All human experiences, including mystical and religious ones, are the result of brain functional activity. Thanks to the study of cases of ecstatic epilepsy with structural (MRI) and functional neuroimaging (fMRI, PET, SPECT) and neurophysiological technologies (recording and stimulation with intracranial electrodes), we now have a better knowledge of certain mental states which involve...
This essay endeavors to look closely at the mystical theological anthropology of Hamzah Fansuri, the first and one of the greatest Sufi writers in the Malay world. Mystical anthropology is arguably the underlying theme of all Fansuri’s poems and he develops this mystical discourse on the theomorphic dignity of every human person, together with the dynamic of return to God, by using some quite...
Religious experience can be a tool for the constitution of social subjects, the construction of symbolic meanings and values, as well as for shaping the subjectivity and corporality of the faithful. An ethnographic account and analysis of the Sufi ritual, the darb al-shish, as it was performed in the zawiya (Sufi lodge) of shaykh Mahmud in Afrin, Syria, shows how religious experience allows the...
Plante hallucinogène mais aussi stimulant coupe-faim, le peyotl a été interdit par les conquérants espagnols car sa consommation rituelle constituait une forme de mysticisme concurrent à celui de l’Eglise catholique. L’on découvre ainsi qu’à l’origine des politiques prohibitionnistes se trouvent non pas des préoccupations de santé, mais une condamnation religieuse et morale, et en définitive un...
Abstrak : Ibn Taymiyyah, meski dikenal sebagai tokoh panutan radikalis salafi yang anti pembaharuan dan alergi tasawuf, ternyata merupakan inspirator kaum modernis dan juga seorang sufi. Bagaimana mungkin seorang yang anti tasawuf juga adalah seorang aktivis tasawuf ? Bagaimana posisi Ibn Taymiyyah seharusnya dipetakan? Bagaimana pula sikapnya yang terlihat kontradiktif ini dapat dijelasakan?...
Abstract : In general, this article intends to answer a fundamental question, whether a mystical experience can or cannot be expressed through language. If the answer is positive, what kind of language can ‘formulate’ an inner space of human experience to penetrate into the heart of the most real reality? What kind of consciousness can “bring” the light of God to the ‘empirical’ world? h en how...
In this article, I will examine St. Edith Stein’s theory of religious language. Stein, who was both a professional philosopher and a mystic, and deeply rooted both in the tradition of negative theology and early phenomenology, held a peculiar version of univocity with regard to religious language. On the one hand, our concepts have something objectively in common with the thing they signify. On...
Throughout history, in almost every society, persons have claimed to experience God or some ultimate reality in the same sort of immediate way that they experience physical objects through their senses. Their experiences have been quite diverse, running the gamut from extrovertive and introvertive mystical experiences of some underlying unity into which the experient is totally or partially...
This paper provides an analysis of meditation as a new way of managing stress, tension and crisis. Contemporary psychology of mediation has gained worldwide significance and acceptance to seek solace and solutions for modern problems. Originally mediation was meant to help deepen understanding of the mystical and sacred forces of life. But, these days, it is commonly used for relaxation and...
Knowledge and its hierarchy with blights of every degree is one of the fundamental principles of mystical systems. Each mystical system seeks to show superior knowledge and transcendental in order to seek greater depth of truth to its followers. So the fundamental question in this study is about what is knowledge, and how we may achieve transcendent knowledge? To answer these questions, we have...