The Differences within a Religion - Case Study Example

Mystical Experiences Mystical Experiences: Faith and the Alternate Experience Mystical Experiences 2 Mystical Experiences: Faith and the Alternate Experience Introduction Mystical experience within religion denotes an experience that enhances religious belief through an intangible and somewhat incomprehensible event. These experiences can range from the experience of taking communion, a celebration of partaking of Christ’s blood and body through the taking of wine and bread in order to create an intimacy with God within the Christian belief systems, to the experience of satori, which is an experience of “the disappearance of the ego” (Melchert 1977: 446), of illumination in which enlightenment is attained within Zen Buddhism. These experiences might be a source of community between individuals of faith that crosses the boundaries of religious designation. However, this does not appear to be how individuals of different faiths react to the experiences within other religions. Based on the foundational beliefs that define religious faiths, the experiences of other religions are often seen as unreal and superstitious in order to reaffirm the faith that has been adopted is the true faith. The line between Buddhism and Hinduism is very thin when the fundamental belief systems are examined. The belief systems that are the foundations of Hinduism are varied and complex. “Hinduism is perhaps the only religious tradition that is so diversified in its theoretical premises and practical expressions as to be called a "museum of religions" (Asia 2000). Buddhism, as well, has a multitude of variations. Both Hinduism and Buddhism believe in the concept of ’samsara’, an evolution of the soul in which the cycles of death, rebirth, and life continue until the soul has attained a level that allows for release from that cycle through ’moksha’ in Hinduism and “nirvana” in Mystical Experiences 3 Buddhism. In Hinduism, however, the acceptance or rejections of the Vedas divides India religion into Astika and Nastika. Astika indicates the theistic, or ‘affirmer’ aspect of belief, and Nastika is the atheist, or ‘non-affirmer’ aspect of belief (King Indian 1999, p. 43). Both Hinduism and Buddhism create complete lifestyles that are intertwined with daily life for the practitioners. The way in which most aspects of Hinduism embraces the Vedas allows for a theistic approach, while Buddhism embraces the idea that there is not one omnipotent god. The traditions of Islam are based on the teaching of Abraham and in the concept of the Qur’an that is considered revealed from God (Ghazzali 1983). The God of Abraham is shared between Islam, Christianity, and the Jewish faith. One of the significant aspects of the beliefs of Islam is the incorporation of Angels as “genderless beings made of light” which are close to God. Angels can interact with humans on earth and can act as a conduit between God and human beings. “Angels enlighten us by illuminating that which is unseen. Angels also “reveal” things to humans, particularly the Angel Gabriel who is the Angel of Revelation in both the Christian and Muslim traditions” (Cornell 2007, 35). Mormons have undergarments that are imbued with a shield and protection against evil (Francaviglia 2003, p. 156). Jewish mysticism is defined by “the spiritual experience of a unification with God, the unio mystica.”(Laenen 2001, p. 14). Rastafarian’s believe in the ritualized use of marijuana for spiritual purposes. Baha’i faith embraces the teachings of a multitude of influential religions figures, including Abraham, Jesus, Muhammad, and Buddha. From the descriptions of the religious beliefs Mystical Experiences 4 that have been described, there are many instances of overlapping theories of mystical experiences. However, many of these religions are in direct conflict, causing war and destruction in the name of ’right’. As well, people of one faith use tactics to attack other faiths to prove the fallacy of those beliefs. The Argument This examination of the way in which the mystical experiences based in belief create more barriers than build bridges focuses on the way in which individuals who believe they have experienced these phenomenon perceive their experiences compared to those outside of each individual faith perceives that experience. The concept of the mystical experience can be defined by the context in which they are experienced and the meaning which is ascribed to them by the religious concept exemplified (Brainard 1996; Melchert 1977). However, how these experiences are interpreted by insiders and outsiders creates a basis for which philosophical inquiry can only assign an equality in order to create an understanding of how these phenomenon are accepted and rejected. Brainard (1996, p. 362) suggests that “mystical is a linguistic artifact that should not be confused with real experiences themselves that are culturally conditioned and fundamentally different from tradition to tradition”. When the mysticism of the Middle Ages in regard to Catholic women is examined, a sense of the traumatizing severity of visions and trance-like elevations that create a closeness to God, allows for a deeper understanding that these experiences are very near the description of other religious mystical experiences. Julian of Norwitch (Baker 1997) had visions of God that led her to write about his love an compassion, while Teresa of Avila (Teresa 1946) was led to write Mystical Experiences 5 and describe her experiences as a closeness to God. In this way, these two women are connected to the mystics of Hinduism and Buddhism, creating a unity with God and an understanding of their conditions as mystical in regard to the culture in which they lived. However, the possibility exists that in this culture their visions would be associated with illness, thus attaching they ’experience’ to a culturally relevant definition. There is a cross cultural similarity in many of the traditions that exist as mystical experiences. Almost universally, the participant must earn the right to make the journey by having attained enough knowledge and faith in order to shun evil influences that might disrupt this journey. Charismatic Christian traditions of speaking of tongues, Jewish mysticism, Christian communion, Satori, Samsara, all require the attainment of a level of faith in order to achieve spiritual union (Asia 2000; Fouts 2004; Laenen 2001; Stringer 2005). Drug use is common in the Rastafarian’s with marijuana and Native American Shamanism with peyote. In