ETHICS AND MYSTICISM
by:
Imam K. Raharja
MYSTICISM
Searching for secret religious understanding by prayer and
meditation
CONNECTION BETWEEN ETHICS AND
MYSTICISM
1. Man seeks his own perfection which he can find only in all-
perfect Being, the Boundless Good
2. The absolutely ultimate end of all human activities is found in
bliss and beatitude, the possession of and union with the
Summum Bonum
3. The ultimate norm of the morality of human acts is the Divine
Nature, the Divine Pattern or Model for human actions
4. The two are inseparable as means and end. It is absolutely
necessary that we lead a good upright life, as demanded by
ethics, in order that we can be united with the All Holy One.
Right living or ethics is the only path to union with God.
MORALITY AND MYSTICISM
Both point to the boundless good
Mysticism found in all times, in all religions of the
world, thus, it is universal
Difference:
Ethics is normative, mysticism not
Ethics has prescribed rules, mysticism is free
Mysticism differs among societies
DIVINE UNION THE CHRISTIAN WAY
Receiving God in holy communion sacrament
Meditation and contemplation of the divine truths
Constant imitation of the divine model
Love
UNION THROUGH CONTEMPLATION
Thinks the thoughts of God and thereby shares in the
divine mind
Beatific vision of heaven, the perfect stage of meditation
LOVE AND UNSELFISHNESS
If we love we are like God, and the more we love, the
more God-like we become
Perfect love means perfect likened to and identified with
God who is love
UNSELFISH
To be true to oneself
Far from earthly desires
Undistracted
Undistorted
Detached towards materials
TO BE UNSELFISH
“To become broader, stop the selfish nature. Leave your
efforts towards perfection, prosperity, safe, or admired.
Those efforts will only limit and shutting your
universality”
(The Tao of Leadership, John Heider)
ORIENTAL MYSTICISM
To attain the union with the all-pervading ultimate reality
is to be unselfish, desireless
Desire is the root of individuality, selfishness, thus,
separating one with the universe
“makoto”: to be true to oneself and others
EXAMPLES OF ORIENTAL MYSTICISM
Kon Fu Tzu – China
“To find the central clue to our moral being which unites us
with the universal moral order is the noblest human
achievement”
Tao Te Ching – China
Live naturally, by simply being what you really are in in your
original pristine nature
Yoga – India
Absolute oneness with the absolute one, away from anything
indicative/implicative, conducive to multiplicity such as
materialism and selfishness, distractions of desirable things.
ZEN (CHEN)
“The initial aim of Zen is samadhi, total stillness, in which
body and mind are fallen off, no tought stirs, the mind is
empty, yet we are in the state of wakefulness”
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO
Christian mysticism
Personal: elevated to the rank of divinity by participation
Personality enhancement by one participation in the life and
nature of the Holy Trinity
Oriental mysticism
Non-personal
One’s personality is destructed and transformed into new
personality, united with the universe
GOD-CENTERED LIVING
To have meaning and value, any activity or passivity
should be referred to God
In the offering of everything, we not only sanctify our
life but also unite ourselves intimately with Him.
When the eye see colors, this is desire
When the ear hear sounds , this is desire
When the nose smells fragrances , this is desire
When a single thoughts simply germinates , this is called
desire
(The Unfettered Mind, Takuan Soho)
