Mysticism

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Mysticism
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• I. Definition of Mysticism (Evelyn Underwood,
  Practical Mysticism Mysticism is the art of
  union with Reality, The mystic is a person who
  has attained that union in greater or less
  degree or who aims at and believes in such
  attainment

But
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• A. What is Reality? From this definition only
  a mystic can answer and in terms which only other
  mystics can understand
• B. What is Union? From the mystics
  perspective it is not an operation but an
  activity which is being done, every conscious
  moment of time with great intensity and
  thoroughnesswe can know a thing by unity with it

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Marks of Mysticism(James, Varieties of
Religious Experience)
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• I. Ineffabilitya negative
• A. Mysticism defies expressionno words are
  adequate its content
• B. It must be directly experienced
• C. It cannot be imparted or transferred to
  others

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• II. Noetic Quality
• A. Mysticism is a state of insight into
  depths of truth unknown through discursive
  intellect
• B. The areas of knowledge are illuminations
  or revelations

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• III. Transiency
• A. Mystical states cannot be sustained for
  any great amount of time
• B. At times, when faded, their quality can be
  imperfectly reproduced in memory

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• IV. Passivity
• A. The mystic will feel that his/her own will
  were in abeyance, sometimes as if grasped and
  controlled by a superior power
• B. The control factor will lead at times to
  secondary phenemena
• 1. prophetic speech
• 2. automatic writing
• 3. mediumistic trance

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Characteristics(Underwood, Mysticism)
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• I. Mysticism is practical, not theoretical
• II. Mysticism is an entirely spiritual activity
• III. The business and method of mysticism is
  lovelove is
• A. The active, connotative, expression of
  ones will and desire for the Absolute
• B. Ones innate tendency to that Absolute,
  ones spiritual weight

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• IV. Mysticism entails a definite psychological
  experience
• V. As a corollary to the four rules, emphasis
  should be made that true mysticism is never
  self-seeking

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Generic Experiences(OBrien, Varieties of
Mystical Experiences)
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• I. The object confronted in mystic experience
  is thought by the mystic to be somehow ultimate
• A. A belief that a mystical experience is the
  ultimate experience one can have on earth
• 1. Richard Rolle--the object is the fire
  of divine consolation
• 2. St. Bernard--comparable to the Beatific
  Vision in Heaven

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• B. It is asserted that the object is the
  ultimate experienced possible to human
  awareness because it is the ultimate
  reality--the deity
• 1. St. Catherine of Siena--the Sea
  Pacific in which she felt herself immersed in
  God
• 2. Origen-It is the Word the second
  person of the Trinity

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• II. The manner of confrontation is always
  immediate and direct
• A. It can an intuitive one-to-one cognitive
  relation between subject and object, as found in
  St. Augustine
• B. It can an insight--the unmediated
  perception of a higher coherence--St. Ignatius
  Loyola or St. Teresa of Avila

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• III. The confrontation is always different from
  the familiar exercises of either sense perception
  or of reasoning
• A. Differing backgrounds of mystics will cause
  the mystical experience to be explained in
  different terms
• B. Yet, there are similarities which go beyond
  religious beliefs, for example, the self,
  itself, becomes awareness

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Three Rules for Determining the Truth of an
Experience
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• I. The reputed experience does not follow as a
  doctrinal conclusion from a persons basic
  philosophic or theological position, but is
  counter to it.
• A. In writings of Pseudo-Dionysius or Meister
  Eckhart, the experience which is so highly
  extolled is the last logical step in a rigid
  speculative system

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• B. Either of them may have been authentic
  mystics, but one cannot come to that conclusion
  from their writings only
• C. When the experience does not fit in at all
  with the persons speculative suppositions, the
  chances are that it was a genuine experience

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• II. The reputed experience is not an instance
  of wish fulfillment, but is counter to ones
  wishes
• III. The reputed experience alone gives
  consistency to the speculation
• A. In Gregory, the experiences will be seen
  to be to the luminous center in the light of
  which Bible and philosophy and current
  theological controversies are understood
• B. In St. John of the Cross, everything takes
  its coloring from the experience

