A
Here’s a set of illustrative examples for each of Charles Lowney’s four mystical modes, keeping them clear and concrete:
-
Breaking In – Entering a new interpretive framework
-
Example: A person suffering a personal loss attends a meditation retreat and suddenly sees their grief in the context of impermanence, giving it meaning and perspective.
-
Why it fits: The mystical experience reshapes understanding within a conceptual framework.
-
-
Breaking Out – Transcending all conceptual schemes
-
Example: A monk in deep silent meditation experiences a profound sense of oneness with nature that cannot be described in words.
-
Why it fits: The experience is pre-linguistic and ineffable, beyond ordinary categories.
-
-
Breaking Upward – Integrating conflicting experiences into coherence
-
Example: A person reconciles feelings of doubt and faith through prayer or ritual, arriving at a sense of inner peace.
-
Why it fits: Conflicting experiences converge into a coherent, meaningful understanding.
-
-
Breaking Through – Detached engagement revealing unified reality
-
Example: An artist observes a sunset with aesthetic detachment, feeling a spiritual awe that ties together their sense of self and the cosmos.
-
Why it fits: The mystical insight emerges through disinterested contemplation, unifying previous experiences.
-
If you want, I can also give historical or literary examples for each mode—like well-known mystics or texts that clearly illustrate them. This often makes the categories easier to grasp. Do you want me to do that?
A
Perfect! Here are historical/literary examples for each of Lowney’s four mystical modes:
-
Breaking In – Entering a new interpretive framework
-
Example: St. Augustine in Confessions experiences a radical shift in understanding through his conversion to Christianity, framing his past suffering within a divine narrative.
-
Why it fits: His mystical insight makes sense of prior experiences through a new interpretive lens.
-
-
Breaking Out – Transcending all conceptual schemes
-
Example: Meister Eckhart’s sermons describe moments of union with God where ordinary language fails; he speaks of the “ground of the soul” that is beyond description.
-
Why it fits: The experience is ineffable, pre-linguistic, and beyond conventional conceptualization.
-
-
Breaking Upward – Integrating conflicting experiences into coherence
-
Example: Rumi’s poetry reflects the integration of love, loss, and divine longing into a coherent spiritual vision of unity.
-
Why it fits: Conflicting emotions and experiences converge into a meaningful mystical understanding.
-
-
Breaking Through – Detached engagement revealing unified reality
-
Example: Zen kōans, such as “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” are designed to provoke detached contemplation, leading to an insight into ultimate reality.
-
Why it fits: The insight emerges through disinterested engagement, unifying the previous experiential layers.
-
If you want, I can also make a compact table with all four modes, their gist quotes, and historical examples—perfect for quick study or a slide. Do you want me to do that?
A
Absolutely! Advaita Vedanta (nondual Hindu philosophy) has some very clear parallels with Lowney’s four mystical modes. Here’s how they might map:
Breaking In – entering a new interpretive framework
-
Example: A student of Advaita Vedanta has a sudden realization during study of the Upanishads that all apparent multiplicity is rooted in Brahman (the ultimate reality).
-
Why it fits: The mystical insight reframes the student’s understanding of the world and self.
Breaking Out – transcending all conceptual schemes
-
Example: Shankara’s description of the experience of Brahman as “beyond all names and forms” (nirguna Brahman) where dualistic distinctions dissolve.
-
Why it fits: The experience is entirely beyond conceptual or linguistic structures—pure nondual awareness.
Breaking Upward – integrating conflicting experiences into coherence
-
Example: A practitioner reconciles the apparent reality of the world (vyavaharika) with the ultimate reality (paramarthika), experiencing peace in the knowledge that the world is maya (illusion) yet Brahman is real.
-
Why it fits: Conflicting experiential layers—the phenomenal vs. ultimate—merge into coherent understanding.
Breaking Through – detached engagement revealing unified reality
-
Example: A meditator practices self-inquiry (atma-vichara), observing thoughts and sensations without attachment, leading to direct recognition of the self as Brahman.
-
Why it fits: Disinterested observation reveals the underlying unity of self and ultimate reality.
If you want, I can make a full “Advaita Vedanta version” of the slide table like we did with Augustine, Eckhart, Rumi, and Zen—so each mode has a short quote and a historical/philosophical example from Advaita. This would be perfect for comparative study.
Do you want me to do that?
A
Here’s a compact, slide-ready table of Lowney’s four mystical modes with Advaita Vedanta examples:
| Mode | Gist Quote | Advaita Vedanta Example |
|---|---|---|
| Breaking In | “A transformative shift allows mystical experience to be meaningfully articulated.” | Student realizes all multiplicity is rooted in Brahman after studying the Upanishads. |
| Breaking Out | “The mystic accesses an original perception of reality that resists verbal expression.” | Shankara’s nirguna Brahman: experience beyond names, forms, and duality. |
| Breaking Upward | “Conflicting experiences converge into a comprehensible form, sometimes ineffable, sometimes culturally expressed.” | Practitioner reconciles the phenomenal world (maya) with ultimate reality (Brahman). |
| Breaking Through | “Detached engagement reveals the facets of a unified experience of divine reality.” | Meditator engages in atma-vichara (self-inquiry), observing thoughts without attachment, realizing self as Brahman. |
I can also make an ultra-condensed 5–7 word slide version with Advaita cues (like “Upanishads,” “Shankara,” “Maya,” “Self-inquiry”) for rapid memorization.
Do you want me to make that version too?
A
No comments:
Post a Comment