Mystical Knowledge Research Articles

Existential Foundations of the "Mystical Experience"

In the existing philosophical interpretations of mystical experience (constructivism, essentialism, etc.), its essence is usually seen in the features of "mystical knowledge". At the same time, the value-semantic foundations of mystical experience and its existential aspect remain in the shadows. In this article, the mystical experience is analyzed from the standpoint of the theories of the subject's objective activity - the theory of activity (developed in Russian psychology), enactivism, and the concept of the "life world". It is shown that the essence of mystical experience is manifested not in cognitive, but in value-semantic, existential attitude to the world, which is represented by two groups of value-semantic viewpoints. In the first, the dependence of the subject on the sacred object of mystical experience is expressed, in the second - the volitional focus of the subject on overcoming such dependence, "mastering", "acquiring" the sacred object. These attitudes reflect the duality of the need-motivational sphere of consciousness, which gives the activity of the subject, on the one hand, activity, energy, and on the other, meaning. In mystical experience, the subject of active "development", "acquisition" (which can be both real and virtual) is an imaginative "otherworldly reality". The analysis allows us to conclude that mystical experience is one of the forms of motivational states of consciousness. Its peculiarity is that it is aimed at realizing the need for the harmonization of the subject's relations with the natural and social environment, the subject's finding the meaning of the "existence of his self" in an always open to the future, incomplete life world. It is the motivational basis that gives the mystical experience an improvisational character, as well as a creative, renewing potential (within the boundaries of the sensory-emotional experience of the world by the subject). The article also analyzes the concept of semantic reality. It is shown that the semantic foundations of mystical experience reflect the individually unique aspects of human life, are the result of the interactions of many factors of socio-cultural, individual-personal nature (psychological, medical, pharmacological, gender, psychiatric, etc.).

Reading Teresa’s Sixth Dwelling Places of the «Interior Castle» on Mystical Knowledge through Aquinas

The focal point of this article is the nature of the mystical knowledge presented in the sixth dwelling places of the Interior Castle of Teresa of Avila. The aim is to offer a rational argument to explain the possibility and nature of such mystical knowledge. The introduction explains why the focus is specifically on the mystical knowledge of the sixth dwelling places and not on mystical knowledge in general. Further, the argument is based on Aquinas’s teaching and proceeds therefrom. Since this choice of the «mental frame» is not intuitively comprehensible, the methodological part explains the reasons for it.

Teorijski sufizam - periodizacija istorije discipline

Theoretical Sufism is an ontology formulated by prominent Muslim mystics. They are primarily known for their intuitive experiences in the highest realms of total existence. In the light of the final intuitions, these mystics got the opportunity to present a new system of ontology, that is, mystical knowledge about the problem of being in general. The answer to the questions about what reality is and how it really exists they provided through their spiritual experiences when they directly, with the eye of the heart, saw the most hidden secrets of existence and on that basis they built a system of knowledge about all lower levels of the universe. Muslims had intuitive knowledge with ontological content ever since the earliest period of the emergence of Islam. However, the results of their mystical effort, when ontological and metaphysical questions are involved, were not united in a separate study discipline. The discipline, which would be called theoretical Sufism, was officially established in the 13th century by the famous Ibn ʻArabī, and his students and influential representatives of his school will continuously improve and strengthen the structural order of the new ontological discipline in the cognitive tradition of Islam. At the beginning of the 17th century, Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī made one of the biggest turning points in the history of Muslim thought when, in his new philosophical school, which he called transcendent philosophy, he proved the truth of the ontological principles of theoretical Sufism with grounded philosophical demonstrations. Mullā Ṣadrā himself explained that by uniting Islamic philosophy and theoretical Sufism, he actually completed the mission of philosophy and metaphysics in general.

