Self-realisation in mystical traditions: an insight into the psychospiritual dimension of human development

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Self-realisation in mystical traditions an
insight into the psychospiritual dimension of
human development

• by Lea Loncar, PhD student, NTNU, Norway

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Mysticism is the base of all true science.
Einstein, 1954

• Mystical experiences as clear illuminations,
  having all the qualities of direct sensory
  perception (Stance, 1961).
• Mystics Psychonauts travellers in the inner
  space of consciousness

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The quest for ecstatic transcendence of the human
condition

• Shamanism
• Religion
• Mysticism

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Denial of mystical experiences

• scientific materialism
• religious provincialism
• the primacy of mundane consciousness, ordinary
  life experience and science in its service
  affirmation of ordinary life

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Religion and spirituality

• Religion as culturally conditioned tool.
• Spirituality Belief in the possibility of
  self-transformation based on actualised
  experience.
• Mystics stepping out of religious dogmas,
  societal norms and imposed ethics

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Study of mystical experiences

• W. James Study of religious experiences and its
  trasformative power
• C.G. Jung the unconscious as the locus of
  mystical experience
•  A. Maslow peak experiences
• Transpersonal psychology K. Wilber, C. Tart
• Positive psychology
• Spiritual psychology

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The study of Self

• Who am I? What remains unchanged in me when all
  attributions are pealed off?
• Western view based on ordinary states of
  consciousness consciousness is intentional can
  only be conscious of something (O) we are always
  focused on some objects. (Brentano)
• Self percipient subject.
• ExceptionsTranscendental ego (Kant, Husserl,
  Sartre) transcendental centre of awareness
  (Erikson)

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The study of Self

• Eastern view based on altered states of
  consciousness (trance, meditation, turiya,
  samadhi, nirvana, as well as deep sleep)
• beyond-experience unity of the knower and the
  known , subject and object.
• Self is both subject and object
• Consciousness as all-pervading intelligence (God,
  Divine) Self as the being/embodiment of that
  consciousness Ego as limited and distorted
  perception of the Self.

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Example Yoga Sutras, Patanjali (Trans. Taimini,
1961)

•  
• 12 Yoga is the inhibition of the modifications
  of the mind
• 13 Then the Seer is established in his own
  essential and fundamental nature.
• 14 In other states there is assimilation (of the
  Seer) with the modifications (of the mind).

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What is transcended

• Ego and the identifications of the ego with the
  objects of its perception.
• Ego uses filtering organs, such as mind and
  senses together with emotion that colours
  consciousness into different forms (thoughts and
  meanings, perceptions and experiences). When ego
  is dropped, what remains is pure consciousness.

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Roland extended self in Eastern cultures.

• I-self (west) - ---we-self (east) - ---expansion
  toward outward to include both nature and the
  divine to all-self.
• Collective cultures interchange through
  permeable ego boundaries.

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Is the loss of ego possible ?

• C. G. Jung the loss of ego implies falling
  unconscious
• Cognitive capacity needed for ego transcendence
• Practice and guidance

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Different introspective styles and their main
common characteristics

• Different introspective styles
• Reflection
• Speculation
• Rumination
•  
•  
• Contemplation/ meditation

• Common characteristics
• Being attached to the thought letting
  associations determine further direction of the
  thought inner dialogue and analysis of the past,
  future and fantasy
•  
• Attention to ONE thought

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The luminous vision of a mystic

• Mystical state of being ideal human condition
  characterised with qualities such as contentment,
  peacefulness, joy, lucidity, selfless action,
  etc.
• Collins (1991) Stages of a mystical
  transformation
• Awakening experience Renunciation and purgation
  Illumination Transformed state that leads to
  action

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Renunciation and purgation

• eg Dark night of the Soul
• Ascetism/austerity or creative self-frustration
  challenge our habits or patterns. Austerity
  generates psychic energy that can be used to
  power the process of self-transformation. The
  goal of austere practices is to be a tool in
  replacement of automatic patterns with mindful
  living (Feuerstein, Effort and Grace).

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Relative exclusiveness of mystical path

• Freeing a person from his/her rigid ego
  encapsulation is only beneficial if the shadow or
  unconscious dimension of ones nature is also
  known and controlled.
• Mystic holly craziness? Clear distinction
  between pathological states and mystical states.
• Jfr William James The pre-rational and
  post-rational states of awareness.

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Illumination

• effortless being
• I am That
• Distinction between unifying experience between
  object of meditation and meditator, and stil
  distinctive dual experience, which is also a
  level of transcendence of identity, but stil not
  absolute transcendence of the Object (eg.Christ
  lives in me)

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Transformed state that leads to action

• Non- intentional action
• Action in the world is not lead by personal
  conscious or subconscious intentions (ego
  gratification, name, fame, personal complexes
  that need to be healed through acknowledgement,
  ideological believes, etc).
• consciousness do not change, but the focus of
  awareness and consequently the lifeworld
• selfless action

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Examples

• Meister Eckhart Rumi Ramana Maharishi
  Paramahamsa Yogananda Ramakrishna Shri Arubindo
  and The Mother Baba Muktananda Mor Theresa
  Omram Mikhael Aivanov
•  Contemporary
• Ammachi GuruMay

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Mystic and Poet Rumi

• Your thinking is like a camel driver and you are
  the camel it drives you in every direction under
  its bitter control.
• Reason is powerless in the expression of Love.
  Love alone is capable of revealing the truth of
  Love and being a Lover. The way of our prophets
  is the way of Truth. If you want to live, die in
  Love die in Love if you want to remain alive.
• http//www.khamush.com/poems.html

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Powerfull selfrealised beingsand saints

• Children, you can find the secret of bliss when
  you think of the nature of the Self. The waves of
  the mind will subside. Everything is there in you
  already (Ammachi).
• The greatest trap in our life is not success,
  popularity or power, but self-rejection.Self-reje
  ction is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life
  because it contradicts the sacred voice that
  calls us the Beloved. Being the Beloved
  expresses the core truth of our existence (Mother
  Theresa).

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Research implications

• Views of the limits and perfectibility of human
  nature
• science and its methodologies grounded in Western
  thought
• Can we ever comprehend mystical experiences
  through abstract categories of research? The very
  essence of mystical experiences lies in the
  transcendence of all mental (and thus also
  scholarly) categories.