MYSTICISM
THE DEPTH-DIMENSION OF SPIRITUALITY
Keywords:
MYSTICISM, SpiritualityAbstract
The word mysticism is derived from the Greek verb muein, which means to hide, to conceal, or to close the eyes. The word mystery too comes from the same verb. Mysticism is, therefore, basically sensitivity to the mystery of being. A mystic is gripped by an intense awareness of the mystery of the noumenon behind the phenomenon. The search takes the seeker from the visible to the invisible, from form to the formless, from multiplicity to unity, from diversity to the One (to hon, ekam). Ultimately, it is a search for the Beyond, for the Absolute, for the unifying power: for the ôta, for the Tao, for the Brahman, for the Dhamma, for the Divine. The unfathomability and incomprehensibility of the Divine is the horizon of any authentic mystical experience. Hence, the mystic draws life from contemplative silence before the abysmal depth of God.
References
Raimundo Panikkar, The Silence of God, New York: Orbis Books, 1989, 164-176.
Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, Chicago: Harper and Row, 1963, 3:98-106.
S. Painadath, The Spiritual Journey, Delhi: ISPCK, 2005, 7-15.
Zaehner, Bhagavad Gita, Oxford: Clarendon, 1969, 142-3
Sankara, Gitabhashya, 4.3.7, Madras: Samata, 1979.
Bede Griffiths, Marriage of East and West, London: Collins, 1982, 71.3.
Jules Monchanin, “The Christian Approach to Hinduism,” Indian Missiological Bulletin, June 1952.
Gregory of Nyssa, Life of Moses, 376c-377a trans. A. J. Malherbe, New York: Paulist Press, 1978.
Dionysius the Areopagite, Mystical Theology, 1,3, New York: Paulist Press, 1981.
Evagrius of Pontus, Chapters on Prayer, 117, in Ruhback ed., Christliche Mystik, Munich: C. H. Beck, 1989.
Meister Eckhart, Beati paupers in D. Mieth ed., Meister Eckhart, Gotteserfahrung und Weg in die Welt, Freiburg: Walter, 151.
Unknown English Author, The Cloud of Unknowing, ed. James Walsh, New York: Paulist Press, 1981.
Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises, §230, in Luis J. Puhl, The Spiritual Exercises, Bombay: St. Paul, 1965.
FABC, Theological Consultation, 1993, § 43, in G. Rosales, ed., For All the Peoples of Asia, FABC Statements, Manila: Claretian, 1997, 344.
S. Painadath, We are Co-pilgrims, Delhi: ISPCK, 2005, 25-37.
