Knowra Mysticism Mysticism Mysticism is the pursuit of direct, transformative experience of ultimate reality or the divine. It often treats such experience as exceeding ordinary perception and reasoning.
Religious experience : An experience interpreted as contact with a sacred, transcendent, or divine reality. Mysticism is a pursuit of a particular kind of religious experience.
Sufism : The Islamic tradition of spiritual practice centered on purification, remembrance of God, and inner knowledge. Sufi paths cultivate direct nearness to God through disciplined practice.
Religious naturalism : A religious orientation that finds sacred meaning within the natural world without requiring supernatural realities. It locates religious significance within nature rather than in a transcendent object of mystical encounter.
Meditation : A family of practices that trains attention, awareness, or emotional regulation. Meditative discipline can alter attention and support experiences associated with mysticism.
Apophatic theology : A theological approach that describes God by negation, emphasizing what cannot be said of the divine. Mystical encounters with an ineffable God often lead to language based on negation.
Contemplation : Sustained attention or reflection directed toward spiritual, philosophical, or sacred matters. Contemplative practices often prepare the attention for mystical experience.
Kabbalah : A Jewish esoteric tradition that interprets divine reality through symbolic teachings and contemplative practice. Kabbalistic traditions offer Jewish accounts of approaching hidden dimensions of divinity.
Perennial philosophy : The view that religions express a shared, universal metaphysical truth beneath their differences. It interprets diverse mystical traditions as expressions of a common underlying reality.
Prayer : Communication or communion with a deity or sacred reality through words, thought, or ritual. Contemplative prayer is a central route to divine communion in many mystical traditions.
Theosis : The process of becoming united with or transformed by God in Eastern Christian theology. It gives mystical transformation a distinctive Christian account of participation in divine life.
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