Critical Analysis of Mysticism and the concept of oneness with god Essay

Critical Analysis of Mysticism and the concept of oneness with god - Essay Example According to W.T. Stace 'The mystical event is a personal experience during which one feels as though one has been touched by some higher or greater truth or power.' "The most important, the central characteristic in which all fully developed mystical experiences agree, and which in the last analysis is definitive of them and serves to mark them off from other kinds of experiences, is that they involve the apprehension of an ultimate nonsensuous unity in all things, a oneness or a One to which neither the senses nor the reason can penetrate. In other words, it entirely transcends our sensory-intellectual consciousness. It should be carefully noted that only fully developed mystical experiences are necessarily apprehensive of the One. Many experiences have been recorded which lack this central feature but yet possess other mystical characteristics. These are borderline cases, which may be said to shade off from the central core of cases. They have to the central core the relation which some philosophers like to call "family resemblance. (pp.14-15)" 1. Even among monotheistic religions-(belief in one God) - there are differences between God's relationship to his Creation. Religions like Islam feel he is above his creation and the Jewish tradition feels he is both, within and above it. 'On the face of it, the characteristics of transcendence and immanence appear to be in conflict. A transcendent God is one who is beyond perception, independent of the universe, and wholly "other" when compared to us. An immanent God, is one which exists - within us, within the universe - and, hence, very much a part of our existence. How can these qualities exist simultaneously'The best example of an immanent God is found in the Hindu religion in the Bagvad Gita in which the God Krishna declares, "He who sees me in all things and in all things sees me, where ever that man may be, I never leave him and he lives in me."2. In other words, an immanent God is found wherever one seeks Him. The idea of a transcendent unknowable God has roots in Zoroastrianism which in turn affected Judaism and Islam. The Old Testament prohibits idols in an attempt to emphasize the 'otherness' of God which cannot be physically depicted.The fundamental concept in Islam is the Oneness of God. Islamic 'tawhd'- monotheism, is not relative or pluralistic it is absolute. This Oneness of God is the first of Islam's five pillars. This is why it is known as the 'uncompromising monotheism of Islam' since it does not allow any pictorial references of 'Allah' in a mosque. Timeless, 'Allah' is unchangeable and outside time and space. He is therefore unknowable in the mystic sense. Islam believes that God is so far above his creation that man can never begin to know him. The word Muslim literally means 'one who has surrendered to God' through blind worship and obedience. In the Kabbalistic theory of creation God 'contracted' his infinite essence to create a 'conceptual space' in which a restricted world could exist. In Jewish mysticism, the concept of 'Tzimtzum' contains a built-in paradox, as it requires that God be transcendent and immanent at the same time. The Judaic God took part in