christian mystics

remember reading last year in my world history book aout a sect or group of christian renunciates who worship the more mystical side of spirituality and the christian faith. Does anyone know more about them or books about them?

 

Maybe they're Mormons?

 

I don't know what you mean, but if I hear the word 'christian mystic', then I think about Thomas A. Khempis. He was a monk in medieval holland, maybe in the 14th or 15th century, I dunno...anyway, he wrote a famous book called 'imitation of Christ' which is a book inspiring for both protestants and catholics (note that thomas a khempis was a catholic, and before the reformation). Maybe you could search something about him and his book on the internet, maybe look in the library.

But this group you're talking about...can you give a name or remember some more details?

 

I don't think that the Mormons are mystics at all. It sounds more like the Gnostics.

 

Christianity is "mystical". It is based on imaginary causes, imaginary effects, imaginary beings, an imaginary natural history, an imaginary psychology, an imaginary teleology and a purely fictitious world.

This fictitious world has its sources in hatred of the natural (denial). AND who alone has any reason for denying reality? The one who can't live in it, obviously.

 

Fables are used to illustrate important points. You can learn a little bit about the ancient Japanese culture by reading Raymond Feist's Riftwar series. He uses Japanese cultural formats as a backdrop for the Tsurani invaders from another world. Tsurani culture uses different names, different history, is entirely ficticious, but it is remarkably similar to ancient Japanese culture.
Same with Christianity. You can learn a lot about God from the bible, but if you do not learn from the rest of reality as well, you will have a scewed perspective on the fundamental truths of reality.

They (Christians) do live in it and are a product of it. Perhaps you should look at children caught up in Christian dogma without an adequate understanding of God like agnostics caught up in material dogma without an adequate understanding of reality.

The other day I read this post that said "Emotions are just chemical reactions". Does this indicate a complete understanding of emotion based in reality, or does it indicate a very narrow viewpoint based upon one slightly understood aspect of reality?

 

That post sounds very reasonable to me. So, what is your theory of emotions? And which faculties do you use to determine your theory?

 

Hmm. <looks over at iv drip of LSD and smirks>

Emotions are caused by God. Emotions are completely deterministic, a lot like our chemical brothers think, but they do not arise out of 'unknowing, unfeeling' matter. There is always God's intent behind the creation of an emotion.

My wisdom and my foolishness are given to me by God.

 

Are you a pantheist, Khrakky?

 

God is deeper than forces and laws.

 

Wow, that is narrow - I would say about a third of mysticism is Christian.


You have all sorts - the Gnostics, the Templars, the Freemasons, the Rosicrucians, many alchemists were Christian,then you get the catholic brother hood RAM. In fact, the orthodox churches tend to have many mystics opperating in their countries, famous example is Sypros Sathi (the Magus of Strovolos), a cypriot.

Also mysticism thrives in the catholic third world countries (the centralism of catholisism didn't really reach that far). So you have Christian mystics in most of sound America, plus a few in Africa.

Blessings

Sebbi

 

Mystics are people who go outside of the boundries of religion in order to have a personal relationship with the creative force of reality--God/Tao/Truth..whatever.

To a mystic the direct personal experience of the transcendant is what matters. All other considerations-- the names/nature of "God", ritual, church dogma--are secondary considerations, or completely irrelevant.

If someone's difined as a Christian mystic ...
exp:
Justin Martyr
Francis of Assisi
Thomas Aquinas
Augusitne
Duns Scott
Bonaveture
..it's probably due to the fact that they found themselves born into a time and place dominated by Christianity so they're writtings and ideas were framed and expressed within christian paramaters.

But, Many of them echoed the exact same ideas espoused by the ancient mystics.--

Herecletus
Pathagorus
Socrates
Philo of alexandria
Diogenes
etc, etc,
As well as perhaps all of the old testement prophets

--but expressed the same ideas in slightly different terms.

​

​

​

 

You might be thinking of the Essenes.
See also http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05546a.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes

 

I believe you are asking about the Gnostic Gospels. There is evidence that Jesus traveled to places like India and China, before he returned back to his home region in the Middle East. Gnostic Gospels have a sort of Easrtern religious flavor. The Gospel of John, is said to be the most Gnostic type Gospel chosen for the Bible. The Gospels that were chosen for the Christian Bible, were chosen to best serve the Church organizer's purposes. Those purposes, I believe were less than genuine to God's true will.

The saying from Jesus that I refered to in my psychedelic drug pushers, introductory thread, was from the Gospel of Thomas, a Gnostic Gospel. Later.

 

WHOA! lucidity.

 

"Cathars" "Hermetics" "Hermes Trismegistus" "Thoth"

 

It might have been once, but now it's mainly just dogmatic.

For mystics, one to add to the list is John of the Cross, he talked about the Dark Night of the Soul.

 

Yes, indeed. I sense something getting "deep"...for sure.

 

There's a real unifieing principle in mytiscim; the idea that you can know God directly and that anyone who does is communing with the same entity regardless of what you call Him/Her/It.

I think it was Justin Martyre who said that a real Jew is a real christian is a real hindu....

It's interesting how many christian mystics were labeled heretics by the church during their lifetimes and later canonised (promoted to sainthood) by the same church after their deaths.

The latter possibly being the greater insult; diefiying them was sort of like telling people "you don't have to listen to what they were saying or try to understand or live by their teachings-- you can just pray to them".

 

Miester Eckhart is about the most interesting christian mystic I've come across.