot on the neck of the more spiritual in their congregations.

At the dawn of most of the world's religions the founders were, in the modern sense, incipient or advanced mystics. They had an inner compulsion to seek the ecstasy of oneness with God. Today, these spiritual experiences have proved less amenable to dogmas, creeds, and institutional restrictions. The fear bound who look outward for guidance and are usually controlled by what others think are discomfited by the spiritual person. In effect, know that there are religions of authority and the religion of the spirit. Thus, there is a paradox: if the mystic minority is distrusted or maltreated, religious life loses its vibrancy, on the other hand, these "peculiar people" are often made to feel they are "outsiders". They do not easily fit into society, with its requirements of a sanctified community composed of the less sensitive seekers of safety and religious routine. The dialogue between mystics and conventional religionists has been far from happy. From both sides there is a constant need for restatement and revaluation, a greater tolerance, a union of freed humans free to worship. Though it validates religion, with its quest and fervor, mysticism also tends to escape the fetters of organized religion.

Relating Spiritual Experiences to Other Kinds of Experience

Though there is an element of magic, psychism, and the occult in much of what passes for spiritual experiences such are not to be equated with a science of the unseen or with voices and visions. Powers of the occult (or siddhis) are viewed as real in Some of our world's religions, as we gain more respect and tolerance for the religios of the East and the Great Spirit of the American Indians, we can also be open in learning from them and thereby enrich the Western traditions.

Prayer and worship are a part of the mystical life of those who are spiritual but not religious. But to them they are viewed as methods and not as essence. They are usually thought of as enhancing continuations of sensory experiences. Mystical spiritualism is, on the other hand, a flow to a pure unitary consciousness, or a union with God.

As for science, it is a paradigm for a rigorous disciplined method of work. Meant to be analytic and discursive, it expresses its findings in precise and abstract formulas. It is a curiosity that many, but not all, "scientific breakthroughs" occur as a "Wow-Gotcha" moment. Or while dreaming. Similar to epiphanies . Mystical spiritualisms however, like poetry, depends more on paradoxes and an unusual use of language. Philosophies may lead to or follow from mysticism, but they are not the same. Nature-Mystics are another prominent variant, to which poets and artists are particularly prone. This has often been described or dismissed as pantheism (the divine in all), though it is felt by those who resonate with it as other than a simple assertion of identity.

Emotionalism and purified emotion are quite different. Emotionalism, a kind of unsuccessful ecstasy, may arise from unpurged past-programming in the being. It could also be a concession to conventional thinking- Giving it up!" Or,iinability to hold the flow or touch from the above in one's consciousness. The natural unstressed state of man or woman that of the true mystic in-the-flow or in the "zone" is serene and not agitated, not at the mercy of what the medieval mystical book The Cloud of Unknowing called "monkey tricks of the soul." "Be still, and still, and know." Mysticism is among the many forms of experience that confirm the some claims of religion that they help to bet in touch with the sublime.. It provides a here and now experience that enhances one's life and human potential. This introduction was meant to help the reader to soon focus the mind on the NOW. We have presented this discursive somewhat historical presentation to help you DELETE past programming that is not useful because it is a hindrance. to your soul's spontaneous use of Meditation and or Self-Hypnosis to enlarge the art of play for your soul and enhance your human potential. You can click the following hyperlink if you would prefer prayer in any case:

Click here to visit Prayers.

Otherwise, come aboard get ready to take a ride up the learning curve into either Meditation or Self Hypnosis. First, we introduce Meditation. If you prefer, scroll down for the locaton of the introduction to the Heading - Self Hypnosis. Below is the introduction to Meditation.

| ©2008 by James R. Cooper, and Individual