This study aims to examine the potential contributions of the similarities between sufism and Japanese Buddhism to the culture of coexistence among communities with different beliefs. The article is based on the central premise that the commonalities between these two religious traditions can strengthen an environment of tolerance and dialogue. It is hoped that this study will offer an original...
This article examines the conceptions of spiritual purification and moral education in Islamic Sufism and Japanese Buddhism (particularly the Zen school) from a comparative perspective. The central research question addressed is: How do these two traditions, rooted in distinct cultural and metaphysical foundations, converge and diverge in terms of their pedagogical methods and aims?...
The article explores how mysticism resurges within modern, scientistic culture, especially in art. Mysticism is defined as a tradition of direct, private union with “ultimate reality,” distinct from both secret esoteric teachings and institutional religious ritual. Historically rooted in medieval Christianity and transformed by Romanticism, modern mysticism emerges as a reaction to...
This study investigates a 1954 Javanese Sufi manuscript written in Pegon script within the Naqshbandīyah al-Mrikīyah lineage. Addressing a gap in existing scholarship—which has concentrated predominantly on pre-20th-century Pegon Qur’anic exegesis—this article analyzes a modern non-exegetical Pegon Sufi text that articulates Naqshbandī metaphysics through Javanese mystical idioms....
This article develops a cross-civilizational account of existence by placing G.W.F. Hegel's dialectical philosophy in dialogue with Sufi metaphysics of Bulleh Shah, read through his kalam Behad Ramza Dasda. Reconstructing two genealogies of thought - from Plato to Hegel and from Ibn Arabi and Rumi to Bulleh Shah - the paper argues that both traditions conceive the self not as a static substance...
Sapere AudeDecember 29, 2025Veronica Campos, Daniel de Luca‐noronha1 citation
In this paper an argument is presented against one of the mainstream theories in the cognitive science of religion, the Minimal Counterintuitiveness Hypothesis (MCI). The MCI hypothesis explains the adherence of religious beliefs as a function of the degree of counterintuitiveness of the concepts figuring in the belief’s content. According to MCI, religious beliefs are adherent because they...
This article aims to investigate the relationship between musical works and transcendental or mystical experiences among listeners. The analysis was conducted within the context of philosophical research. The first part of the text focuses on exploring concepts such as mystical and transcendental experiences. Subsequently, historical conceptions describing the relationships between music and...
This article advances a comprehensive reinterpretation of Islamic mystical metaphysics through the development of Quantum-Relational ʿIrfān (QRI), a theoretical framework that bridges classical doctrines of unity and contemporary relational ontology. While Ibn ʿArabī’s ontology of waḥdat al-wujūd and Mullā Ṣadrā’s graded existentialism constitute the most sophisticated pre-modern articulations...
This study piloted and validated the Russian-language version of R. W. Hood’s Mysticism Scale in an adult sample. Two comparable groups participated (N = 200; age 19–61): 100 with self-reported mystical/transcendent experiences and 100 without such experiences. The adaptation used forward–back translation with expert review. Psychometrics included exploratory factor analysis (KMO = 0.86;...
For more than four decades, the emphasis in the academic study of world religions has been on differences over similarities, and comparative analyses allowing for commonalities have become increasingly rare. This article argues that similarities nonetheless exist and should be studied. After disclaiming the judgment of other scholars that Aldous Huxley attempted to describe the “core” or...
The theme, the virtues of tea, evolved over time into the ten virtues of tea (cha no juttoku), and is present in Japanese tea tradition as early as the arrival of powdered tea in Japan. The earliest examples come from the Kissa yōjōki (Record of drinking tea for health, 1214) by Myōan Eisai and the inscription on the iron kettle of ten virtues (juttokugama) attributed to Myōe. Virtues from...
Objective: This study aims to explore the meanings and dynamics of the religious experiences of students undertaking khalwāt at Al-Hikmah Islamic Boarding School in Gatak, Sukoharjo. Method: A qualitative approach with a phenomenological design was employed. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and documentation, and analyzed using Interpretative...
This paper explores the mystical themes in the poetry of Mirabai and Tulsidas, two of the most powerful voices of the Indian Bhakti movement. It studies how each poet expresses devotion, longing, and union with the divine in their own way. Mirabai’s poetry is emotional and fearless. She speaks of Krishna as a lover, a friend, and the only one who matters (One who is infinite: a cosmic energy)....
Abstract This article presents a comprehensive academic exposition of the dissolving self within the therapeutic encounter, integrating Jewish mystical theology, psychodynamic theory, and contemporary neuroscience. Drawing upon the foundational work of Katzman, Bernstein, and Ponak on the authentic mystical self; Ungar-Sargon's theology of tzimtzum, Or HaGanuz, and sacred clinical space; and...
This study critically examines the epistemology of mysticism in Islamic thought through Mehdi Ha’iri Yazdi’s concept of Knowledge through Presence (al-‘ilm al-huduri). The research positions Yazdi’s epistemological framework as a bridge between classical Islamic illuminationist philosophy (hikmah al-ishraq) and contemporary philosophical discourse. Employing qualitative-descriptive and...
The mystical phenomenon is understood as a profound and bordeline experience of reality, where the human being reaches a state of consciousness such that it transcends the ordinary concepts with which we understand the world. This experience suggests a notion of reality according to which there is an order underlying physical phenomena (fundamental reality) and distinct from them, where...
Tapa, a form of Javanese asceticism, constitutes a longstanding tradition and a central element of spiritual life in Javanese society. This practice is frequently documented in Javanese literary works and is regarded as a significant cultural legacy. The present study analyses the concept of tapa in Raden Ngabehi Ronggowarsito's Serat Pamoring Kawula Gusti, focusing on its relationship to Sufi...
Abstract Mystical experiences are among the most extraordinary and meaningful experiences one can have. While such experiences have been studied for more than a century, it is still an open question how the brain can produce them. The present paper provides a possible answer by examining mystical experience from the lens of the REBUS hypothesis—a theory that explains the neurocognitive...
We learn to philosophize and reflect both on what we think and how we think about what we think when we think with Edith Stein about education and religion. This article seeks to illuminate the philosophical gifts that Stein brings to religious pedagogy, including her stance on the importance of the acceptance of the divine will to advance in spiritual discernment. Under her tutelage, what is...
Background: Psychedelics induce profound changes in perception and thinking; however, little is known about the neural mechanisms and prediction of these effects. Aims: Investigating ayahuasca-induced experiences, mind-wandering, and electroencephalogram (EEG) oscillations, beyond the prediction of subjective experiences by baseline EEG. Methods: In a randomised, double-blind,...