Assignment number:
The world of science is forever bewildered with the phenomenon which cannot be explained by way of experiments and notations. One such field or area of mystery is the phenomenons which are covered under the head of "mysticism". While the term "mysticism" was being used thousands of years back, its new world meaning implies the phenomenon where a person experiences a sense of or actual unison with the Deity or the one God. According to the author, Jordan Paper (2004), the particular experience, which is most common of it all and most basic of all mystical experiences is the one where a person seems to be immersed in the white or golden (basically colourless) light of the divine and feeling a sense of oneness, with all the present notions of individuality or personality diminished. This type of experience is also called as "zero experience" or "void experience" precisely because of the fact that a person feels a sense of nothingness in it. The basic points to notice in this kind of experience is that the person (through the author's research and anecdotal evidences) is generally (though not strictly) still, is not thinking of anything, feels a movement of light (which is formless, shapeless, odourless, colourless and noiseless) towards him/her which is slow initially but comes at an extremely fast rate towards the end before engulfing the person into itself, wherein, the person looses his/her sense of existence and peace prevails upon his/her soul. The author explains that this kind of experience is the one most commonly experienced and the point to note is that it is in most cases women who have reported this experience. One of the reasons for the same, according to the author, may be due to the fact that women are more genetically inclined to be empathic and hence, more open towards this kind of experience. Another philosopher W.T.Stace (1960) defines the mystic experience as the one which "involve(s) the apprehension of an ultimate nonsensuous unity in all things, a oneness or a One to which neither the senses nor the reason can penetrate" (pp. 14-15).
Another psychologist from California, David Lukoff, who has worked on the issue of mysticism and mystical experience with his patients defines a mystical experience as, "a transient, extraordinary experience marked by feelings of being in unity, harmonious relationship to the divine and everything in existence, as well as euphoric feelings, noesis, loss of ego functioning, alterations in time and space perception, and the sense of lacking control over the event." The point to notice in the definition of all three philosophers /psychologists is the fact that a mystical experience is defined as the same phenomenon -- where the personality or present outward consciousness of the person ceases of exist.
One must, however, explain that it will be wrong to say that only zero experience would be termed as mysticism. According to Paper, these days everything from near-death experience, out of body experience, prophesies etc is being termed under the header of mysticism. While some of these experiences such as lucid dreaming, out of body experiences etc are rightly placed under the header of mysticism, not everything fits into this area. As W.T.Stace explains, these days, people have even started to term "occult" under the header of mysticism, which is wrong. Occult, mediums, telepathy, telekinesis or any other parapsycological phenomenon cannot be included into mysticism because these are certain powers that a few people might have, but these do not relate in any way to the mystic experience (pp.10-11).
Another interesting aspect of the mystical experience is the way different traditions use different ways of achieving that experience. Indian spiritualists and mystics often use meditation and yoga-mudras to achieve the trance-like mystical experience state. Sufi mystics use the slow whirling movements (please note the state of movement here unlike the stillness of other methods) to get into the trance. Shamanism makes use of intoxication or other synchronised drumming and chants to help get into the state of ecstasy by help of the guardian spirits and angels.
Works cited
Lukoff, David. Diagnosis and Treatment, "Mystical or Unitive Experience". Spiritual Emergency Resource Centre, n.d. Print.
Paper, Jordan. SUNY series in Religious Studies : Mystic Experience : A Descriptive and Comparative Analysis. New York: State University of New York Press, 2004. Print.
Stace, Walter T. The Teachings of the Mystics. New York: The New American Library, 1960. Print.
