Undressing the Illusion of Mystical Experiences

CHARCOtranquilo · 2023-10-29 00:37:07

We enter the abstruse realm of mystical experiences and illusion. The question that presents itself before us is: Do mystical experiences possess an aspect of authenticity? When we try to answer this question, in many occasions, the very course we adopt in our thinking implies the solution.

Can we go deeper into this question with the appropriate distance, can we really approach this question without prejudice and contemplate it in its fullness, can we really look at it in its entirety? For example, if our predisposition and tendency point towards the search for the spiritual, are we not, in that act, preconditioning ourselves to explore all possibilities?

Can we face this question by leaving aside the fragmentation that our ego generates? These questions are in no way related to the intrinsic nobility of mystical experiences; it is important to stress this point, for by giving them such a connotation, we introduce an element of division that prevents us from contemplating the problem in its totality. However, do we really know what constitutes an experience? Moreover, who is the subject that experiences? A great majority within the "spiritual realm" conceive the mystical experience as something sublime, coming from unconventional spheres, which allows them to transcend the routine circumstances of their daily lives.

However, is it possible to experience without the intervention of the experiencer? The answer to this question lies in negation; the mystical experience does not emerge independently of the experiencer, the observer. It is always permeated and conditioned by the memories and, ultimately, the history of the individual who is observing it. Just as a fluid conforms to its container, the mystical experience takes the form of the experiencer. His or her expectations, desires, emotional baggage and mental projections shape the mystical experience; indeed, it is these elements that generate and experience it, based on the legacy of the past.

The experiencer identifies with the experience itself. Therefore, for this phenomenon to materialize, the observer of the mystical experience must recognize it. Otherwise, he can only ascertain its existence by assimilating it and identifying it with the facets of his ego, that is, through his past experiences. Otherwise, the experiencer would not be able to speak of a mystical experience, simply because he would not be able to recognize it. The mystical experience is an exclusive and intrinsic event to the person who lives it.

The individual feels and lives the mystical experience as something extraordinary, but always within the scope of his psychological and mental structure. Depending on the beliefs of each individual, the mystical experience will assume different forms. For a Christian, for example, it could take on the appearance of a cross, which would be consistent with his or her personal history. On the other hand, for someone interested in esotericism and related topics of spirituality, the protagonists of the mystical experience could be beings of light with a revelation of unknowable knowledge and so on. Generally speaking, the act of experiencing a profound, sometimes singular, mystical experience leads the individual experiencing it to feel important and even to desire to possess the mystical experiences of others, either because of their revelatory depth, their pleasurable staging or their cathartic nature.

However, we are faced with the paradox that with mystical experience, we trade and traffic as if it were an interchangeable commodity, just as we do with other people's possessions, such as vehicles, homes or finances. In reality, it is worth asking ourselves: What do we seek in a mystical experience? Perhaps we seek to escape from the loneliness and monotony of daily life in order to approach a permanent orgasmic hedonism? In any case, it is not possible to affirm with certainty if the mystical experience is real if we do not understand in its totality what reality itself is. What we can say with certainty is that the constant movement of our mind, even in its subtlest aspects, constitutes a succession of projections that prevent us from experiencing the present. These ephemeral thoughts slip between the fingers of the past and the future, and are tinged with our memories, but they have no real existence.

Our self prevents us from perceiving concrete reality, filtering it and creating a world of shadows and symbols. Everything we are, everything we see and feel exists in our subjective consciousness and disappears along with it. So how can we discern whether a mystical experience is real in itself, or at least has the potential to be?

Ultimately, the hope that the mystical experience will come to our aid and rescue us from our personal suffering is just another illusion, and longing for it prevents us from living in the present and plunges us into a world of mirages and projections. True greatness lies in being fully present in the moment. The feverish search for a mystical revelatory experience is fallacious; it is self-deception. Moreover, when this goal is not achieved, it only generates frustration and drives us to seek more. When it is achieved, the only thing we achieve is to exacerbate our ego. So, the question arises: How many mystical experiences are necessary to bring about a real change? Ten, twenty, fifty? It is relevant to reflect on the importance we attach to our identity as mystical experiencers, since this only deepens the gap that separates us from true reality.

