Mysticism

Mysticism, from the Greek {{polytonic|???}} (mueo, "to conceal"), is the pursuit of achieving communion with, or conscious awareness of ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct, personal experience (intuition or insight) rather than rational thought; the belief in the existence of realities beyond perceptual or intellectual apprehension that are central to being and directly accessible through personal experience; or the belief that such experience is a genuine and important source of knowledge. In the Hellenistic world, ?mystical? referred to "secret" religious rituals.

Examples in major traditions

Examples of major traditions and philosophies with strong elements of mysticism are:

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• Christian Gnosticism
• Christian mysticism
• Eastern Orthodox Hesychasm
• Javanese mystical movements
• Judaic Kabbalah
• Mormonism, being founded on visions, revelations, and angelic ordination
• Mystery religions and cults
• Native American Ghost Dances of the late Nineteenth Century were mystical in origin
• The New Age movement
• Near Death Experiences
• Quakerism in its theology
• Sufic Islam
• Sumarah
• Surat Shabda Yoga
• Taoism
• Tibetan Buddhism
• Transcendentalist Unitarianism
• Vedantic Hinduism
• Yoga
• Zen Buddhism

Hindu mystics

Some examples of Hindu mystics:

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:Andal

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:Shankara

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:Gopi Krishna

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:Lalleshvari

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:Mirabai

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:Sri Ramakrishna

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:Ramana Maharshi

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:Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji

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:Tukaram

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:Duryodhana

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Chinese mystics

:Lao Zi (Lao Tze)

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:Zhang Sanfeng

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:Zhuangzi (Chuang Tsu)

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Christian mystics

Some examples of Christian mystics:

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:St. John the Apostle (? -101)

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:Clement of Alexandria (? -216)

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:St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

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:St. Gregory I (590-604)

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:Saint Anselm (1033-1109)

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:Hugh of Saint Victor (1096–1141)

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:St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

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:Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)

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:Albertus Magnus (206-1280)

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:Mechtild of Magdeburg (1210-1279)

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:St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1275)

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:Angel of Foligno - (c.1248-1309) )

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:Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - 1327/8)

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:Richard Rolle (c. 1290 - 1349)

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:St. Gregory Palamas (1296 - 1359)

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:St. Bridget of Sweden (1302-1373)

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:Julian of Norwich (1342-c.1416)

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:Margery Kempe (c.1373-1438)

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:Paracelsus (1493-1541)

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:St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

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:St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)

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:Jakob Boehme (1575-1624)

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:Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)

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:Michael de Molinos (1628-1696)

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:Sarah Wight (1632-?)

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:Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)

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:William Blake (1757-1827)

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:Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824)

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:Jakob Lorber (1800 - 1864)

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:Rufus Jones (1863-1948)

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:Max Heindel (1865 - 1919)

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:G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

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:Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897-1963)

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:Daniil Andreev (1906-1959)

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:Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

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Islamic mystics

Some examples of Muslim mystics (also called Sufi):

Related Topics:
Muslim - Sufi

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Persian:

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:al-Ghazali, (d. 1111)

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:al Hallaj (d. 922)

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:Jalal ad-Din Rumi (d. 1273)

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:Hafiz

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:Sadi

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:Abdul Qadir Gilani

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:Abu Yazid Bistami aka Bayazid of Bistam

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:Farid al-Din Attar

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:Jami

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:Mahmud Shabistari

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Turkish:

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:Yunus Emre

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Indian:

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:Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, aka Khwaja Gareeb Nawaz

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:Khwaja Nizamuddin Chishti, aka Nizamuddin Auliya or just Khwaja Nizamuddin

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:Qalandar Baba Auliya

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:Amir Khusro

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:Shahbaz Qalander

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Jewish mystics

Some examples of Jewish mystics:

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:Shimon bar Yochai (c.200)

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:Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia (1240-1291)

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:Moses ben Shem Tob de Leon (1250-1305)

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:Isaac Luria (1534-1572)

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:Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1746)

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:Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810)

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:Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935)

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:Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994)

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Other mystics

Some examples of other mystics:

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:Plotinus (Neo-Platonist)

Related Topics:
Plotinus - Neo-Platonist

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:Walt Whitman

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:Heinrich Himmler (Nazi mysticism)

Related Topics:
Heinrich Himmler - Nazi mysticism

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:Aleister Crowley (magick and Thelema)

Related Topics:
Aleister Crowley - Magick - Thelema

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:Gurdjieff

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:Jiddu Krishnamurti

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:Chapel Tibet

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