Thought on Mysticism

Many theological scholars believe that for one to be devoted to God, he has to dedicate his whole life to serving the Lord. This will comprise abandoning his ways of life and tends to adopt the new way of life towards the Lord. Although this perception is wildly spread globally among people of the same faith, it is bound to be challenged by different people in different faiths who have worshiped God in a different way without dedicating themselves to the service of God (Sells, 1994). For instance, Meister Eckhart believes that for you to worship God effectively, you have to devote yourself to the service of God without necessarily compromising your time to associate socially

If this sample essay on"Thought on Mysticism" doesn’t help,
our writers will!

Trust an expert

Mysticism, for instance, can be described as the type of union to the Supreme Being through self-devotion that it is aimed at transforming the human being into a spiritual being. Mysticism within the Christian traditions and way of life was not initially aimed at the same common goal of life transformation (Sells, 1994). It took different forms all over the European continent throughout the eleventh towards the fiftieth century. The transformations were brought about by the increase in personal piety and feminization of the respective religious imagery that came about in the later centuries. The belief that people tend to see mysticism as a way of first abandoning and rejecting one's way of life and adopting a Christian based life represents only a small portion of the belief.

Mysticism normally does not concern if you engage self-consciously in the formal intellectual speculations, it normally engages in issues central to philosophical theology. This mainly comprises on nature of Gods attributes and his Trinity. It also involves itself in the life of a Christian with the hope of salvation later on in his life. This is usually referred to universal salvation of the Christian faith (Walshe, 2008). A large number of Christians dismiss the concept of mysticism as an irrelevant study of the theological philosophy though there exist two forms of mysticism that were ever experienced over the centuries.

Prayer as a form of mysticism

Other Christians tend to believe that prayer is the ultimate way to devotion to the Supreme Being as opposed to self-abandonment. They view prayer as the most powerful form of connection between them and their God. Meister Eckhart for instance greatly kept the emphasis on prayer as the only tool to connect a soul to God. Most of Christians tend to use this approach to get closer to God rather than using the other form of self-abandonment (Davies, 1994). Drawing back to the ancient ways of life of Christians, we view that the early Christians were pulled to their creator by the power of prayer. Since then it has been viewed as an effective way to relate to God.

Prayers can be conducted in different ways and different environment in the Christian faith. Many Christians, for instance, pray to their Lord by divine intervention. They associate their spiritual needs to their religious leaders. It is through their religious leaders that they get their prayer guidelines on ways of life (Davies, 1994). Another form of prayers is by conducting public gathering and praying as a mass group. This is also an effective form of relation to God apart from dedicating oneself being to service of the Lord.

The nature of Medieval Mysticism

Though medieval mysticism has been practiced widely amongst major religious faiths globally, there is still a mix-up on what it entails. Very few people are conversant with the definitions of medieval mysticism and what it entails. On the other hand, mystic tradition always shows the union Christians have with their God in a wider variety of aspects ranging from spiritual to emotional and spiritual states (Davies, 1994). The main importance of medieval mysticism is to show how Christian believers can best demonstrate the act of selflessness in the religion and be an example to the other faiths.

Both the experiences related to the devotion of ones faith in God have different approaches though all of them they are recorded the same in different scriptures globally. The effect of devoting oneself to the service of God comes in handy with challenges and obstacles in the society. For instance, one will lose the relationship they previously had with the important people who were at one point of their lives very essential (Walshe, 2008). This is because; the devotion would reduce the social relationship and social time they have to spend together. When the devoted Christian gets time, he would rather prefer to do something constructive.

The main aim of the devotion of a Christian life to God is to enhance the spiritual and moral growth of their lives. Christians are the most dominant in the world, and they are different approaches they can use to relate to God (Walshe, 2008). This is the most important aspect of religion. Mysticism has proven to be an effective approach to the creation of a bond between Christians and their supreme beings for instance.

Conclusion

The mysticism emphasis on its importance in Christian life is clearly evidenced by the way Christians greatly practice it all over the world. However, recently, it is observed in the current centuries that Christian mysticism is being adopted by other religious practices in the world. By adoption of other religions, the mysticism has lost popularity and its importance to the Christian religion. However, different scholars are getting involved in the empowerment of Christians to adopt the system as a way of enhancing their relationship with their Supreme Being.

Reference

Sells, Michael A. (1994) Mystical Languages of Unsaying. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press

Walshe, M. OC. (Trans.) (2008) The Complete Mystical Works of Meister Eckhart. New York, NY: Crossroads Herder

Davies, Oliver (1994) Meister Eckhart: Selected Writings. Harmondsworth: Penguin

(Walshe, 2008)

(Davies, 1994)