When the experiencer fades away, he or she merges with the experience in an eternal present. At that moment, we no longer seek mystical experiences; we immerse ourselves in the very experience of the timeless, in the intrinsic reality of the present, and our life becomes naturalized in a simple everydayness exempt from any exacerbation of personal importance.

For this reason, we go deeper and deeper into the phenomenon of time, in order to be fully conscious in the present, observing not the consecutive flow of thought but the genesis of the timeless nothingness from which thought arises and, at the same time, freeing ourselves from time itself. Thus, we can observe ourselves from the same vision of the timeless consciousness that illuminates everything, with little effort. In this state, the experiencer, as an autonomous entity, disappears; both he and the thing observed cease to exist. This is because thought is intrinsically linked to time and, therefore, it is impossible for it to comprehend that which escapes the spatio-temporal framework.

Nevertheless, the renunciation of the pursuit of illusions can be arduous; it is inherent in human nature. However, to stop in the present and merge with the authentic reality, which transcends the world of shadows, is equally human. Psychological disintegration manifests as a constant and dynamic reinvention in the present. In reality, we do not perceive things as they are; we perceive them according to our own "I"; that is, as we have invented ourselves in an idealized and twisted "I".

Persistence in the interpretation of the mystical experience, on which we project our assumptions and noble values, only leads to the fragmentation of the very essence of the original moment. For example, this would be tantamount to trying to place the Big Bang in time, i.e., how could we establish a date for an event when time did not yet exist? It is, in essence, pedantic; how could we place it in space if space did not exist either? It is simply pretentious, as well as absurd. Nevertheless, most people accept this pattern and adopt it without difficulty without questioning its obvious physical, astrophysical and ontological incongruity.

In this context, it is appropriate to recall the phrase of St. Francis of Assisi: "What we are looking for is what you are looking at". By being aware of this and living the mystical experience in the present, we can reach the authentic transmutation, in the instant in which change disappears and we emerge from the cavern, in which we only perceived shadows.

As many thinkers have pointed out, from Kant to Krishnamurti to Bohm, it is impossible to experience the supreme through thought. The ability to name removes the individual from the thing itself and traps him in the confines of the mind, in the realms of space, time and causality, among other things.

In conclusion, it could be considered that the human being observes the world through contact lenses that, although indispensable for perception, distort the information. Depending on where we direct our gaze, we perceive reality with different nuances. As a result, we constantly observe reality in a distorted way, without ever reaching the ultimate essence of things.

Celestial Marriage · 2023-10-29 16:40:23

You need clearly seeing clairvoyant friends to check on you if you are still sane. (not you as a person, but the experiencer needs outside confirmation to see if he is buried with illusions or not)

Also, physical growth and spiritual growth should be 50/50 to avoid going either mental or materialistic.

Good post to show how hard the true path is. Kudos.

Last edited by Celestial Marriage (2023-10-29 16:41:33)

CHARCOtranquilo · 2023-10-29 18:31:55

@Celestial Marriage:

First of all, I thank you for your answer, something I did not expect since I presupposed that it would be deserted of any answer since it is directed and written to a person in exclusivity and that "because of his level of expansion of consciousness and intellectual depth", only that person can give "THE ANSWER" in all its dimension both cognitive and outside the realm of cognition or the cognizable.

In fact his (this person's) NON-response to this post is what is expected because it is set within a larger code whose comprehension is within the framework of the invisible to perception.

However, the content of his anecdotal unexpected response shows that the post has been written and designed with sufficient erudition and difficulty to reveal that his level of his response is in accordance with what is expected. This confirms to me the success of your wording, since only your recipient can encode it.

Thank you.

Last edited by CHARCOtranquilo (2023-10-30 16:00:59)

#1 2023-10-29 00:37:07

Undressing the Illusion of Mystical Experiences

#2 2023-10-29 16:40:23

Re: Undressing the Illusion of Mystical Experiences

#3 2023-10-29 18:31:55

Re: Undressing the Illusion of Mystical Experiences

Board footer