Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 74 No. 3, 2004.
Pregledni rad
Place and Role of Mystics in Dialogue with Religions
Milan Špehar
; Teologija u Rijeci - Područni studij Katoličkog bogoslovnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Rijeka, Hrvatska
Sažetak
Today, we cannot be practicians of religion in the vicinity of other religions while at the same time being against one another. Not only would this favor a judgment suggesting a lack of authenticity amongst religions and religious feeling in general, it would also have a negative influence on the further development of the human race. Today we owe one another, the right to recognize the religious and spiritual values of others, as dogmatically expressed in the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council. Christians are increasingly discovering the religious and spiritual treasures of non-Christian religions. Having researched their own mysticism, Christians have come to realize that non-Christians also possess a true and authentic mysticism. Non-Christian researchers also recognize Christian mysticism, declaring some traits of Christianity as their "own".
Mysticism is surely one of the paths of inter-religious dialogue, even though there will remain vast dogmatic differences. However, mystical experience presents the same starting point for everyone, that is, the same Source and Truth. Christian and non-Christian mysticism will direct inter-religious dialogue in so much as it is genuinely explored. The fundamental view in exploring mysticism is that, mysticism is to be found in all religions, and that mysticism cannot be regarded as being everything in any one place. Mysticism can saturate all aspects of human living and daily life. Mysticism necessarily emerges from the depths of the religious consciousness and experience, and is in no way something that fills man's emptiness, but rather comes from his fullness, being the experience of the fullness of man's encounter with God, with the Transcendence, or the Deity.
Mysticism demonstrates that what it isn't. It is not a self-actualization usually propagated today, because it happens where man surpasses, where he transcends himself. Having said this, man actualizes himself. Mysticism is not identical to ecstasy, magic or a trance. It substantially differs from all "psychotechniques", experiencing itself as an unmerited gift. It does not immediately occur in any mysticism, neither in Christian nor in non-Christian. In every mysticism, there exists a penetration of oneself, one's interior, being essentially a emanation of itself and allowing the encounter with the Other. Mysticism in all religions possesses the elements of self-acceptance, unification with oneself and God or the deity, interpreted as a total acceptance of his will. This is the divination of man understood differently by Christians and by non-Christians. Self-perception in mysticism is the perception of one's limitation, but it is also a task to be completed in the world for the world. Having considered all these arguments, the "Sitz im Leben" of mysticism is religion and remains as such. Only religion can construe the totality of life as mystical, since life is mysticism when lived to the fullest.
Mystics are conscious of the unmentionable and variety in their mysticism. Those who notice the variety, also notice the similarities. They are equally sensitive towards God as they are of suffering. Christian and non-Christian mysticism is not segmented into the supernatural and natural, because all mysticism in itself carries the natural and supernatural, immanence and transcendental.
The mystical experience of God is the experience of God according to his rules. Accordingly, the mystic experiences God's absence and silence. If these components are not present in Christian and non-Christian religions, then we cannot talk of mystics. Dialogue with others undeniably directs us back to our essence. The one who accepts does not experiment with another's mysticism. This is proof that it becomes a question of mystical experience, whose characteristic is a lack of fear in differences. It is necessary that Christian and non-Christian theologians continue to research mysticism.
Ključne riječi
dialogue; subconscious; consciousness; self-actualization; self-perception; anonymous mystics; mystics; submerging; religiosity; syncretism; God's absence
Hrčak ID:
25603
URI
Datum izdavanja:
11.1.2005.
Posjeta: 2.332 *