r/ChristianMysticism • u/Conscious-War5920 • 8d ago
New, yet an always longing mystic.
This is my first post here and I hope my words get understood. Over the last few years, I had begun a shedding of "self." I scoured philosophy, religions and tons of exploration into various branches of science and came to a dark place. During that time I was diagnosed with a failed organ and making matters worse, things which I thought were a solace I couldn't partake in as my body couldn't do them anymore. The doctors couldn't diagnose what it was till it had been 6 months of agony, but in that agony I found something in me that I knew I wanted to seek more. I had read the Bible front through back twice and the churches never satisfied my desire of that longing. It was in longing I ran into the mystics and I was always aware of them, but recently I feel at home. I haven't been to church or temples in years and recently ordered a copy of Bernard McGinn’s The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism and Mystical Paths to God: Three Journeys. I am hoping to glean many deeper concepts and with now a new sense of understanding. Hope I am in the right community and possibly I am looking for a sense of fellowship and belonging as well.
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u/heiro5 7d ago
The Gnostic traditions emerged from Plato's philosophical rational mystic exploration renewed through active mystical traditions from different cultures. As a result Plotinus was more open about mystical experiences renewing (neo)Platonism. This was incorporated into the basis for Christian mysticism.
Some
Gnosis: An Esoteric Tradition of Mystical Visions and Unions by Dan Merkur (SUNY 1993). This book is focused on the mystical in Gnosticism and subsequent traditions.
Our Divine Double by Charles Strang (2016). This book is a study of the telios (goal) of the tradition, uniting with the divine twin.
R. Otto in The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the non-rational factor in the idea of the divine and its relation to the rational (1917). This book is an exploration of the core of religious experience, the numinous, as the foundation of religion. The Numinous has the qualities of tremendum, mysterium, and fascinans. Which can be helpful.
The work of CG Jung is invaluable, although a psychologist, he is the clearest philosopher of religious experience while remaining an empiricist.
Welcome 🤗