{The Great Divide* [continued (3)]}[11th June 1988]

[Redbook5:148A-D][19880611:0000c]{The Great Divide* [continued (3)]}[11^th June 1988]

11/06/1988

[continued]

**Mysticism, like Science, is properly speaking a mental approach to the problem of reality, and a body of knowledge resulting from that approach. Like Science, Mysticism has a "sharp end" of "pure" practitioners interested only in the possibility of truth; and a broadening tail of individuals including those who are interested but relatively ignorant, those who are making money out of it, and charlatans. Many people call themselves "Scientist" or "Mystic" who are neither. If Science is experimental, Mysticism is experiential, and generally recognises the unattainability here of the pure and objective Truth which it seeks.

It seems to be permissible for the Scientist to make big money out of Science, although perhaps not quite respectable; it is quite impermissible for the seeker after truth to make more money out of Mysticism than allows a sufficient living and the continuation of the work, simply because the pursuit and care of wealth and the search for truth have been found time and time again to be incompatible: wealth obscures truth. There are sound logical explanations for this, given (as all applied logic is given) certain basic assumptions; but the rule is founded on experience, not logic. This may be of interest to Scientists examining, not only cults that call themselves mystical, but individuals, institutions and sponsors that call themselves scientific.

The most important practical difference between Science and Mysticism is that while the "sharp end" of Science is very much in the public eye, the "sharp end" of Mysticism has traditionally tended, so far as is practical, to keep itself invisible. This doesn't just mean remote monasteries in Afghanistan: you may well have met a practitioner of some form of Mysticism without realising it, as he or she is extremely unlikely to talk to you about it unless he is fairly sure that you have an open mind. It is a pity that most Scientists do not have a reputation, among non-scientists, for open-mindedness.

Christian Mysticism has been around for almost as long as Christianity itself. The relationship of Christian Mysticism to the main Churches may be compared with the relationship of Research Scientists or Departments at a University to big Pharmaceutical or Electronics Companies (In Medieval times, monks were known as "Religious Clergy" and Parish Priests as "Secular Clergy"). Mysticism is ultimately concerned with approaching the truth through the directly perceived quality of inner experience: not dreams, not voices, not visions—all these things are recognised but should be treated with caution—but quality. The frameworks developed and passed down over the centuries, for these researches, are intended as experiential guidelines, not doctrines or ideologies: they are a part of the mental construct through which the seeker may approach the truth, and are generally recognised as subjective. Christian Mysticism—in common with major strands of Sufism, or Islamic Mysticism—is particularly concerned with approach to the Truth through the inner quality of Love.

*[Short essay written speculatively for New Scientist; see [Redbook5:160-161][19880615:1642f]{Mysticism and Science}[15^th June 1988]]

**[See last previous entry]

[continues]

[PostedBlogger27052018]