Investigations into mysticism : limits and possibilities

Abstract

The mystical experience is supposed to be the most ‘spiritual’ experience according to many scientists and writers. This paper analyses different notions of the mystical experience proposed by contemporary scientists and cherished by mystics showing how they influence the very investigation into mysticism. Most often mystical experience is understood as a composite and resoluble thing. Quite a different character of the investigations unfolds when the mystical experience is considered as an integral and not resoluble into pieces experience of the whole life. A clear distinction is drawn between the mystical experience as a transient trance and the mystical experience as a process in the paper. This distinction between spirituality as extraordinary experience and spirituality as the way of life was one of the main underlying presuppositions of the conference papers. Here arises a question of the possibilities of scientific investigation into the mystical experience. Even the concept of the mystical experience as a transient trance preferred by most of the scientists seems to have too many interpretations. This paper discusses some important contemporary researches in the brain studies and examines the investigations into the trance caused by chemical and organic substances. This paper shows that an isolated investigation of any of conditionally distinguished parts of the mystical experience cannot ensure enough information about the mystical experience as a whole nor become a ground for the theory about it. The question of authenticity of the mystical experience is crucial here. The base for the identification of the authenticity is found appealing to the texts of the Christian mystics such as Teresa of Avila, Jan van Ruusbroec and the author of the ‘Cloud of Unknowing’. The influence of the Tradition on the mystical trance seems to be null, whereas it is crucial in the case of the mystical experience as a whole.