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Three Phrases of Life Agreed On By Mystics
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• I. Life as it concerns God
• II. Life as it concerns the creature
• III. An intermediate life, a mixture of the
  former two
• IV. Examples
• A. Plotinus3 descending phases or principles
  of Divine Reality
• 1. The Godhead, the Absolute, and
  Unconditioned One
• 2. Gods manifestation as the nous, the
  Divine Mind or Spirit which inspires the
  intelligible and eternal world
• 3. Psyche, the Life or Soul of the
  physical universe

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• B. The Upanishads
• 1. Brahma is the heart of reality other
  then the known, and above the unknown
• 2. Ananda, (being) that spiritual world which
  is the true object of aesethetic passion and
  religious contemplation
• 3. The world-process as we know it, which
  represents Ananda taking form

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• C. Richard of St. Victor
• 1. Dilation of mindenlarging and
  deepening our vision of the world
• 2. The elevation of the mind in which we
  behold the realities which are above ourselves
• 3. Ecstasy, in which the mind is carried
  up to contrast with truth in its pure simplicity

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• D. Jacopone da Todiuses symbolism of three
  heavens
• 1. When the mind has achieved self- conquest,
  the starry heaven of multiplicity is revealed
  to it its darkness is lit by scattered lights
  (points of reality which pierce the sky
• 2. The crystalline heaven of lucid
  contemplation, where the soul is conformed to
  the rhythm of the divine lifeby its loving
  intuition it apprehends God under veils
• 3. The hidden heaven or ecstasylifted up
  that ineffable state where it enjoys a vision of
  imageless reality and enters into possession of
  all that is God

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• E. Ruysbroeck
• 1. The natural world, theatre of our moral
  struggle
• 2. The essential world, where God and
  Eternity are indeed known by intermediaries
• 3. The super-essential world, where without
  immediary, and beyond all separation, above
  reason and without reason, the soul is united
  to the glorious and absolute One

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• F. Jacob Boehme
• 1. The deepest Deity, without and beyond
  Nature
• 2. The Eternal Light-world, the manifestation
  of Deity
• 3. The outer world in which we dwell
  according to the body, which is manifestation,
  image or similitude of the Eternal

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• G. Dionysius the Areopagite
• 1. The way of purification, in which the mind
  is inclined to learn true wisdom
• 2. The way of illumination, in which the mind
  by contemplation is kindled to the burning of
  love
• 3. The way of union, in which the mind by
  understanding, reason, and spirit is led up by
  God alone

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Forms of Mystical Literature
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• I. Pastoral Homilies--the writings of the
  mystics intimate communion with the Divine,
  sometimes the writings are written from sermons
  preached
• II. Theological Treaties--directed to an
  analysis of the mystical experience

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• III. Personal Advice--written to meet the need
  for instruction in the mystical of some definite
  person or persons
• A. The advice is personal in two ways at once
• B. Author-mystic, in the light of personal
  experience
• C. Reader-mystic, counseling for personal need

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• D. This category has many anonymous works
  which are considered to be classical
• 1. The Book of the Poor in Spirit
• 2. Theologia Germanica
• 3. The Cloud of Unknowing

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• IV. Confessions
• A. Most famous practioner of this type is
  Augustine of Hippo in his Confessions
• B. William of St. Thierry, in his On
  Contemplating God

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• V. Spiritual Accounts--direct and to the point
  purpose is simply to tell what occurred
• A. St. Ignatius Loyola
• B. Marie of the Incarnation
• C. St. Paul of the Cross

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Sampling of Mystics
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• I. Meister Eckhart (1260-1329 CE)
• A. The process of reality is a series of
  emanations
• 1. From the Godhead to the Unspoken Word
  (the Father)
• 2. From the Unspoken Word to the Spoken
  Word (the Son)
• 3. The Spoken Word to Love (the Spirit)
• 4. From Love to ideal creation

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• B. Humans return to the Godhead in a reverse
  order
• C. The practical spirit of Eckhart
• 1. The first stage of the souls return is
  regression from phenomenon, that is, from
  creatures in their actual state because they
  are not merely nothing, they are annihilating
• 2. The second stage is the beholding of the
  uncreaturely in creatures that is, of
  creatures in the ideal state
• 3. The third stage is introspective that is,
  one meditates upon the purely spiritual
  faculties of the soul, the trinity of memory,
  understanding, and will

