Quote:
Originally Posted by John_672
I've been thinking lately of writing an article about mysticism without superstition, and I'd like your take on it. Can mysticism be without any manner of superstition, or is it superstition implicit in being a mystic?
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So far as I know, John, mysticism can be without any superstition and superstition is not implicit in it. The mystical experience can be described as "an end to subject/object perception" and there is nothing in someone's experience of an end to subject/object perception that
necessarily creates or promotes superstitions.
Having said that, however, I should be careful to point out that I suspect there are some sources of superstition closely associated with mysticism. In my opinion, the first and most common of those is the tendency of people who have had a mystical experience to borrow language and concepts from religion in order to describe their experience. So, for instance, someone living in a culture that routinely ascribes mystical experiences to Dionysus might be heavily inclined to ascribe their own experience to Dionysus. Or someone living in a Christian culture might ascribe their experience to God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost, or even Satan. Or someone living in second century Rome, when the cult of Isis was gaining popularity, might ascribe their experience to Isis. And so on and so forth.
The mystical experience is beyond all categories and labels. It is only
after the actual experience itself that someone might begin labeling and conceptualizing it. If they begin labeling and conceptualizing it immediately, within seconds of the experience, then they have a very strong tendency to borrow "memes" from their culture -- especially their religious culture -- with which to define, describe or explain it.
A second source of superstition (or actually, two sources) is what Zen Buddhists call "Makyo". Makyo is sometimes translated as "devil illusions". According to the Zen Buddhists, there are two kinds of Makyo: Simple hallucinations and true paranormal experiences.
In my opinion -- and in the opinion of most Zen Buddhists -- Makyo can be and often are impediments to satori or enlightenment. I believe that's in part because Makyo are not radically transformative experiences in the same way the mystical experience is radically transformative, and in part because they tend to misdirect people. That is, if you "see angels", "experience ghosts", and so on, you might become emotionally and psychologically attached to that experience -- and any such attachment seems to become an obstacle to the mystical experience, which is the experience that -- so far as I can guess -- leads to satori or enlightenment.
I hope this gives you something to go on for your article.