Towards a living agriculture: extension of the notion of agriculture among rural extension agents based on a comprehensive approach to indigenous knowledge in Caldas, Colombia

Abstract: Agriculture as a business remains the dominant notion among agronomists that work as rural extension agents. Following this vision, their main contribution is to transfer the technical–scientific knowledge for manipulating natural environments to maximize the yield of the communities of cultivated plants. However, it is considered that contrasting one's ideas with those of others -in this case native communities- allows us to recognize, reflexively, the preconceptions themselves. In this framework, the objective of the investigation was to determine how the dominant point of view among agronomists educated within the technical–scientific paradigm changes upon comprehensive interaction with the traditional knowledge. Results derive from analyzing the interviews of rural extension agents who offer their services to native communities in Caldas, Colombia. From the analyses, it can be concluded that, nowadays, agronomists more easily understand that in the local context, agriculture, rather than a business, is a life-producing activity; that elements of nature are subjects that interact and coexist around the reproduction of life rather than objects to manipulate and appropriate; that, in practice, the scientific knowledge adopted is blended with traditional and mystic knowledge, thereby creating a multicultural conservationist practice.

Malay Text Reception among Sufi Orders in West Java: A Study on Wawacan Layang Siti Hasanah

The article discusses the active reception of Malay texts among members of the Qadiriyah wa Naqshabandiyah (TQN) Sufi order in West Java. It focuses on the text entitled Wawacan Layang Siti Hasanah. The TQN members adapted the Malay Cerita Siti Hasanah and turned it into a wawacan, a narrative text in Javanese verse specific to West Java, from as early as 1792 up to the early 20th century. This article discusses the various TQN members’ reception of the Malay hikayat (tales) from the end of the 18th century until the 20th century. Using a literary reception and literary anthropology analysis approach to the Wawacan Layang Siti Hasanah, the analysis found that the text functioned as a didactic text to teach women that they must always obey their husbands. It also contains several Sufi values such as ma’rifa (mystical knowledge of the Godhead) and Nūr Muḥammad (the essence of Muhammad). This article will also show that in the process of adapting the story to their wishes, the TQN members in West Java also turned it into a wawacan and changed the way it was used among the members of the Sufi orders and pesantren (Islamic boarding school) communities.

Понятие «прорыв» в учении Мейстера Экхарта

Meister Eckhart is one of the most ambiguous and controversial late medieval thinkers. Many of the concepts in his teachings still remain under-studied and difficult for understanding. So B. McGinn (1981) and D. Caputo (1978) have paid particular attention to the concept of “breakthrough” (der Durchbruch), but even they, it seems to us, have not been able to establish fully the connection of this concept with other themes in Eckhart's teachings. The meaning of the concept itself in the context of solving one of the most important problems of late medieval theology and philosophy – the justification of mystical knowledge and its forms – remains insufficiently clarified.

The importance of occult knowledge in the development of modern science

The periodic development of the philosophy of science is seen through several periods, including the relationship between science and esotericism. This also includes esoteric knowledge, occultism, religion and mythology. Noted philosopher and scientist Paul Feyerabend argues that «science should be de-centralized as the ideology of the scientific elite and equated with mythology, religion, and even magic». That is, the philosophy of science today recognizes a number of phenomena and hidden knowledge that go beyond the scope of science, but cannot clearly explain the mechanism of the emergence of mystical knowledge. This terminology is called occultism or occult knowledge. Man always has a special attitude towards mystical phenomena and supernatural phenomena. People who could not understand something without a scientific or logical explanation tried to imagine powerful «gods» responsible for certain events. Occultism is the belief in certain mystical powers that can influence human life. Communication with these forces is available only to selfless people. There are occult practices that help connect with these forces. The Orthodox Church considers the occult a dangerous phenomenon that has nothing to do with Christianity. Occultism is based on the idea of self-development and life outside the Creator. It is a delusion that the tree of good and evil is not only unreasonable, but also useful and harmful to humanity. Occultism is closely connected with the sin of pride and the belief that a person, for example, can turn to the forces of nature and independently endure all the hardships of this world. This article is devoted to the problem of occultism and its well-known currents, reveals their terminological features, meaning and content. The role of occultism in modern science, the relationship between science and occultism is discussed, and a historical analysis is given. The article shows the historical significance of occultism, the emergence and development of occultism, its main branches and directions, its actual significance.

