Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary says: “A supernatural event regarded as due to divine action; an extremely remarkable achievement or event; e.g. “it was a miracle he wasn’t hurt.” Anyone possessing even a passing familiarity with religious ideas has probably heard of what holy books have described as miracles—turning water into wine, healing the sick, and other … Continue reading The Mystery of Miracles – Divine Intervention or Just Impossible To Explain?
***(The planned blog posting "The Mystery of Miracles," will appear in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I thought my readers might enjoy a more personal look at the subjects at hand, as I tell the story of one very intense "metaphysical or mystical" experience from my younger days. Enjoy!)*** Edwin Austin Abbey (1852 - … Continue reading Bonus Material: – Musical Ecstasy = Mystical Experience?
“We are at this moment participating in one of the very greatest leaps of the human spirit to a knowledge not only of outside nature, but also of our own deep inward mystery.”—Joseph Campbell While Joseph Campbell lived, he was considered as perhaps the most important scholar of the mythologies of the world. His seminal … Continue reading The Man, The Myth, The Legend
Anyone even vaguely familiar with the term “mystical,” whether from a religious practice or simply from an investigation into the subject generally, can usually agree that it includes a whole range of possible experiences which may qualify. In his classic volume, “Varieties of Religious Experience,” William James writes: “The adjective ‘mystical’ is technically applied, most … Continue reading The Mystical Is Often Metaphorical
The title of this posting has expanded well beyond my initial idea for it, and as I explored a number of resources in the research phase of the writing process, I began to see part of the reason why there is a kind of muddling in the terminology between all of those listed in the … Continue reading Metaphysical, Mystical, Mythological, Metaphorical, or Just Plain Mysterious?
John's Consciousness 