This afternoon I had an interesting conversation with a good friend about “The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism”, an anthology of Christian mysticism that has been fascinating him for some time now.
Reading the introduction I think I am now hooked too. Unlike some books on Christian mysticism, this book acknowledges that life transformation is more important for the Christian mystic than the peak experiences. It also acknowledges that we miss much of the Christian mystic tradition if we restrict ourselves to the language of “union” and “contemplation”. When he finally finishes (he is REALLY chewing on this) I think I’ll be keen to chew on it too.
So,
- What is your experience of Christian mysticism?
- Would you consider yourself a mystic?
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Would you like to explore mysticism some more?
1) read some of the mystics
2) no, but I have had what I guess would be labelled mystical experiences – God is odd and does odd things
3) yes!
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http://throughother.wordpress.com/ addresses some of this material — check it out for your blogroll
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