Mysticism refers to religious experiences rather then dogma and formal ritual, it’s about the inner life of a soul. Many people would agree that mysticism is mysterious, but to identify it with any kind of mystery is not helpful since in popular usage mysticism has been applied to the bizarre or occult. One example of mysticism is in the New Testament, the mystery is the revelation of the word of God, which had not been known in pervious ages but was now revealed to believers. “Behold I tell you a mystery. We speak wisdom among the perfect”. Paul says, “we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery”. Paul wrote of his own mystical vision as being, “caught up to the third heaven”, and hearing unspeakable words. (2 cor.12.1-4).
Another famous mystic was Dionysius, he was an anonymous Syrian monk who lived about A.D. 500. Dionysius used many technical terms of the Mysterious and he presented Christian teaching as a synthesis. Dionysius expounds three ways of spiritual life by which human nature is “divinized”. These are purgation, illumination and union, these are the three stages of mystical progress which appear in the teachings of many later Christian mystics and which were already suggested by the three stages of perfection taught by Plotinus.
Since God is himself a mystery, and cannot be fully known by finite man, negative as well as positive claims are made about Him. Dionysius taught a negative way of mystical effort, wherein the mystic is plunged into, “Darkness of Unknowing,” and is, “wholly absorbed in him who is beyond all”. In Dionysius’, “Mystical Theology” he writes of the mystic way ascending from the particular to the universal, “venturing beyond all the positive divine attributes, so that, without a veil, we may know that Unknowing which is shrouded under everything that is known or can be known, and that we may contemplate that super essential Darkness which is hidden by the light that is in existing things”. Dionysius wrote of the “union”, of the soul with God, and of the gradual, “divinisation”, (theosis) of man. He says that, “by the exercise of mystical contemplation the mystic will rise by unknowing towards the union, as far as it is attainable, with he who, transcends all being and knowledge”.
All forms of Mysticism are inherently part of spirituality,. this is the inner commitment to live the search for the divine. Spirituality is the disciplined quest for enlightenment. It is a way of life that affects and includes every moment of existence. “It is at once a contemplative attitude, a disposition to a life of depth, and the search for ultimate meaning, direction, and belonging. The spiritual person is committed to growth as an essential, ongoing life goal”, (The Mystic Heart p 17). To be spiritual requires us to stand on our own two feet while being nurtured and supported by our tradition, if we are fortunate enough to have one. It is often lived out within a religious faith. Through out many major religious tradition, example: in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Catholicism, and the Orthodox church, the search often unfolds within the context of monasticism. But Islam and Judaism lack monastic system to cultivate the inner life of contemplation, but they have nonetheless reached a rich spiritual fruition in there own forms of mysticism.
Mystical spirituality has many types, each valid in its own way. Natural mysticism is found in every culture. Mysticism on its own can be defined two ways, according to Geoffrey Parrinder, (“Mysticism in world’s religions”).
This is mystical monism, which means mysticism as a search for unity. This means everything such as the Earth, universe, and etc is one. Therefore believers do not believe in the all mighty as if there is only one who created the universe. Monistic believe everyone and everything is linked together, “one”. In this sense mysticism maybe called natural, since it appears to be common to mankind, to be part of human nature. “I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, then ten thousand words in tongues”. Said Paul (1 Cor. 14.19). Monastic are, in a sense, “professionals”, in spirituality, and monasticism has traditionally been the place where mysticism has flourished in the church. Yet monastic often fall far short of realizing their ideal mandate of mystical contemplation.
The other definition of mysticism is mystical theism, a mysticism focused on God, this belief is present every where except in Buddhism and Jainism. This is the oneness with God. This is the belief of one God, the creator of all worlds. Believers say God created the universe therefore everyone is linked to Him, all thoughts are linked to Him. Believers would argue that with monism, they would say at least their own experiences are true, and perhaps that some others may have them, or at least that religion has a life of its own independently of the social or psychological environment. This is the path Islam and Christianity, and all religions that believe in the on God follow. They believe you couldn’t have unity because God created the universe therefore we are “one”, with Him.
According to Parrinder, (“Mysticism in worlds religions”) some people say mysticism is vague and unpractical. These are people