Seeing God in Sufi Qur’an Commentaries: Crossings between This World and the Otherworld by Pieter Coppens

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12730/13091719.2021.122.229 First paragraph: From the inception of the Sufi movement, Sufis regarded the Qurʾān as a source of mystical knowledge. According to Sufi exegetes, the words of the Qurʾān are in fact allusions (ishārah pl. ishārāt) which pertain to “divine truths” (ḥaqāʾiq, sing. ḥaqīqah). Accordingly, Sufi hermeneutics of the Qurʾān is called “the exegesis by allusion” (tafsīr bi-l-ishārah) or “the allusive exegesis” (tafsīr ishārī). While undergoing personal mystical experiences, Sufis penetrated the exoteric (ẓāhir) layer of the Qurʾānic text and reached its esoteric (bāṭin) layers, thus discerning the divine truths from the Qurʾān. Their insights which are recorded in the surviving Sufi tafsīr-works are accompanied by a personal and sometimes ecstatic tone which is quite rare in the “conventional” and traditional works of tafsīr.

Knowledge of God in St Gregory Palamas

The topic of knowledge of God is one of the most important questions discussed by St Gregory Palamas in the majority of his works. Palamas distinguishes four basic types of knowledge of God: knowledge of God drawn from creation, Christian knowledge gained from Scripture and Tradition, mystical knowledge understood as true wisdom, and the deifying vision of the Light of Tabor, which is called knowledge only in an improper sense of this word. All the above types of cognition concerning God are deeply embedded in the whole of Palamite theology, being linked to ideas such as objective distinction between God’s essence and energy or teaching about deification through participation in divine grace.

Schopenhauer in Dante’s Garden of Eden: Melancholy and Rubén Darío’s “Autumnal”

Schopenhauer in Dante’s Garden of Eden: Melancholy and Rubén Darío’s “Autumnal”

Unlearning ourselves: the incarnational asceticism of John Henry Newman’s Anglican sermons

This essay explores how John Henry Newman’s preaching on asceticism can speak to the ostensible tension in contemporary Christianity between “spiritual” and “earthly” concerns. Newman contends, paradoxically, that a conscious self-denial of lawful material pleasures necessarily correlates to the Christian’s ability to perceive the spiritual grace mediated by physical objects. The sermons of his Anglican period reflect what he would eventually articulate as the “sacramental principle,” namely that the material world presents “types and the instruments of real things unseen.” This principle is grounded in the doctrine of the incarnation, which he considers to be the central truth of the gospel. I argue that this anchoring in the incarnation gives his preaching on asceticism an ultimately practical or “this-worldly” character and, more precisely, offers an understanding of asceticism not as a means of mystical knowledge or escapism but as the only way to live fully in the world.

Data on jalaliddin rumi's life in the work "Sharhi Masnaviyi Mawlavi" by Ayyub

The greatest didactic work of Mawlana Jalaliddin Rumi (120 7–1273) was "Masnaviyi Manaviy", and to understand it required a great deal of knowledge, so from the very beginning of this work, commentaries have been written on it. The play deals not only with religion and mysticism, but also with Rumi's life and work. Of course, there is more or less information about it in the comments. One such work is Ayyub's commentary on the six books of Jalaliddin Rumi's "Masnaviyi Manaviy". This work is stored in the fund of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Abu Rayhon Beruni of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan under item number 2225/II. In the middle of the pages of the manuscript there is a Roman "Masnavi", in the margin there is a commentary of Ayyub "Sharhi Masnavi Mavlavi" in proportion to it. At the same time, the commentary explains some of the words, and tells stories about Rumi's life and his teachings. Some of the stories are narrated by the narrator himself. Others are interpreted on the basis of a specific source, such as the Quraan or "Manaqib al-Arifin ", and at the beginning of each commentary or story the source from which the information was obtained is noted. The narrator also narrated some of the stories on behalf of a person, and in this case the name of the person is clearly stated. In the article, these cases are classified separately and explained through examples. In the commentaries, the deeds of Mawlana, information about his relatives, Rumi is described not only as a poet, but also as the founder of the "Mawlawi" sect, a mature sage of his time, a saint who reached the highest peak of perfection. A study of Ayyub's commentary shows that he read many works on Rumi's life and work, worked with dictionaries, improved his religious and mystical knowledge, and collected information from previously written commentaries. Therefore, "Sharhi Masnavi Mavlavi" is one of the best sources of many other sources on the life and work of Rumi.

THEOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE IN ISLAMIC MYSTICISM AND GNOSTICISM

In this paper, the similarities between the Gnostic and Islamic mystic beliefs about “Knowledge” (Ma‘refat) will be considered. The aim is to answer the question of whether they share a common view of divine knowledge. For this purpose, first Gnosticism and its ideas will be clarified. Second, a brief history of Islamic Mysticism will be presented. Then, in light of the evolution path of such beliefs, the main principles of both cults about the Gnosis and Mysticism will be reconsidered. The methodology of this study is based on a comparative study, by analyzing Islamic mystical books and Gnostic texts. Through the study of mystical books, the traditions and beliefs of the early mystics, in this case, are stated, and some examples from the Gnostic books about the Gnosis and mystical knowledge are mentioned. The comparative study of these two religions revealed that they have many similarities in points of view to “knowledge”. Similarities between Islamic mysticism and Gnosticism are so much that some believe that the theory of divine knowledge in the minds of Muslim Sufis originates from Gnostic ideas. But this claim cannot be completely true and the Gnostic beliefs have only had influences on it.

Ludwig Binswanger: Between the Metaphysics of Simon L. Frank and Martin Heidegger's Analytics of Dasein

The paper focuses on ontology and epistemology of the founder of Da-sein analysis Ludwig Binswanger. There are two conceptions which contributed immensely to the Binswanger's analysis: Heidegger's understanding of human being as disclosedness of being; and the philosophy of dialogue, as far as it is orientated to consider the true being, not as a self-closed and self-isolated the Self (Ego), but the transcendentally-immanent being of “We”, to which Simon Frank's ontology also belongs. It is analyzed how Binswanger transforms Heideggerian set on Da-sein as “always mine” to acknowledge the dual being of We or love as the basic anthropological phenomenon. Concerning Frank, the comparative analysis finds its foundation in Binswanger's own multiple admissions of his solidarity with Frank that have been uttered by him in his memories, correspondence, and the book “Basic Forms and the Knowledge of Human Presence”. It is examined the common positions of Binswanger's and Frank's ontology that come from the common set on “ontologism”, which conditions the possibility of notional (conceptual) knowledge with the immediate knowledge of absolute being, founded on belonging of the subject to this being. It is analyzed specifics of Binswangerian ontologism, expressed in his understanding of the being of We or love as a coincidence of being and knowledge. The paper analyses the motives of love as absolute being, mystical images and concepts, used by Binswanger. All these images and concepts he borrows directly from Neo-Platonism, German mystics, and Frank's works. The paper also traces a number of parallels between Binswanger's and Frank's theories of knowledge. By this, we mean two orders of knowledge: the notional knowledge and the knowledge of Da-sein as the metalogical foundation of the former. The paper's conclusions deal with the analyis of antinomies in Binswanger's conception. The conception, on the one hand, tends to narrow of differences between the being We with Absolute being, knowledge of Da-sein as love with mystical knowledge of the Absolute, as on the other hand, it is an effort to think about being of We as a merely human being.

King Yima — Jam — Jamshid: From Mythological Hero to Literary Image

The article is devoted to the evolution of the mythological personage, ancient king, and cultural hero Yima in Persian literature of the Muslim period. With the help of translations of the Avesta as well as commentary and theological texts of Middle Persian literature, the work depicts Yima’s main creative functions as the keeper and protector of living beings, ruler of the world in the “Golden Age,” grantor of corporeal immortality, upholder of the cosmic and social order, and savior of the world from a natural catastrophe. These functions are opposed by the role of Yima as the first sinner, through whose fault the “Golden Age” was lost. The rudiments of the complex of mythological legends that have developed around Yima are reflected in Shahnama, the great epos that continued the Iranian narrative tradition of ancient times and the early Middle Ages. All the motifs based on Jam-Jamshid’s legends in different genres of lyric and lyric-epic poetry of XI–XIV centuries can be divided into three groups and they reflect the dual attitude towards this hero. The choice of a motif of a certain group in Persian classical poetry directly depended on genre context (panegyric, didactic, mysticallegoric, anacreontic). In lyric-epic and lyric poetry (qasida and qhazal), the circle of motifs connected with Jam-Jamshid are concentrated around Jamshid’s Throne and Jamshid’s Cup. Some similarities of Jamshid and Suleiman stories led to a merging of the two heroes in the Iranian tradition and even to a contamination of their roles and attributes. Sufi poets often used the motif Jamshid’s Cup showing the entire Universe (jam-i giti-nama) as a symbol of mystical knowledge.

