Mysticism: Definition, Unity, and Problem of truth
Mysticism as discourse and practice is always part of religious speaking. The position itself is vital, even claims as heart of religion. The significance, however, is not because of that claims, religion still exist and perhaps will exist with or without mysticism. In one point of view it is probably influence by the opponent position of mysticism to religion. When religious beneficial to modern ages decreases, otherwise mysticism increases. Mysticism is different with religion because of theoretically build by stressing individual close and intimate relation to Ultimate reality. It is different with religion describing as communal ways to find God, and the relationship is not for god intimation with human body and soul. Religion is emphasis self obedience or religious defense in getting God blessing while mysticism stresses Loving relationship between creature and creator in mystical divine.
There are many definition of mysticism taken from different tradition and closed to different religion. Usually definition was made to represent the kind of mysticism and content of it as like practiced by mystic practitioner. One of the definition in which I think cover all things of mysticism was presented by Margaret Smith as: “… the immediate feeling of the unity of self with God. It is the religious life at its very heart and center-it is the endeavor to fix the immediateness of the life in God as such in his God intoxication, in which the self and the world are alike forgotten, the subject knows himself to be in possession of the highest and fullest truth.”
Feeling unity of self with god probably represents the aim of mysticism. Union with God is the highest success of creature in passing spiritual boundary of human and God. The position of human itself escape from material body to the spiritual body of God. The unity itself seems feeling or perception of mystical practitioner, thus it very subjective. No one else knows whether that really union experience with God trough “thing” or “nothing” except he/she. Unity in mystical term closed for people who get the experience. If it expressed even cannot be understood trough casual people because the language and expression become weird for layman. In higher level, even its arise as symbolic expression and acknowledgement that existence of God has been unite with body of people, when someone call name of her it means called God. Like Al-hallaj expression “ana al-haq”, I am God, also Siti Jenar confession “There is no siti jenar, whereas God. There is no God except me is alike. Smith calls it as penetration of the divine within the soul and to a disappearance of the individuality with all its modest of acting, thinking and feeling, in the divine substance. In this ways, what mystical practitioner no more than “passed out of phenomena of all lower forms of reality, to become being itself.”
Some mystical practitioner states that the unity only can be attained only by passing trough certain definite stage. For instance, Mystics’ like Meister Ekchar, Ibn Arabi, Al-Bustami formed their mystic by such stage before reaching highest stage. In sufi tradition its called as maqomat, like sobar, ikhlas, etc. Someone should follow it step by step under supervisor of master in order he/she stay on the mystical ways. Transcend condition will be gotten when “God ceases to be an object of and become an experience.” It seems mysticism is active and practical things to establish attitude of mind, seeking transcend reason and to attain to a direct experience of God.
One important think from Sufism is the experience of unity of subject is much more claimed as the truth, even the ultimate truth. The assumption is god as the truth, logically mystical unity or mystical married with God will diminish human feature. The consequence is unavoidably statement that he/she who has gotten God intimation did not need to do behave as formal religion preaches. Whereas, it is still problematic whether the personal experience is represent religious experience in wide context, or just probable experience which can be true or false when he/she meets and intimates with God.[]
