There is Nothing "Mystical" about "Mystical" Experiences

Good stuff, I an going on a ten day fast and I will pray that you find what you are looking for. If after ten days you do not find what you are looking for, then God was not willing to give you that. If however, you do find whatever mystical stuff you are looking for, please do not give me any credit, because that was meant to be. I invite any skeptics to go with me on this journey and find out what happens in the end. And please pray for this searching soul.

No intention of persuading anyone, just want to share my perspective.

The word "Mysticism" takes its roots from the Greek origin, "mystikos", where it is implied as the conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, spiritual truth, or God through experience, intuition, or insight.
It is a perception issue, that is, how do YOU define mysticism. Many people misinterpret the sense of losing yourself in a mystical experience. I would like to believe that you do not think it to be a means of achieving euphoric high through indulging into any activity that provides an over stimulus to your brain.
If you enjoy your drive from work to back home, and the feeling of thankfulness for His bounties makes you humble, than your drive each day is your mystical experience.

It is essential to steer clear off the spiritual fraud of Sufic-mysticism if one is to understand who are we, who made us and for what purpose.

But I'm sure the whirling derwishes at Chowq will foam at the mouth reading THIS and brand me a Wahabi!

Go ahead, ruin your day then...

Scientific. I wear glasses and was exposed to tassavvuf and peeree-mureedee business. Your article has a personal meaning for me.

HUMILITY. It is the key word. For laymen and scholars. With HUMILITY, communication happens.

btw my title for this piece was "There is nothing "mystical" about "mystical" experiences"
with much respect,
thinking storm

ElementX,

Thanks for your well thought out comment. Please read the last few lines of what I wrote, and you'll see that you and I are in alignment of thought. I'm merely stating that we can all reach God utilizing mundane everyday tools like observation and being present.
with much respect,
thinking storm

Splendidly written, but reeks of existential nihilism. It does not offer any solution to the 'emptiness' in our superficial lives.

I have a few questions:

a) If you quell your "self", you merely become a medium, a fiber-optic cable through which light merely passes, and even though the cable might experience illumination and it may even become aware of its illuminated state, it is the light that gives identity to it. Hence, the cable would be rendered useless without the light. You become a mere plastic shopping bag drifting around in the wind. A victim of causality. You will fall prey to determinism. So are we really NOTHING?

...this leads me to my second point which is:

b) If God fashioned Adam in His own image, then man surely does contain a trace of the true light. God is simultaneously that which is revealed and through which He reveals Himself, we must surely be able to do both. We must not be victims of causality if we are fashioned in His image. So does a path await us and are we really supposed to go somewhere? Or are we the path itself, discovering every inch of our existence with the passage of time, like a fuse of a bomb, burning our way towards finality?

How can we explain this dichotomy in our nature?

This multi-layered existence needs an adhesive. That's where the "ego" or "self" comes in. Our "self" is what binds the heavens and the earth. By heavens and earth, I mean our divine and earthly characteristics. Without "self", without "ego", we would not be able to retain anything. Think not of yourself as a pervious sheet erected in the wind. You are the wind and that too through which you flow.

+++

Quoting you: "There is nothing "mystical" about them."

The statement assumes that you can "define mystical", which I believe is highly improbable. It is much easier to assign value to things than to define them. It may not be "mystical" if you look at the mystical from an unearthly perspective, but it really helps if we keep our current world as our only frame of reference; because on a higher plane of existence/knowledge or from a Divine perspective, even the miracles cease to be miracles and are reduced to a set of carefully executed instructions.