Four states of awareness represent the superlative mystical experiences promoted in the major religious traditions. Their names convey their qualities: Plenitude, Absence, Call, and Response. Plenitude and Absence are non-theistic experiences. Call and Response are devotional and penitential in nature; the human calls, God responds. The states are irreducible and tend to occur in pairs. Plenitude is paired with Absence, and Call is paired with Response. Paired states are complementary and recipr…
Read moreFour states of awareness represent the superlative mystical experiences promoted in the major religious traditions. Their names convey their qualities: Plenitude, Absence, Call, and Response. Plenitude and Absence are non-theistic experiences. Call and Response are devotional and penitential in nature; the human calls, God responds. The states are irreducible and tend to occur in pairs. Plenitude is paired with Absence, and Call is paired with Response. Paired states are complementary and reciprocally related, and occur in temporal contiguity. The states are inflection points in a single process of change. Mystical process is a set of relational tensions that brings successive states into awareness. The religious truths revealed to mystics are penultimate relative to the process that makes them possible.