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• D. The souls ultimate destiny is not the
  Trinity, but what is beyond the TrinityThe
  Godhead itself
• 1. Thus, there is a fourth stage
• 2. It consists in passing beyond
  memory-understanding-will to the delicate
  simplicity of the souls pure nature, to a
  oneness so rarefied that it is almost as
  though it were not in man at all

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• II. The Sufi Rabia of Basra (d. 185/801)
• A. Unlike many other Sufis, she did not pay
  heed to the beauty of nature
• B. She was marked by an extremely
  other-worldliness

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• C. An important aspect of her thought is her
  concept of pure or disinterested lovethe Love
  of God for HimselfO my Lord, if I worship thee
  from fear of Hell, burn me in hell and if I
  worship thee from hope of Paradise, exclude me
  from Paradise, but if I worship thee for Thy own
  sake, then withhold not from me Thy Eternal
  Breathe
• D. Her doctrine of disinterested love would
  influence not only later Sufis but traditional
  Islamic teahing

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• III. The Intoxicated Sufi Abu Yazid (d.
  261/875)
• A. Regarded as the first of the intoxicated
  Sufis who would find God within his own soul
• B. He scandalized the orthodox Muslim by
  ejaculating, Glory to Me
• C. He was also the first to take the
  Prophets Ascension as a theme for expressing
  his own mystical experience
• D. He developed the doctrine of Fana
  (absorption or annihilation which would
  play an important role in later Sufi teaching

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Hermiticism and Kabbalistic Mysticism
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Neo-platonic and Neo-Pythagorean Influences

• I. All of Platos works were preserved during
  the Christian destruction of Greek literature
• II. Platos Academy continued from the time
  of Plato until it was closed in 529 CE

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• . III. Between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE,
  Platonism underwent a revivalthis revival is
  referred to as Neo-Platonism
• IV. The nature of Platos philosophy is
  positive toward syncretism other systems could
  be easily addedespecially true of Neo-platonism
  which included neo-pythagorean and Hermetic
  concepts

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Hermes Trismegistus
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• I. Tradition states that he lived around 2670
  BCE
• II. Hermes Trismegistus is the Greek equivalent
  for Thoth and means The Thrice Great
• III. Legend claims he was an Egyptian priest,
  legislator, and philosopher and was to have
  written 36 books on theology and philosophy and
  six books on medicine

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• IV. The 46 books are divided as follows
• A. Ten books of laws, deities, and the
  education of priests
• B. Ten books of sacrifices, offerings,
  prayers, hymns, and festive processions
• C. Ten books of cosmographi and geographical
  information

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• D. Four books devoted to astronomy and astrology
• E. Two books containing a collection of songs
  in honor of the gods and a description of royal
  life and its duties
• F. Six books known collectively as the
  Pastophorous and deals with medical subjects

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• G. These writings were imparted, according to
  tradition, to Greek philosophers such as
  Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and Herodotus

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Other Legends

• I. Thoth was thought to govern over mystical
  wisdom, magic, writing, and healing Hermes was
  the personification of universal wisdom and the
  patron of magic

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• II. Both are associated with writings
• A. Thoth was credited with writing the sacred
  books of Egypt
• B. According to Iamblichus (c. 250- 300 BCE),
  Hermes wrote 20,000 books and Mantheo (c. 300
  BCE) thought he wrote over 36,000 books

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• III. According to legend both revealed to
  humankind the healing arts, magic, writing,
  astrology, science and philosophy
• IV. Hermes Trismegistus provided the wisdom of
  light to the ancient mysteries of Egypt. He
  carried an emerald, upon which was recorded all
  philosophy, and the caduces, the symbols mystical
  illumination. Hermes Trismegistus vanquished
  Typhon, the dragon of ignorance, and mental,
  moral and physical perversion