The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, he chronicles his experiences on the drug mescaline which provided him with a ‘mystical experience’ that was not defined through a religious affiliation, but through an experience that was similar to the Satori that provided an “egolessness” (Huxley 2004; Melchert 1977). The way in which people of one faith interpret those who practice another faith creates a tension in diverse communities that can sometimes lead to furtherance of conflict. Despite the similarities that tie religions together to form a sense of universality, great hatreds develop that create cultural divisions. Mary Ann Collins (2004, p. 110), in a book that attempts to support her theories against the Catholic Church, suggests that Catholic mystical experiences, because there is mysticism in Hinduism, Buddhism and Mystical Experiences 6 Muslimism, “do not necessarily indicate that a person has encountered the God of the Bible. They don’t even indicate that a person is Christian”. However, St Teresa of Avila experienced a mystical experience that led to her description of the experience in her writings. The end of the process granted her a trancelike experience that brought her in closer unity with God (Teresa 2002). Her writings created a connectivity to the Catholic Christian experience within her mystical phenomenon. Collins writing exhibit’s the prevalence of prejudices that are not only present between faiths, but within them as well when different sects of a religion become at odds with one another over the way in which mysticism is presented. An example of the differences within a religion that creates obstacles to peace is that of the Islamic religion and its varieties of sects. Sufism was a form of Islam that was deeply attached to the mystical experience and promoted a course of asceticism in the way in which the religion was practiced (Baldick 2000, p. 3). However, as a development of an intellectual approach to life began to suppress the superstitious beliefs imposed a control over followers “It is understandable that the renaissance of learning in Islam should have been accompanied by a violent reaction against the abuses and superstitions which were rightly guarded as important causes of the backwardness of these people”(Arberry 2002, p. 122). In current history, Shiite and Sunni sects are at war in Iraq, promoting their differences as cause for war. Even more disturbing than this inter-denominational conflict that can be seen in the Christian and Islamic worlds is the surprising factor of similarities between Islamic, Jewish, and Christian faiths that should bind them in peaceful co-existence. However, Mystical Experiences 7 the ’foreign’ nature of the traditions that seem superstitions and mythological to outside observers, creates deep gaps that do not seem penetrable by bridges of similarity. Hasidic Judaism promotes the idea that “The task of man, of every man, according to Hasidic teaching, is to affirm for God’s sake the world and himself and by this very means to transform both”(Buber 1990, p. 6). This goal is a universal goal between the three religions. However, that these three religions all agree on the existence of one God, that the appearance of Angels is agreed upon, that experiences of a mystical nature that brings unity with God have merit in each religion, and that faith in God is the ultimate goal of each religion, has no effect on the proliferation of conflict that continually cycles throughout history between these three religions (Bowker 1978; Cornell 2007; Laenen 2001; Stringer 2007). However, the world holds out hope that these conflicts can be quieted. Conclusion “Religious pluralism is a modern position born not out of an openness of one religious tradition to another; but rather, out of a philosophical attempt to confront the confluence of cultural boundaries and the growth of relativism” (Kaplan 2002, p. 1). The question that relativism proposes, however, is whether faith is based on the relativity to culture or exclusively to tradition. Either way, the nature of mystical experience is that it tends to be an exclusive experience that is not perceived with an acceptance by those outside the experience. In order to assert the absolute righteousness of faith, one religion cannot readily accept the unity with God that another religion may claim to have made. If this possibility exists, then the foundation of a primary source of faith can be changed. Mystical Experiences 8 King (1999) proposes that the West has corrupted the view of Hinduism by virtue of observation and conclusions drawn without cultural relativity. He proposes that this concept is a 19th century Orientalism interpretation of the religions of India. As well, he relates how the Western view of the Eastern religious traditions associate them with “militant fanatics”. The sense of mysticism was associated with mythological and superstitious backward nature, reinforcing the concepts put forth by Edward Said in that the West has created a perception of the East that is based on the idea of ’otherness’, in that they are not the same as those from the West. In order for mystical experience to forge a connection between religions, the righteousness that fuels faith would have to become more tolerant. The anger that ignites conflict over issues of faith would need to diminish into a factor that does not allow for prejudice. Mystical experience is viewed by outsiders as superstition and with skepticism and criticism. If the religious journeys could be interpreted from the aspect of the end goal, most religions would find an ability to forge a path of similarity. However, most religious leaders are so caught up in the path, that they forget where the journey leads. The diversity of the paths that lead to God, or to the divine, will continue to separate religions until the destination can be more easily revealed. Mystical Experiences 9 Bibliography ABHISHIKTANANDA. (1974). Saccidānanda: a Christian approach to Advaitic experience. Delhi, I.S.P.C.K-L.P.H. ARBERRY, A. J. (2002). Sufism: an account of the mystics of Islam. Mineola, N.Y., Dover Publications. Asia Info.org. (2000). “India’s religion and philosophy”. 19 March 2009. BAKER, D. N. (1997). Julian of Norwichs Showings: from vision to book. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press. BALDICK, J. (2000) Mystical Islam, London: I.B. Taurus BEER, F. (1992). Women and mystical experience in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, Boydell Press. 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