Among the various attitudes of the human soul, mysticism is undoubtedly an impervious but extremely productive terrain, it crosses a bit trasversal all cultures offering incredibly interesting and captivating ideas. "Mysticism" is a Greek word that dates back to the Eleusinian Mysteries, closely related to the word mysterion (mystery). Thus we discover that, first of all, this word refers precisely to the secrecy and incommunicability of experiencing the sacred. The mystical path brings the soul to such high peaks of engaging sentiment that sometimes make one doubt the real rational consistency of the journey traveled. The experimentation of mystical states has been scientifically studied, they are preceded by a drop in attention, a reduction in physical activity and a passive, quiet state of mind. The brain waves emitted by the subjects examined in a trance are the Alpha waves, similar to those experienced during sleep. It is true that it is difficult and perhaps inappropriate to try to investigate analytically a phenomenon that has as its fulcrum the unconditional love for the Divine beloved, the total surrender to it and sometimes even the torment of the heart but also of the flesh, however the examples are such and many and of great human and religious importance that ignoring it or confining it to the side of religion and philosophy as an almost degenerate product of the human mind would be truly unforgivable. That of the mystic is a search for union, the mortification of the body is often present with the aim of being able to arrive at an altered state of consciousness that leads to encounter, enlightenment and finally ecstasy. I will point out below some figures that I met in my research but that do not take on greater significance, also for this reason I will present them in strict alphabetical order, only as a possible indication of further study. In this regard, I also want to report a book, in my opinion, interesting "MYSTICISM a study in the nature and development of spiritual consciousness" by Evelyn Underhill.

 

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AUGUSTINE SAINT OF HIPPO
http://www.mistica.info/unagost.htm
 

In the treatise "THE GREATNESS OF THE SOUL": there are also the degrees of the ascent towards contemplation. In fact, the greatness of the soul depends precisely on the degrees of its activity. These range from the animation of the body to the "dwelling" in contemplation. The first three - animation, sensation, art and culture - are common to the good and the bad, because they belong to the order of nature, while the other four belong only to the good and constitute the true degrees of spiritual life. These are called: virtue or purification, serenity or constancy of mind, orientation towards contemplation or entry into it, abiding in contemplation itself. The first degree involves a long effort of purification or mortification that takes the soul away from the domain of the senses: "Clean the eye of the soul"; the second indicates the inner strength or stillness of the soul pacified with itself, and therefore means "guarding and strengthening the health" achieved; the third contains the entry into the light of contemplation, that is "to direct the gaze, now serene and secure, on the object of vision"; the fourth is finally the living room, and therefore not so much a degree as a dwelling (mansio) "in the vision and contemplation of the truth".n

 

 

BOHME JAKOB

http://www.mistica.info/unjakob.htm

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Jakob finds himself having ecstatic experiences several times in his life. A first, in 1600, then in 1610 and again in 1617. These experiences, involving all his physical and spiritual being, last for a few days each. He lives them as experiences that illuminate his knowledge of God rather than as a direct and ineffable union with God. From them he receives the continuous stimulus to study the Scriptures and deepen his knowledge, so that they could make the experiences lived more explicit (in words).
He says he saw "the Being of all Beings", the birth of the Holy Trinity, the divine and angelic world. He therefore elaborates a complex mystical representation of reality which he made explicit in his first published work, in the interest of one of his admirers, in 1612 entitled Morgenröte im Aufgang, also known as Aurora consurgens, or Aurora rising.
 

 

 

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

https://www.ilsapere.org/introduction-al-misticismo/

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Among the first testimonies of mystical ecstasy, there are the Greek philosophers, including Plato, the later Plutarch, and Plotinus with his Enneadi. For the expressed objectivity, it is appropriate to propose this passage taken from chapter 4 from the "Enneadi":
“It happened many times: to be carried out of my body and into myself; make myself a stranger to all things and center myself on myself; to see a marvelous beauty, more certain than ever of a commonality with what is highest; live the noblest of lives, identifying myself with the Divine; having achieved the opportunity to dwell in it, balancing on anything within the Intellect, which is less than the Supreme. Yet, the moment of descent comes, from Intellect to reason, and then that to remain in the Divine, and I wonder how it happens that I can now be descending, and how the Soul could never enter my body, the Soul that even inside the body, it is the highest thing that has ever been shown to exist. 

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FRANCIS SAINT OF ASSISI

https://www.ilsapere.org/introduction-al-misticismo/

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The chariot of fire
At about midnight, those who were awake and praying silently saw a very bright chariot of fire enter the small door of the house, making two or three turns around the room; upon it rested a large globe, shining like the sun which illuminated the night darkness.
They were amazed by that light that not only penetrated the body, but also in the spirit where it had extraordinary effects. When they reunited, they asked themselves the meaning of the phenomenon, then they understood that it was with certainty the soul of the blessed Father. It was an extraordinary gift bestowed by God on Francis for his purity and his ardent love for creatures.