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The Emerald Tablet

• True, without falsehood, certain and most true,
  that which is above is the same as that which is
  below, and that which is below is the same as
  that which is above, for the performance of
  miracles of the One Thing. And as all things
  from the One, by the meditation of One, so all
  things have their birth from this One Thing by
  adaptation. The Sun is its Father, the Moon its
  Mother, the Wind carries it in its belly, its
  nurse is the world. This is the Father of all
  perfection, or consummation of the world. Its
  power is itegrating, if it be turned into earth

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• You shall separate the earth from the fire, the
  subtle from the gross, suavely, and with great
  ingenuity and skill. Your skilful work ascends
  from earth to heaven and descends to earth again,
  and receives the power of the superiors and of
  the inferiors. So thou has the glory of the
  whole worldtherefore let all obscurity flee from
  thee. This is the strong force of all forces,
  overcoming every subtle and penetrating every
  solid thing. So the world was created. Hence
  all were wonderful adaptations, of which this is
  the manner. Therefore I am called Hermes
  Trismegistus having the three parts of the
  philosophy of the whole world. What I have to
  tell is completed during the Operation of the Sun

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• V. Several Fathers of the Church thought that
  Hermes was pre-plato Lactancius, St. Augustine,
  Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Clement of
  Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Cyril of
  Alexandria
• VI. Other Greek scholars included Zosimus,
  Jamblichus, Fulgentius, and Julian the Emperor

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The Truth

• I. Until 17th century CE, it was generally
  accepted that Hermes lived before the
  pre-Socratics and wrote a considerable body of
  religious, philosophic, and scientific
  literature.

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• II. The works attributed to Hermed are referred
  to as The Corpus Hermeticum, composed by a
  circle of Greek-speaking Egyptians working in and
  around Alexandria in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE
• III. The Hermetic writings show influence from
  Platonic, Stoic, and mystic Jewish traditions

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• IV. No Christian influence, although there are
  many phrases and ideas that seem as if they might
  be from the Christian tradition For instance,
  in the Pimander there is an account of the
  creation of the world by the luminous Word who
  is the Son of God
• V. Some scholars believe the similarities are
  due to the fact that Hermes and Christianity have
  some of the same sources

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• VI. The manuscripts of the Corpus Hermiticum
  were discovered in Constantinople by agents of
  Cosimo Medici (a ruling prince of Tuscany)
• VII. Cosimo was so eager to know the contents
  of the material that he had Marisilio Ficino
  interrupt his translation of Plato and devote his
  energies to the translation of Hermes

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• VIII. He finished the translation in 1464
  being a Platonic expert he was able to see the
  Platonic elements in the corpus but he believed
  Plato got his ideas from Hermes.
• A. This misdating led him to believe that he
  had the oldest knowledge
• B. Dating the corpus to the 2nd millennium
  BCE made it the basis of all wisdom
• C. Ficino also thought that Hermes and Moses
  were contemporaries he even speculates that
  they might be the same person

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• D. Thus, the corpus gave the 2 great streams of
  knowledgethe philosophical writings of Plato and
  the Old Testament
• E. His translation and commentary helped to
  establish a Christian Hermetic tradition that
  flourished well into the 17th century CE

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Pico Della Mirandola
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• I. Contemporary of Ficino
• A. Began his study of philosophy under Ficino
• B. Picos importance is that he added to the
  magic of the Hermetic tradition the magic of the
  Cabala
• C. He went to Rome in 1486 with 900 theses or
  points drawn from all philosophies which he
  wanted to debate in public that points were
  reconcilable with one another

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• D. No debate occurred, but it helped to
  continue the Renaissances interest in magic
  through his books such as the Dignity of Man,
  Apology, and Oration.
• E. He later had to appear before a commission
  appointed by Pope Innocent VIII the commission
  was to investigate the heretical character of
  some of Picos theses

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• F. In 1487 Pico made a retraction of his
  beliefs
• G. In 1492 a new pope, Alexander IV, came to
  the rescue of Pico

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Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
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• I. Wrote Celestial Hierarchies
• II. Claimed to be the Dionysius who met St.
  Paul in Athensaccepted by many scholars of the
  early church
• III. Real author is unknown, but wrote under
  neo-platonic influences
• IV. The work would become important in the
  synthesis neo-platonism and Christianity

