[MD] New Model Army, Mystic(DQ) Experience, and Religion (SQ) as Power

[david buchanan]

Case said to dmb:
...From a philosophical perspective I continue to maintain that the 
difference between mystics and theists doesn't add up to a bucket of warm 
spit.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, under the heading "Mysticism", says 
otherwise...

"Some mystical experience is overtly theistic, having an ostensible 
reference to God, roughly as he is conceived in the theistic religions. And 
it is dualistic, in the sense of retaining a distinction between the mytsic 
and the God who is ostensibly experienced. Saint Theresa of Avila, a Spanish 
Catholic of the 16th century, is a good example of such a mystic. Other 
mystics, however, even within the  Catholic tradition, tend towards monism, 
emphasizing the unity of all things and the lack of real  distinctions, even 
between the mystic and the divine reality. Mysticism of the theistic, 
dualistic sort seems to generate no particular difficulty for Christian 
metaphysics, and indeed often includes specifically Christian elements, such 
as visions of Christ. Strongly Monistic mysticism, however, is harder to 
square with a Christian view, and when such mystics have themselves been 
Christans they have often been suspected of heresy. This sort of mysticism 
is likely to find a more comfortable religious home in the great 
non-theistic religions."

And I should add that the belief in a "big daddy in the sky" or a "bearded 
wrist slapper" does not define theism. Holding that belief simply means 
you're a child - or an idiot. That sort of crude literalism is only a 
species of theism. Its just theism of the worst kind. Theism is a very broad 
term that includes many religions and, of course, the many demoninations 
within them.

Finally, I gotta say something about your claim that eternity and the 
infinite are just math terms. That was so goofy and so awful that I'm gonna 
be very reluctant to spend any more time with your posts.

Yikes.

dmb

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