 

The Seal of Christ
Francis, with some companions, reached the summit of Verna, where he practiced for several days an increasingly ardent prayer. On September 14, 1224, the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, in the early hours of the morning Francis was marked by the stigmata. Celano recounts: "a man who stood above him, like a seraphim with six wings, his hands stretched out and his feet joined and fixed to a cross. Two of the wings were stretched out on his head, two were stretched out as if to fly, and two were wrapped around the whole body. When the blessed servant of the Most High saw these things, he was filled with the greatest wonder, but he still could not understand what this vision meant. However he was full of happiness and greatly rejoiced for the kind and benign gaze with which he saw himself looked at by the seraphim, whose beauty was invaluable ... And while he was unable to reach an understanding of this and the strangeness of the vision made his heart perplexed, the nail marks began to appear in his hands and feet, just as he had seen them before in the crucified man above him ... Besides that, his left side was as if he had been pierced by a spear. "

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HUI NENG

www.rebirthing- italia.com/liberaz07.htm

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The way of acceptance and spiritual freedom lies not in going somewhere, but in going, and the stage where you can know its happiness is now, at this very moment, in the same place where you happens to be. It is in fully accepting the state of your soul, as it is now, not in trying to take you by force into another state, which you proudly imagine that it is superior and more advanced. It is not a question of knowing whether your present state is good or bad, neurotic or normal, elementary or advanced; it's about knowing what it is. The essential is not to accept it in order to move to a "higher" state, if you can call it that. As an illustration, here is the story of how the Buddhist sage Hui-neng illuminated Chen Wei-ming, who had pursued to steal the Buddha's cloak and alms bowl. Hui-neng had placed them on a rock and, when Chen went to lift them, he found that it was impossible. Seized with terror, Chen protested that he had not come for the cloak and the bowl, but for the wisdom they represented. "Since you came for the Dharma," said Hui-neng, "don't think about the good, don't think about the evil, but see what your true nature is (literally:" original face ") at this moment." At these words, Chen was suddenly enlightened; dripping with sweat and greeting Hui-neng with tears of joy, he asked: "Besides these secret words and these hidden meanings that you have just given me, is there anything else secret?". Hui-neng replied: "In what I have revealed to you there is nothing secret. If you reflect and recognize your true nature, the secret is in you." "Allan Watts.

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RUMI JALAL AD ADIN

http://www.mistica.info/unsufi.htm

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POETIC ANTHOLOGY
n. 7
«Or my Companion, or my Cave, or Love that the heart devours me!
You are companion, you are cave, Lord! Protect me, look at me! "
 

n. 8
«I freed myself from flesh and passion in order: the Living is pain, the Dead is pain,
Alive and Dead I am not my homeland, my homeland is only the grace of God!
I finally freed myself from these verses (...)
O silence! You are my marrow, my sweet and deep melody (...)

I am the mirror, I am the mirror; no words, no words,
you will be able to see my ecstasy, if your ear is eye-catching!
I dance my hands like a tree, I swirl round like the moon (...)
I am silent, my throat is tired, you speak, eloquent Initiate,
you have David's sweet breath and I am a twig that flies to that breath! "
 

n. 33
"In you the soul is dissolved, with you it is mixed:
here I caress life only because it smells of You! »

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TERESA SAINT OF AVILA

http://www.mistica.info/unteresa.htm

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The Inner Castle 

With the allegory of the castle (probable reminiscence of some of his youthful readings) S.Teresa describes a path of spirituality. The first three tasks refer to the ascetic life, in the other four the mystical life predominates.

These are:

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1) entering the castle;

2) to fight;

3) undergo the test of love;

4) the first supernatural experiences;

5) the allegory of the silkworm;

6) ecstasies and spiritual engagement;

7) the mystical marriage. Written in 1577, from June to November discontinuously.

 

"While the soul is far from expecting to see something, and does not even pass through the mind, suddenly the whole vision that upsets the powers and the senses is presented to it, filling it with fear and disturbance, to then give her a delightful peace and the soul finds herself with the knowledge of such sublime truths that she no longer needs any teacher. " (Teresa of Avila, inner Castle, 9.10)

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"In an ecstasy an tangible angel appeared to me in his carnal constitution and he was beautiful; I saw in the hand of this angel a long dart; it was golden and had a tip of fire at the end. The angel penetrated me with the dart to the bowels and when he withdrew it he left me completely burnt with love for God […] Our Lord, my husband, gave me such excesses of pleasure that I asked myself not to add anything other than to say that my senses were enraptured by Him "(Book of my life).

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