From: david buchanan (dmbuchanan@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Sep 11 2005 - 18:08:36 BST
Kevin and all MOQers:
dmb asked Kevin:
As I understand it, mysticism has very little to do with the ritual
activities you've listed. In what sense is Baptism and prayer mystical? What
is your definition of mystical in these assertions? Please explain.
Kevin replied:
...I used the term in the sense that mysticism is of the mystery. The
examples I mentioned are all traditional Christian practices for maintaining
a personal relationship with God. Their purpose is to orient a person
toward God so that he or she may experience and then reflect God's grace and
love. These can rightly be called mystical because they are all mysteries.
dmb asks again:
They're mystical because they're "of the mystery", "because they are all
mysteries"? With all due respect, sir, that's not much of an answer. I have
to press you further on this point simply because I still don't understand
the definition of this terms as you are using it. The dictionary definition
you supplied refers to a "direct communion with ultimate reality or God" and
yet you are clearly talking about mysticism as if it were all about the
maintainence of a relationship with God. You may recall the phrase "Thou Art
That", which expresses the idea not of a RELATIONSHIP to God, but of an
IDENTITY with God. As I understand it, you are using the word to refer to
some very unmystical things. Naturally I understand that people use words in
different ways, but I think you are defying the dictionary as well as Pirsig
and every other philosophical mystic I know of. I think this term is
extremely important in discussing and understanding the MOQ and so I'm
concerned that the theistic version of the word might lead to confusion and
misunderstanding.
On top of that, I still don't understand what the word means to you. Please
explain.
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