I don't think this question merits a simple "yes" or "no" answer.
Certain forms of religion, say fundamentalist Sunni Islam or Evangelical Christianity, seem to be particularly antithetical to the claims and experiences of mystics. Other variants, such as Sufi Islam and Quaker Christianity, are entirely mystical by their very nature. In between these two extremes, I find a wide "grey" area in terms of the compatibility between orthodox doctrine and contemplative experience.
With reference to Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, mysticism has always had a "safe" haven through the institution of monasticism. The life of a cloistered monk or nun is geared towards mystical union with God and perfection of the soul, hence why they remove themselves from all the fetters and temptations of life in the world, to focus solely upon a life in the Holy Spirit, a life of contemplative prayer and interior recollection.
In making the monastic life open to everyone who desired it, Catholicism always left room for the mystic to pursue his or her own path. This became even more the case from the 13th century onwards, when St. Francis and St. Dominic founded Mendicant Orders that were active in the world, rather than cloistered, and explicitly oriented towards a pragmatic but intensely mystical approach to Christian living.
While there have been historical cases - such as the tragic execution of Marguerite Porete - in which mystics have come into conflict with the Church hierarchy, the Church has actually been pretty flexible when it comes to recognizing the claims of mystics to divine illumination.
A paradigmatic example that I always enjoy citing is that of St. Catherine of Genoa, a 15th century married laywoman who had a profoundly life-altering mystical experience that directly contributed too and developed the Church's doctrine of purgatory:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Genoa
She was recognised as impeccably orthodox in character. So within Catholicism, I would say that there is a wide scope for mystical claims to be made without breaching the boundaries of doctrine.
Certain forms of religion, say fundamentalist Sunni Islam or Evangelical Christianity, seem to be particularly antithetical to the claims and experiences of mystics. Other variants, such as Sufi Islam and Quaker Christianity, are entirely mystical by their very nature. In between these two extremes, I find a wide "grey" area in terms of the compatibility between orthodox doctrine and contemplative experience.
With reference to Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, mysticism has always had a "safe" haven through the institution of monasticism. The life of a cloistered monk or nun is geared towards mystical union with God and perfection of the soul, hence why they remove themselves from all the fetters and temptations of life in the world, to focus solely upon a life in the Holy Spirit, a life of contemplative prayer and interior recollection.
In making the monastic life open to everyone who desired it, Catholicism always left room for the mystic to pursue his or her own path. This became even more the case from the 13th century onwards, when St. Francis and St. Dominic founded Mendicant Orders that were active in the world, rather than cloistered, and explicitly oriented towards a pragmatic but intensely mystical approach to Christian living.
While there have been historical cases - such as the tragic execution of Marguerite Porete - in which mystics have come into conflict with the Church hierarchy, the Church has actually been pretty flexible when it comes to recognizing the claims of mystics to divine illumination.
A paradigmatic example that I always enjoy citing is that of St. Catherine of Genoa, a 15th century married laywoman who had a profoundly life-altering mystical experience that directly contributed too and developed the Church's doctrine of purgatory:
"Dear friends, in their experience of union with God, Saints attain such a profound knowledge of the divine mysteries in which love and knowledge interpenetrate, that they are of help to theologians themselves in their commitment to study, to intelligentia fidei, to an intelligentia of the mysteries of faith, to attain a really deeper knowledge of the mysteries of faith, for example, of what purgatory is. With her life St Catherine teaches us that the more we love God and enter into intimacy with him in prayer the more he makes himself known to us, setting our hearts on fire with his love. In writing about purgatory, the Saint reminds us of a fundamental truth of faith that becomes for us an invitation to pray for the deceased so that they may attain the beatific vision of God in the Communion of Saints (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1032)."
Catherine's claims of union with God were very bold. She claimed complete identity with the deity, to such an extent that her own individual personality had been "absorbed" and "annihilated". And yet she was never treated as a heretic, quite the contrary she was canonized and her mystical experience fed into dogma:- Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience Address, 12 January 2011
"Some of the mo[st] daring statements [are] of another Catherine who has been canonized by the Church—Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510). Among the autotheistic sayings of this mystic are the following: "My me is God, nor do I recognize any other me except my God Himself," and "My being is God, not by some simple participation but by a true transformation of my being."...Catherine of Genoa was canonized a saint even though she uttered the bold claim "My me is God"?"
Here is a link to some of her "provocative" mystical statements: - James A. Wisemann, O.S.B. (1990), The Autotheistic sayings of the Mystics
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Genoa
She was recognised as impeccably orthodox in character. So within Catholicism, I would say that there is a wide scope for mystical claims to be made without breaching the boundaries of doctrine.
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