Realization (<em>Taḥqīq</em>) in Sufism: An Assessment of Robert K.C. Forman's Pure Consciousness Event (PCE) and Dual Mystical State (DMS)

As a generally accepted "textbook" definition in Sufism, spiritual realization (taḥqīq) from an epistemological perspective is conceived as the process of obtaining knowledge from the Real (al-ḥaqīqa) through God's guidance in order to apprehend the Truth (al-Ḥaqq) through the self without an intermediary. The "realizer" (muḥaqqiq) is the person who has come to realize the Truth through a direct encounter. From an ontological perspective, however, taḥqīq can also be defined as the station of direct contact with the Real, in which the mystic attains to all the possibilities of human existence through divine solicitude. To explore these two contexts, this article will investigate the wide range of definitions of taḥqīq in major Sufi works and explore the meaning of this term in the context of Ibn ʿArabī's (d. 1240 CE) thought. Through a review of important Sufi texts, this article will also bring the concept of taḥqīq into conversation with contemporary philosophical theories of mystical knowledge, particularly that of Robert Forman, and explore Forman's concepts of the Pure Consciousness Event (PCE) and the Dualistic Mystical State (DMS) to assess whether the Sufi concept of taḥqīq is compatible with the states of experience he describes.

Sarah Chihaya Merve Emre Katherine Hill Jill RichardsThe Ferrante Letters: An Experiment in Collective Criticism

this same panoply appears as a flourishing garden awaiting an open mind. Even the uninitiated will find that Lababidi extends a friendly hand to guide you through what seems at first to be wildly different ways of understanding the world and humanity’s place within it. In the very first essay, “The Books We Were,” the author gives us a crash course in his eclectic reading habits and how he has absorbed intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual lessons from so many iterations of human creativity. Tracing his evolution through “one Existentialist horror writer after another,” Lababidi finds himself increasingly drawn to poetry and then to the mystical traditions throughout history. Throughout the book, these two philosophical poles frame his discourse, whether reviewing a biography of iconic French poet Arthur Rimbaud or dissecting the seemingly anomalous candidacy of Marianne Williamson within the rapid rise of “so-called spiritual leaders who presume to speak for The Universe” (in contemporary society). Placing himself in the tradition of spiritual seekers, and thus striving to draw wisdom from every available source, Lababidi decries both the fundamentalist adherence to a single belief system as well as the consumerism that treats deeply held spiritual practices more like fashion accessories to be worn when in vogue and cast off when not. Though he has spent decades in the United States, Lababidi’s affinity for his homeland of Egypt underlies much of his writing and appears most poignantly in a number of agonized and beautiful reflections on his country’s democratic revolution and subsequent slide back into dictatorship, written as it happened. As a poet, he notes with obvious pride in “Daring to Care” that poetic slogans and artists of all stripes played a critical role in the emergence of the Arab Spring. As the hopes of democratic revolution gave way to violence and repression, Lababidi does not try to gloss over the sense of betrayal; his tone remains optimistic that the original driving force of the revolution remains alive in the people’s hearts. While the book features its share of social criticism, Lababidi’s overall worldview comes off as overwhelmingly positive throughout. He may worry about the effects of technology on our common humanity, but he also still sees that a simple, honest conversation “can forge a profound human connection with a perfect stranger because, ultimately, there are no strangers.” In several essays on contemporary politics, pornography , and the #MeToo movement, Lababidi provides stark, at times uncomfortable, reflections on the ways that individuals unconsciously assume the values that their leaders—political or cultural—espouse in their words and actions. Still, heartened with centuries of mystical knowledge, despair seems to be the furthest thing from his mind, and he sees clearly that despite the pain such unsparing appraisals of ourselves and our society might cause, this is the very threshold we must cross to take the first step toward wholeness. While Revolutions of the Heart covers an extraordinary range of topics between its covers, in the end this collection clearly shows that it has one true subject: the heart of Yahia Lababidi himself. He may have fought many revolutions within his own mind to develop his distinct style of artistry, but in the mystic’s eye, these struggles are simply part of being a thinking person and just as natural as the revolutions that change the whole world each year. Z. McGrew University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma Sarah Chihaya, Merve Emre, Katherine Hill & Jill Richards The Ferrante Letters: An Experiment in Collective Criticism New York. Columbia University Press. 2020. 277 pages. HOW APPROPRIATE THAT ONE of the most incisive studies of Elena Ferrante to date has been the outcome of an experiment in criticism. As readers all around the world know, Ferrante herself is somewhat of an experiment in authorship; for nearly thirty years, she has published under a pseudonym, and the stratospheric levels of fame brought on by her Neapolitan novels has only cemented her well-documented need for privacy. This determination to eschew the role of author personality has WORLDLIT.ORG 93 Books in Review Jenny Erpenbeck Not a Novel: A Memoir in Pieces Trans. Kurt Beals. New York. New Directions. 2020. 212 pages. JENNY ERPENBECK’s fictional...

