This project explores the religious philosophy, pedagogical practices and story of Mahmoud Malamatian, an Iranian-American Sufi teacher who practices in present-day Oakland, California. I have known Mahmoud, his wife Rozaneh and their family for eight years. To honour my proximity to the 'subject,' I employed a Lived Religion theoretical framework and gathered data using the qualitative...
A mystical experience typically includes feelings of unity and heightened connection, an enhanced positive mood, the sensation of transcending time and space, and ineffability. They are understood as both common, significantly impactful for individuals who have them and can occur under several circumstances. The rise of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy has seen an increased understanding of...
Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree (1964) has long been read as a simple parable of unconditional giving and human desire. This comprehensive analysis proposes a far deeper reading: the tree as an embodiment of the Shekhinah, the feminine aspect of divine immanence in Kabbalistic theology, whose boundless generosity mirrors the mystical dynamics between God and creation. By juxtaposing this...
(1848) - has historically been relegated to the margins as mystical or unscientific. However, a contemporary re-examination reveals that Fechner's arguments were deeply rooted in empirical observation and inductive reasoning, anticipating current discourse on plant intelligence, learning, and communication. Regarding plant awareness, for instance, Fechner posits that their intimate physical...
This article analyzes a mystical-themed painting produced in eighteenth-century Puebla by considering the possibility of characterizing its context of production as an esoteric field. The theoretical framework is grounded in the criteria of Western esotericism proposed by Antoine Faivre, in dialogue with William James’s notion of mystical experience and with Victor Stoichita’s studies on...
This study aims to describe and analyze the construction of holistic health in Sufi dance, which is considered a human effort to preserve the soul. Holistic health, in anthropology, is a social phenomenon associated with the terminology of illness. Anthropology observes various practices related to how society responds to illness and how to overcome it. Sufi dance is known as a model of healing...
This research aims to explore, analyze and understand the use of suluk and jawokan in the context of the culture and traditions of the Cirebon-Indramayu community. The type of research used is a qualitative descriptive study with an ethnographic approach to document the use of suluk and jawokan in various traditional ceremonies, rituals, as well as aspects of the social and spiritual life of...
Non-Catholic philosophy speaks about mysticism, but often reduces it to one of the dimensions of human inner life, emphasizing either the human intellect or the will or feelings. As a rule, this experience detaches from God Himself, preaching atheism or agnosticism. He sees religious experience as a subjective human experience that can only be understood from the perspective of...
Most primitive religions originated from the devout worship of celestial deities, earthly spirits, and ghosts. In oracle bone inscriptions, rituals related to praying for rain, temple worship, river deity worship, and the worship of great deities were referred to as “fang” 方 or “yi fang” 以方. The Supreme God was the paramount deity of the Yin Shang Dynasty people; by the early Zhou Dynasty, the...
Findings indicate a "mindset-over-molecule" pattern wherein psychological context ("set") is more strongly associated with psychedelic outcomes than substance type alone.