Mysticism

Mysticism, as part of our spirituality directory is defined as a way of knowing the ultimate super-sensible reality in all things; also, as direct experience of God, as art of being able to unite with reality. Mysticism is also defined as joining the individual self with the higher levels of consciousness. Common characteristics of a mystical experience comprise:

• direct experience without any type of intermediary
• reality or types of reality that are not normally observed
• consciousness about the depths of what has been experienced, and its consequences to own life

People think that there are various stages of mystical experiences, such as, cleaning, teaching, enlightenment, and merging. Some other classifications follow the classical triple structure of intelligence: training, temptation/enlightenment, and return. The second classification indicates that a mystical experience does not exhaust the total meaning of mysticism. Mysticism has been studied by a range of explorers, including philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and antropologists.

Mysticism is often related to religion, or religious tendencies. In accord with that, the mentioning of Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist or Muslim mystics means that there are special types of mystics according to religious traditions. However, these groups are rarely organized in traditional sense of the word withing their natural religions. Mystics, however, are also present outside of religious streams. Many outstanding figures, like Aldous Huxley and Walt Whitman can be considered mystics, although they themselves might not have thought so.