Living

Today, I spent the day at my computer working on a research paper which centres on mysticism and mystical experiences thus did had little free-time for blipping.

Mysticism can be defined as a "spiritual discipline which allows a person to make contact with the divine". While the definition is correct, and one most people would find in a dictionary, many people have experienced mystical experiences without practicing formal religion or spirituality. Then there are those who practice spirituality for long periods of time, yet never have a mystical experience nor been contacted by the divine.

Mystical experiences are very personal in nature and frequently a person feels as though they have been touched by some form of higher truth. These experiences are typically powerful for a person and have the ability to provide moral, ethical, intellectual, and emotional direction, but because the experiences are viewed as subjective in nature, they are frequently discounted my social scientists. I intend to address this issue in my paper and include this wonderful quote by Albert Einstein.

"The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religion." - Albert Einstein

Ironic that while I was writing my paper a friend sent me an email with this image and quote by the Dalai Lama. While it is not the first time I've read this quote before, it is one of my favourites, so decided to use it as my blip this evening.