Knowing God: Mysticism in Christianity and Other Religions
Mysticism, mystic experiences, and encounters with the divine are important—and even integral—to many religions throughout the world. Mysticism, defined as experiencing the divine, should have a special importance in Christianity. Christianity posits a God who is transcendent, yet immanent, and as Christians we believe we can have a relationship with the Deity. Because of this we should have a unique conception of mystical experiences as significant to our spiritual lives.
I will begin by giving an overview of mysticism in other religious traditions—Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Islam, and Judaism—and then concentrate on the role that mysticism and experience should have in Christianity.
Non-Christian Religions
Buddhism
In Buddhism, one seeks salvation from pain, which is caused by desire; so one seeks a state of absence from desire. This is achieved through meditation and the "Noble Eightfold Way of mental and moral discipline: right views, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration." It is a timeless state, and is spoken of as "becoming Brahman" and entering into Nirvana. The absence of desire necessitates a certain amount of separation from the world and a constancy of mind that is not found in the normal clamor of daily life.
Hinduism
Hinduism has a pluralism of gods, but in the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred text of Hinduism, Vishnu is proclaimed supreme and the Gita is almost monotheistic in its tone. According to Geoffrey Parrinder, the Bhagavad Gita "teaches union with God, but in the context of love to God and love from God…." Meditation is the chief method of achieving experience of or unity with the deity, as prescrib...
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...g God and experiencing him in his fullness, and we would do well to appreciate and appropriate from that heritage.
References
Dupré, Louis, and James A. Wiseman, eds. Light from Light: An Anthology of Christian Mysticism. New York: Paulist Press, 1988.
Esposito, John L. Islam: The Straight Path. New York: Oxford UP, 1988.
Mason, J.W.T. The Meaning of Shinto. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat, 1935.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford UP, 1991.
Otto, Rudolf. India's Religion of Grace and Christianity Compared and Contrasted. Trans. Frank Hugh Foster. New York: Macmillan, 1930.
Parrinder, Geoffrey. Mysticism in the World's Religions. New York: Oxford UP, 1976.
Renou, Louis, ed. Hinduism. New York: George Braziller, 1961.
Scholem, Gershom G. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism. New York: Schocken Books, 1941.
All religions are very specific with the details which set that religion apart from others. However, when all the little details are melted away, there are only a mere handful that are different in essence. When looked at closely, even the religions which are perceived completely dissimilar at first glance are surprisingly similar. For example, the Voodoo religion, and that of early Christianity are stereotyped as extremely different, but with closer inspection, not only are these two religions are very obviously similar, but Voodooism stemmed, partly, out of Christianity. Both religions revolve around a mortal individual being used as a mouthpiece by a higher, being, be it spirit or god, to communicate with our mortal world. Yet at the same time, each religion has taken it’s own path and although equivalent in essence, have very different aspects with respect to background (such as time and status), as well as publicity, and language.
Tavard, George H. "The Christology of the Mystics." Theological Studies 42, no. 4 (December 1, 1981): 561-579. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed December 3, 2013).
What role does hatred play in making decisions? This question can be analyzed throughout The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare. The Capulet’s and Montagues have an unwavering hatred for each other, and their hatred eventually leads to the suicide of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. Could this circumstance be avoided if they practiced better communication? Perhaps; however, the situation could have been completely avoided if the hatred hadn’t existed in the first place, and had the charaters not been so fast to making rash decisions. Therefore, hatred causes poor decision making.
A substantial aspect of the play is the Feud between the Capulet family and the Montague family. The Prince says some harsh words at the beginning of the play, condemning those who “disturbed the quiet of our streets again, / Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the piece.”(I, I) Informing the two families to live side by side in harmony or as close to it as possible. While men die on both sides, love is born “from forth the fatal loins of these two foes.”(Prologue) The love between Romeo and Juliet spells doom as the family members from both sides will never accept this, and will try end it with all their might to stop this unnatural occurrence from happening were they to ever know of it. The Feud not only causes problems between the two families but it also cases unrest and violence to run through the streets of Verona.
