I'm not sure about that. It's a topic in religious studies, called the Katz-Forman Debate (2), or the context-decontextualisation debate. Robert Katz is the proponent for 'contextualism', i.e. mystical experiences are culturally mediated, there is no 'pure experience'. His opponents, such as Robert Forman, say that a certain class of mystical experience and process are represented in diverse traditions, so is universal or perennial.
I see the 'contextualist' claim as basically reductionist, because it's trying to say that all experience is conditioned, the product of education, history, culture, and so on, which undercuts the idea of a 'realisation of the absolute'. Because of my background which was influenced by theosophy and perennialism, I tend to favour the 'de-contextualists'. But it's another of those arguments that can never be decisively concluded. — Wayfarer
I agree with your point here, but with the nuance, which you do point out in a later post, that it is not the experience itself which is mediated, but rather the means of grasping it intellectually, mentally, even intuitively, in a way which is meaningful to the person of the mystic*.Thirdly, there is the God of the mystics; the God of intellectual intuition and/or mystical experience. Here it is a matter of direct experience or knowing, and not of belief. But the interesting thing here is that what is intellectually intuited or directly mystically known is not pure; it is culturally mediated. Here it is not so much a matter of belief, but of culture, as to how intuitions and experiences are interpreted. And this kind of intuition and experience can exist outside the context of theism, as it does, for example in Buddhism, and forms of Shamanism.
Yes, there is I think, in the human stage in evolution, an opportunity/necessity for responsible action. The biosphere has brought us to this point, with agency and intelligence, now it is our turn to act constructively and become custodians of the biosphere and secure its survival and development.But, becoming animal cannot be an excuse for leaving ethics and moral considerations behind, and this is a very fine and subtle line to walk; and easily misunderstood, I think.
What I want to know is if you want God to exist and also your reason why you want God to exist or not. — TheMadFool
Sometimes I think the more troublesome aspect of being human, and one that can (and should) be left behind is the angst about the angst; or the guilt that is felt simply in virtue of being a human interacting with other humans. I think this latter is definitely socially inculcated; it is what Sartre refers to with his "Hell is other people", and in a way getting beyond that is the very point of being a natural human, of "becoming animal". — John
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