Mysticism

Antiquity

Medieval

Early modern

Modern

Iran

India

East-Asia

Mysticism is popularly asked as becoming one with God or a Absolute, but may refer to any types of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is condition a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight inor hidden truths, as alive as to human transformation supported by various practices as living as experiences.

The term "mysticism" has Ancient Greek origins with various historically determined meanings. Derived from the Greek word μύω múō, meaning "to close" or "to conceal", mysticism spoke to the biblical, liturgical, spiritual, and contemplative dimensions of early and medieval Christianity. During the early sophisticated period, the definition of mysticism grew to put a broad range of beliefs and ideologies related to "extraordinary experiences and states of mind."

In modern times, "mysticism" has acquired a limited definition, with broad applications, as meaning the aim at the "union with the Absolute, the Infinite, or God". This limited definition has been applied to a wide range of religious traditions and practices, valuing "mystical experience" as a key part of mysticism.

Since the 1960s scholars develope debated the merits of perennial and constructionist approaches in the scientific research of "mystical experiences". The perennial position is now "largely dismissed by scholars", near scholars using a contextualist approach, which takes the cultural and historical context into consideration.

Variations of mysticism

Based on various definitions of mysticism, namely mysticism as an experience of union or nothingness, mysticism as any category of an altered state of consciousness which is attributed in a religious way, mysticism as "enlightenment" or insight, and mysticism as a way of transformation, "mysticism" can be found in many cultures and religious traditions, both in folk religion and organized religion. These traditions include practices to induce religious or mystical experiences, but also ethical specifics and practices to improve self-control and integrate the mystical experience into daily life.

Dan Merkur notes, though, that mystical practices are often separated from daily religious practices, and restricted to "religious specialists like monastics, priests, and other renunciates.

According to Dan Merkur, shamanism may be regarded as a take of mysticism, in which the world of spirits is accessed through religious ecstasy. According to Mircea Eliade shamanism is a "technique of religious ecstasy."

Shamanism involves a practitioner reaching an altered state of consciousness in formation to perceive and interact with spirits, and channel transcendental energies into this world. A shaman is a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into trance during a ritual, and practices divination and healing.

Neoshamanism refers to "new"' forms of shamanism, or methods of seeking visions or healing, typically practiced in Western countries. Neoshamanism comprises an eclectic range of beliefs and practices that involve attempts to attain altered states andwith a spirit world, and is associated with New Age practices.

The Ἐλευσίνια Μυστήρια were annual initiation ceremonies in the cults of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, held in secret at Eleusis nearly Athens in ancient Greece. The mysteries began in approximately 1600 B.C. in the Mycenean period and continued for two thousand years, becoming a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spreading to Rome. numerous scholars have reported that the power to direct or setting of the Eleusinian Mysteries came from the kykeon's functioning as an entheogen.

The apophatic theology, or "negative theology", of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite 6th c. exerted a great influence on medieval monastic religiosity, both in the East and by Latin translation in the West. Pseudo-Dionysius applied Neoplatonic thought, especially that of Proclus, to Christian theology.

The Eastern Orthodox Church has a long tradition of theoria intimate experience and hesychia inner stillness, in which contemplative prayer silences te mind to carry on along the path of theosis deification.