The Human Being in Exposure to Mystery: Phenomenological Foundations of a Mystical Anthropology
Religions February 26, 2026 Angélica Morales Arizmendi
Mystical experience is not an exceptional event but the clearest expression of the human condition, according to a philosophical dialogue between contemporary Spanish thinkers and the sixteenth-century Castilian mystical tradition. Drawing on Juan Martín Velasco, Miguel García-Baró, and Teresa of Ávila, the article argues that human beings are fundamentally subjects in exposure to Mystery, receiving themselves through a transcendent call to truth and goodness. The mystical and philosophical attitudes converge in their shared openness to reality and ethical orientation toward truth and the Good. This synthesis redefines the human as constituted by relation, receptivity, and responsibility, offering a renewed anthropology that addresses contemporary nihilism and spiritual disorientation.