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• V. The link is done by identifying the angelic
  world with what the philosophers call the
  intelligible world
• VI. The world is divided
• A. Angelic (intelligible)
• B. Celestial
• C. Sublunar, which we inhabit

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Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Netesheim(Cornelius
Agrippa)
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• I. Born in 1486 in Cologne, Germany
• II. He confided in a latter at an early age
  that he possessed a curiosity concerning the
  mysteries (Albertus Magnus (1193-1280, famous
  occult scholar lived in Cologne)
• III. Went to the University of Paris where he
  gathered a band of fellow students interested in
  the same subject

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• IV. In 1510 he wrote the first draft of his
  Three Books of Occult Philosophyfirst published
  in 1531,33
• V. His work is divided into 3 books
• A. Natural Magic, or magic in the elemental
  world
• B. Celestial Magic
• C. Ceremonial Magic
• D. These divisions correspond to the
  divisions of philosophy into physics,
  mathematics, and theology

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• VI. In Book I he divides the universe into three
  worlds
• A. The elemental world
• B. The celestial world
• C. The intellectual world
• VII. The final chapter of Book I discusses the
  relation of letters of the Hebrew alphabet to the
  signs of the zodiac, planets, and elements which
  give that language a strong magical power

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• VIII. In Book II emphasizes mathematics and
  images
• A. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet have
  numerical value and they are potent for number
  magic
• B. He discusses the general principles of the
  making of talismans imprinted with celestial
  images

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• IX. Book III turns to higher matters to know
  that part of magic which helps one to come to the
  divine religion
• X. The information contained in the chapter
  should be kept secret for the mysteries of God
  are always hidden

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Giordano Bruno
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• I. Born in 1548 in Nola, Italy entered the
  Dominican order at age 15
• A. At an early age he came under influence of
  Hermetic tradition
• B. He would committed to both his Catholicism
  and the Hermtic corpus
• C. He would later be charged with heresy he
  would later renounce his Dominican orders and
  became an apostate

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• D. He traveled to many of the capitals of
  Europe
• E. He would be burned at the state in 1600 for
  his heretical views

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• II. His program of religio-magico-scientific
  reform
• A. He believed that he was reviving the
  magical religion of the ancient Egyptians which
  he believed was older than Judaism or
  Christianity
• B. He thought that even though the magic
  tradition had been suppressed that it would be
  revived
• C. Bruno believed that the religion of
  Hermeticism was the only true religion

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• D. He believed that Copernicus heliocentric
  theory was a portent of the revival of
  Hermeticism
• 1. In De Revolutionibus, Copernicus would
  refer to Hermes and stated that the sun is the
  visible god and ought to be the center of the
  world
• 2. Bruno thought that Copernicus failed to
  understand the deeper meaning of his discovery

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• 3. He linked animism, heliocentricism, the
  notion of an infinite universe, and political
  reform to the reemergence of the Hermetic
  revolution
• 4. He also believed that the existing Roman
  Catholic church would be incorporate the
  Hermetic tradition as part of its belief

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• 5. The Catholic church would condemn certain
  forms of magic in 1600, immediately after his
  execution
• D. This would mark beginning of a decline for
  the Hermetic tradition
• 1. Progress in Greek philology in the 16th
  and early 17th CE enable Isaac Casubon to date
  the composition of the Hermetic corpus in the
  2nd century CE
• 2. But many believed that the 2nd century CE
  documents could have been copied from older ones

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• 3. Humanist scholarship recovered other
  ancient documents opposed to the animism of
  Hermeticism
• 4. There also occurred an intellectual
  reaction known as the skeptical crisis a
  consequence of Descartes teaching of a
  mechanistic philosophy opposed to Hermeticism

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Rosicrucianism
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• I. Name is derived from Christian Rosencreutz
  or Rose Cross
• II. The Rosicrucian Manifestos are two short
  pamphletsthe Fama and the Confessio and the
  Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz (1616)

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A Historical Interlude

• I. The reigning Duke of Wurtemberg, Frederick
  I, was an alchemist, occultist, and Anglorphil
• II. He wanted an alliance with Queen Elizabeth
  of England and to obtain the Order of the Garter

