Dissecting the Mystical Journey Experiences in Humans
Human life is complex and, therefore, not easy to exhaustively understand how it works. According to Evelyn Underhill, human life and physical bodies undergo mysticism or self-discovery. The processes involve the ability to understand oneself beyond their history or physical bodies and focusing on more complex processes. Underhill argues that mysticism occurs in five stages, in which the person becomes aware of what is good for their wellbeing. The processes are awakening, purification, illumination, dark night of the soul, and unity. Therefore, in order for a person to become complete, they must undergo the mysticism process.
The first two steps are crucial and determine the progress in the mysticism. The first step is called awakening and involves looking at the world from different angles in life. According to Underhill, this process involves thinking outside one’s perspective in order to understand how the rest of the world views various issues. The process helps the person to look at the world outside their own thoughts in order to come up with an unbiased information system. The second process in mysticism is called purification and affects the interaction between the individual and other people. Underhill argues that, after the person has looked at the world from other people’s point of view, they assess their ways to identify flaws (Underhill, 2018). Once the person has noted their weaknesses and other shortcomings, they opt to eliminate their weaknesses. St. Teresa compares this stage as using sunlight to illuminate cobwebs.
The next three steps are equally important in the mysticism process. First, the third stage in the journey, which she calls illumination is key since it involves analyzing the contents of the independent observes to find whether they are useful. In this stage, the person feels that they have achieved an important milestone (King, 2005). However, after a certain duration, the person moves to the fourth step, the dark night of the soul. In this stage, the person starts to question their soul in relation to the outside world. It helps the person to realize that they had ignored important steps in development. Finally, a person in their mysticism journey has to reach the unity stage. The process involves getting in touch with the creator, regardless of religion. Underhill argues that since the person is in harmony with the world, and their soul is at peace with what they practice. Once the person has reached the unity stage, they abandon pleasures and other activities which might corrupt the just cause.
In conclusion, regardless of the religious tradition, one must go through the five crucial stages in the development of a person’s spiritual journey. From the argument of Underhill, it is apparent that the spiritual journey is inevitable. The statement means that, at one point, a person will question their own actions against the world, and how to react to events happening in the world. However, from the excerpt, Underhill does not give the difference between spirituality and religion. The void left creates a loophole for the supremacy battles between adherents of different religions. In order to avoid the hypothesis, it is advisable to understand that spirituality is an independent variable, while religion is dependent on spirituality. While on the mysticism journey, it is advisable to observe virtues. Virtues enable a person to be tolerant of other opinions and still remain focused.
References
King, R. (2005). Mysticism and spirituality. The Routledge Companion to the Study of Religion, 306.
Underhill, E. (2018). Mysticism: A study of the nature and development of man’s spiritual consciousness. e-artnow.