Mystical Experience

[JM]

Is mystical experience in the Eastern Orthodox denominational understanding subjective to the individual? How is it judged and validated as legitimately Orthodox?

Thank you.

jm

 

[jckstraw72]

you should discern it with your spiritual father. for one thing, it has to mesh with 2000 years of Tradition, and it should increase your fervency for repentance.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I think it's safe to say that the Orthodox Church does not reject the possibilities of mystical experiences. But we are also aware of counterfeits, which are a real danger. Given that humility is something to be cultivated, and mystical experiences can lead to pride, there is that additional layer of caution.

What Jckstraw said - it should be discerned with the help of a trusted guide (who would know the Traditions and what the Church knows on the subject). And the fruit is important.

 

[ArmyMatt]

if the experience leaves one feeling very repentant and unworthy, and at the same time very aware of God's love, that is a start.

but always tell these to your spiritual father.

 

[JM]

I’ve been listening to Morning Offerings by Abbot Tryphon and he mentions how we cannot know God rationally, and seems to insistent on knowing God irrationally or rather subjectively through the use of our emotions/heart. Did I understand him correctly?

How is the mystical experience in Orthodoxy different from mystical experiences of Hinduism or Buddhism?

Thank you.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[~Anastasia~]

I’ve been listening to Morning Offerings by Abbot Tryphon and he mentions how we cannot know God rationally, and seems to insistent on knowing God irrationally or rather subjectively through the use of our emotions/heart. Did I understand him correctly?

How is the mystical experience in Orthodoxy different from mystical experiences of Hinduism or Buddhism?

Thank you.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

I wonder if he is talking about the same thing as some talks I've listed to by Fr. Thomas Hopko on this?

His explanation is that it is impossible for the human mind to fully comprehend and explain God. Anything we try to say about Him will at best fall short in some way, and that by presenting even a truth, since we cannot fully offer and explain ALL of any truth, the extent to which we fail in that makes us out to be essentially liars. Yet we CAN and do experience God, to the degree He shares His energies with us. These things are real and true. But they are also necessarily limited because we are mere humans.

I am not overly familiar with Buddhist or especially Hindu mysticism. But surely one big difference is that our focus is on God. I'm a little surprised at the question. Perhaps you have something specific in mind?

 

[Mary of Bethany]

I’ve been listening to Morning Offerings by Abbot Tryphon and he mentions how we cannot know God rationally, and seems to insistent on knowing God irrationally or rather subjectively through the use of our emotions/heart. Did I understand him correctly?

How is the mystical experience in Orthodoxy different from mystical experiences of Hinduism or Buddhism?

Thank you.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

Perhaps he's speaking of the nous, sometimes spoken of as the heart in English, though it isn't quite the same. There's no doubt that we can't truly know God through the rational mind, and can only know Him through communion, which would be with the nous.

Any true communion coming from God would bring on immediate repentance and humility, so that it wouldn't even be something we would want to/could talk about except with our Spiritual Father. From what I have read of mystical experiences outside of the Holy Spirit, they wouldn't produce that kind of fruit.

Mary

 

[ArmyMatt]

I’ve been listening to Morning Offerings by Abbot Tryphon and he mentions how we cannot know God rationally, and seems to insistent on knowing God irrationally or rather subjectively through the use of our emotions/heart. Did I understand him correctly?

it's more arationally, meaning beyond reason. we know God through direct personal experience. the heart is not emotions, but rather the center of man where one contemplates God.

How is the mystical experience in Orthodoxy different from mystical experiences of Hinduism or Buddhism?

only in Christianity does God come as He is directly to man, and not in some avatar form or with an intermediary.