Prophet Sulaymān in Classical Persian Poetry: Semantics and Structure of the Image

The article discusses structure, semantic content, and functioning of the image of the Qur’anic prophet Sulaymān (Biblical Solomon) in Persian medieval poetry. Analysis of the poetic material leads to a conclusion about the main spheres of application of this image and its semantic connotations both in eulogistic and religious-mystical poetry. The article defines the main motifs of the Qur’anic story of this prophet that became a part of Persian poetic tradition and how they relate to the various themes that poets touch upon. For instance, motives of Sulaymān’s power over winds and demons, as well as images of his throne and the ring that gave him that power, were used primarily in eulogies when poets compared their patrons to the legendary king. A special place in Sufi poetry is occupied by the image of the hoopoe and the motif of the bird’s language that reveal topics of a disciple-mentor relationship and leadership in the path of mystical knowledge. As a global characteristic of Sulaymān’s image, we can outline its ambivalence which has its roots in the biblical narrative, where along with wisdom one can find mention of Solomon’s arrogance. Further exegetical tradition speaks of dethronement of Sulaymān by a demon as a punishment for arrogance. Later on, these themes can be found in Persian literature in the form of motifs of humility and frailty of the earthly life, which gained special meaning in the context of didactic and mystical poetry.

Muhammad Ben 'Abd al-Jabbar an-Niffary. [Standing #] 11. Mystical knowledge of mystical knowledge (ma'arifa ma'arif) of “Kitab al-mawaqif”

Translation from Arabic R.V. Pshu

“KITAB AL-MAWAQIF” AN-NIFFARY AS A SPECIFIC GUIDE IN THE SUFI TERMINOLOGY. NOTION “MA‘ARIFA” IN THE TEXTS OF AL-QUSHAYRI, AL-HUDJWIRI AND AN-NIFFARY

The paper deals with the non-usual interpretation of the main works of an-Niffary (Iraqi Sufi, X century) as an original and specific guide in the Sufi terminology. The specific character of the text (which expresses in the direct dialog between God and the mystique and the translation through him the divine definitions of the basic Sufi and Islamic values) obliges a reader to treat the text more attentively that to the ordinary texts created by the human being. The most famous Sufi treatises on Sufism and its terminology are Qushayri and Hudjwiri's works,which contain definitions of most important Sufi terms and notions. Niffary works are not so well-known, but they also can be regarded in a sense as a specific guidebook on Sufi terminology. The paper deals with the peculiarities of understanding by those three mystics the Sufi term “ma'arifa” (mystical knowledge), which sometimes is mistranslated as gnosis. One of the basic distinction in such an understanding is that for Niffary (in contrast with Qushairy and Hujawiri) there is no outward sign of successful attainment of mystical knowledge. Further both Qushayri and Hudjwiri point out that the Sufi practice can not contradict the Sunna. Meanwhile Niffary says that Sunna is significant only if there is ma'arifa, not vice versa.