[HN Gopher] The Varieties of Mystical Experience
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       The Varieties of Mystical Experience
        
       Author : drdee
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2024-10-31 18:08 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bookforum.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bookforum.com)
        
       | B1FF_PSUVM wrote:
       | Quote of the month, sin-non-e-vero-e-ben-trovato category:
       | 
       |  _Critchley puts it nicely: "The mystics are constantly effing
       | the ineffable, for as long as it effing takes."_
       | 
       | P.S. It took me a bit to recognize the obvious riff on William
       | James in the title:
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Varieties_of_Religious_Exp...
        
       | siavosh wrote:
       | Are there any good broad multi-tradition books on mysticism?
        
         | mjrpes wrote:
         | Not a textbook in any way, but I've enjoyed Aldous Huxley's
         | Perennial Philosophy
         | 
         | https://www.amazon.com/Perennial-Philosophy-Interpretation-G...
        
         | chris_acree wrote:
         | Concordant Discord by Robert Zaehner is a book compiling a
         | lecture series he gave at St. Andrews in the 1960's. I found it
         | quite deep and a good view into some of the theological
         | implications of different variants of mysticism, though it can
         | be a bit dry, definitely not an airport-level treatment.
        
         | hshshshshsh wrote:
         | For me the gateway was Sam Harris, Eckhart Tolle, Ramana
         | Mahrishi and Ram Dass. Steve Jobs also kind of helped
         | indirectly with his association with Neem Karoli Baba, Zen,
         | India etc.
         | 
         | Welcome to the pathless path.
         | 
         | Maybe Schrodinger's What is Life might also help.
        
         | nprateem wrote:
         | Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza has promise. The
         | meditation in that (especially the focus on pushing the
         | cerebrospinal fluid up the spine) is probably the clearest
         | instruction you can find (and mirrors the primary meditations
         | in Taoism and Indian yoga).
        
       | yboris wrote:
       | Related: _The Varieties of Spiritual Experience: 21st Century
       | Research and Perspectives_ by David B. Yaden and Andrew Newberg
       | 
       | https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-varieties-of-spi...
        
       | bzmrgonz wrote:
       | What I find most intetesying is the concept of rehashing, that
       | mystics pickup where other mystics left off, sometimes after
       | decades have past. I think in today's world, given our newly
       | acquired technology of AI, we can finally stitch all the
       | mysticism pieces which have been woven by past mystics with the
       | aim of finally creating the big picture and hunt for naturally
       | occurring patterns. I for one want to find what Jesus' method of
       | meditation was. Funny how the jewish scribes went to lengths to
       | record the our-father prayer, yet not a single sentence on how to
       | meditate, yes meditation, something which according to written
       | records, Jesus did on a nightly basis by ascending to hilltops!!
        
         | nprateem wrote:
         | Be still and know that I am God. Pretty sure that's in the
         | bible. But I think they're missing quotes: Be still and know
         | that "I am God" (i.e. know it for yourself). At least that's
         | how I interpret it.
        
           | siavosh wrote:
           | This seems remarkably in line to some Buddhist/Hindu/Non-Dual
           | meditation techniques.
        
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