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• III. The Garter was conferred upon him by James
  I
• IV. Thus, it would seem that James was making
  alliances with the protestants in Germany
• V. There seems to have been a secret treaty in
  1604 between James, the King of France, and the
  Duke of Wurtemberg

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• The Naometria
• A. An unpublished apocalyptic-prophetic work
  which used numerology based on the Temple of
  Solomon which the writer believed led to events
  in European history
• B. Writer predicts that in 1620 Antichrist will
  be defeated (papacy). In 1623 a new age would
  begin

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• VII. The European Union

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• IV. Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalism
• A. The term Kabbalah is literally tradition
  and implies that the mystical teaching
  represents the true interpretation of Scripture
• B. Abraham Abulafia (13th century CE)
• 1. His works remained unpublished until
  the 19th century

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• 2. His essential aim was to open the way for
  the perception of Divine Reality
• a. He found the means through the Hebrew
  alphabet
• b. The contemplation of Gods name, he was
  taught, would lead to mystical ecstasy

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1. Influenced by the Sefer Yetsira (Book of
   Creation, 3-6 century CE)
2. Divine language was the substance of reality
   the pure thought of God is expressed by a
   spiritual language, the letters of which are the
   elements of spiritual being
3. Every language, not only Hebrew, may be a
   medium whereby the language of God is apprehended
   by human consciousness

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• 6. As one contemplates Gods name, one is led
  to seed the name of God and angles in the heart
• 7. The soul will then leave the body in
  ecstatic joy and will receive an influx of
  spiritual life
• 8. He also brings forth rules of bodily
  posturea kind of Judaized Yoga

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• The Zohar (brightness or splendor)
• 1. Supposedly the work of Rabbi Simeon ben
  Yohai (2nd century CE) probably written in 13th
  century CE
• 2. It is in most ways a commentary on the
  Pentateuch, which interprets it through mystical
  symbolism
• 3. The Zohar expresses outlook of a school of
  Kabbalists whose earlier work was the Bahir
  (Brightness), 12th century CE

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• 4. The Zohar represents a development of
  Bahirs ideas concerning God, human destiny, and
  the significance of the Torah
• 5. It takes as a starting point the assumption
  that underlying all reality is the creative power
  of speechembodied in the written words of
  Scripture
• 6. Essential meaning of the Torah is its
  symbolic meaning
• 7. The central figure is the Sefirothliving
  numbers, conceived as divine emanations they are
  regarded as grades (degrees of creative or
  divine manifestation)

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• 8. They are the qualities, attributes, and
  agencies of God
• 9. The Sefiroth are divided into three
  triads, with a tenth representing the harmony
  of them all

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The First Triad

1. Highest is Kether, the Crown of Godit is the
   mystical Nothing, a primordial point
2. From Kether proceeds Hokhmah (Divine Wisdom)
   here is enshrined the ideal existence of all
   things in an undifferentiated unity
3. From Hokhmah comes Binah (Divine Intelligence)
   in which all forms of pre-exist in the Mind of
   God which sees them itself
4. It was said that the Divine Wisdom is the
   Father, the active principle producing all
   things The Divine Intelligence is the Mother,
   the passive or receptive principle

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The Second Triard

1. Hesed (Love, Mercy of God
2. Din (Power of God), manifested mainly as the
   power of judgment or punishment
3. Tifereth (Beauty) or Rachamin (Compassion)
4. Hesed is a male principle din, a female

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The Third Triard

1. Netsah (Victorylasting endurance of God) seen
   as masculine
2. Hod (Glory Majesty of God) seen as feminine
3. Yesod (Foundation)the ground of stability in
   the universe

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The Tenth Principle

1. Malkuth (Kingdom of God or Shekhinah (Presence
   of God in the Universe
2. It is the principle which harmonizes the rest

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• 10. One tradition says that the Sefiroth was
  first revealed to Adam in the Tree of Life and
  the Tree of Knowledge taken together, Adam
  would separate the twoand so introduced the
  principles of division and isolation in the
  world
• 11. Evil is traced to the introduction of
  disharmony among the Sefiroth

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