“For never was a story of more woe/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo” (V.III.309-310). Love and hate has a major part in the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, as the Montagues and Capulets hate for each other makes Romeo and Juliet’s love only stronger while causing the families to lose loved ones over nothing. For example, Romeo falling out of love then back into love with Juliet changes the two families’ relationship into one unlike any other. While Tybalt seeing Romeo at the Capulet Ball creates a violent uproar leading to two deaths; as he has to hold in his anger because Capulet does not want his Ball ruined. Just as important is how when the two families’ hate starts getting stronger, Romeo and Juliet only become more and more inseparable and are willing to do whatever is necessary so they can be together forever.
Religion has 7 core attributes that allow someone to call it a religion, these include Narrative, Doctrine, Emotional, Material, Ethical, Ritual and Social. These seven attributes help individuals identify what can be classified as a “religion”, however spirituality has no “easy way” to identifying it. Spirituality can be found within the individual looking for their “meaning” but not physically expressed.
In today’s Fish Bowl, the class discussed the different perspectives of true love. In sonnet 116 it states, “O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;” This demonstrates how Shakespeare believes that true love is forever lasting and nothing can change that. He believes that true love can get through anything. It further reinforces that he believes that true love can get through a tragedy as great as death.
...s trying to help a friend or whether his plan to get his in Beatrice mess was sought out. If the mess was his goal then Baglioni was an ineffectual Christ. The story suggests how evil is present everywhere and, like poison, society is unaware of how it is bringing man towards a slow death.
In Sonnet number one-hundred sixteen Shakespeare deals with the characteristics of a love that is “not time’s fool”, that true love that will last through all (Ln: 9). This sonnet uses the traditional Shakespearian structure of three quatrains and a couplet, along with a standard rhyme scheme. The first and third quatrains deal with the idea that love is “an ever-fixed mark”, something that does not end or change over time (Ln: 5). Shakespeare illustrates this characteristic of constancy through images of love resisting movemen...
The hatred between the Montagues’ and the Capulates’ are also working against the couple. While Romeo and Juliet are seemingly deeply in love, the rest of their families were continually battling it out, with death usually being the end result. How could two lovers keep a relationship together with so much violence and hated without totally abandoning their families? I feel that this is another example that the couple wasn’t deeply in love. This hate is shown with several “battle” scenes between the two families.
“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.” According to Buddha, everyone needs some form of spirituality to define his or her life and existence. Webster Dictionary defines spiritualism as “a system of beliefs or religious practices based on supposed communication with the spirits of the dead, often times through mediums.” Though this is one general definition of spiritualism, this concept is one that does not hold a conclusive meaning. Each and every single person has the ability and right to create and practice their own idea of spiritualism. From ancient times to present day, the term and practice of spirituality has transformed, particularly from region to region. Despite the discrepancies in practices and overall understanding of this idea, spirituality has had an effect and impact upon all of humanity since the creation of time. This religion that is believed to have been established in the early eighteen hundreds, after two little girls claimed to have the ability to talk to spirits, sparked interest in this spiritual movement, allowing it to spread rather rapidly over many geographical locations. Aside from being recognized as a religion, spiritualism is also believed to be a form of philosophy and a science in which spiritualists believe that there is life after death and try to demonstrate this through the ability of attempting to communicate with those that have passed on. Spiritualism was socially different from other religions in existence at the time because it presented followers with a more tolerant belief system that assimilated the principles and facts from a selection the world's religions. Spiritualism also made it acceptable for women to play a disti...
Wilber, Ken. The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion. New York : Random House, 1998.
In conclusion, Shakespeare’s theme of each sonnet is divided in different ways. His expression of love is somewhat similar to both the young man’s relationship and the dark lady’s. The relationship alternates between the force of love, beauty, jealousy, time, and obligation. The youth shows his affection, but it seems to be false. Shakespeare uses figure of speech to compare ‘nature’ for the love he has for the “dark lady”. His initial feelings; lust and attraction is processed throughout.
In Hinduism some of the things I found most fascinating is that the idea of God in Hindu is compounded and how they worship. There is one Supreme God and his form is unlimited. The Supreme God’s qualities and forms are represented by the numerous deities that stem from him. The deities God can form can be either male or female, allowing Hindus to pray to a god or goddess.