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Mysticism

Mysticism refers to "hidden" knowledge (often allegorical interpretation of texts), gained by initiates into mystical traditions by practices purporting to establish direct experience or intuition of ultimate reality which transcends logical reasoning and intellect, and is intended to lead the practitioner to human transformation. Philosophers have focused primarily on the classification of the varieties of mystical experience as practiced by metaphysical and religious traditions. William James classified as "ineffable" the essential nature of the mystical.

In Christianity many of the Saints experienced and wrote about mystical experiences or "ecstasies," often visions of Christ or the Virgin Mary and sometimes including stigmata as well as imparted wisdom from these visionary sources. Gnosticism began as a mystical movement within Christianity which was declared heretical and its practitioners persecuted by the Church. Kabbalah is the formalized mystical tradition of Judaism, Sufism is the mystical tradition of Islam.

Various philosophers have attempted to identify common themes and experiences across the range of mystical traditions, which Aldous Huxley termed "perennialism." Walter Stace identifies two classes of perennialist experience, extrovertive and introvertive.

Web Resources On Mysticism

Mysticism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Mysticism (Wikipedia)

Book Resources On Mysticism

Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness by Evelyn Underhill
Mysticism, Mind, Consciousness by Robert K. C. Forman

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