Research+Paper+on+Mysticism++Jason+Atkinson

===Christian Mysticism is the practice of pursuing conscious awareness of God. In the mind of the mystic, this was most readily achieved through direct religious experience involving the person of Jesus Christ. Christian Mysticism also employs habitual practices such as deep prayer, meditation, and contemplation, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in order to achieve this level of awareness. Different people viewed the essential elements and practices of Mysticism differently. For example, many mystics considered visions to be essential to the practice of Mysticism. The lifestyle of the mystic is differentiated from that of mainstream practitioners of Christianity, by virtue of its focus on achieving a deeper level of perfection, which it is believed, will ultimately result in divine unity.=== ===The Mystical element within Christianity involves a form of immediate encounter with God whose essential purpose is to convey a loving knowledge that transforms the mystic’s consciousness and whole way of life (McGinn, p. 197) Is it actually possible to experience God’s presence, and in doing so, to gain a deeper knowledge and awareness of Him which radiates His love to those around us? The concept that this is possible is the focus and argument of this document. According to noted Christian Mystic St. Augustine, we know the essence of things, but this type of knowledge relies merely on the natural senses (Bassett, 290). Also according to other mystics such as Pseudo-Dionysus, there is a difference between rational and mystical knowledge. By rational knowledge he says, we know God, not in His nature, but through the wonderful order of the universe which is a participation of the Divine (Sauvage 1). There is, however, he adds, a more perfect knowledge of God possible in this life, beyond the attainments of reason, even as enlightened by faith, through which the soul contemplates directly the mysteries of Divine light. The contemplation in the present life is possible only to a few privileged souls, through a very special grace of God; the //theosis, mystike enosis,//===

which is also known as Mysticism or Contemplative Spirituality.
=== The way people believed in and practiced mysticism changed over time. In the years prior to the reformation, church leaders were torn over ideas about how mysticism fit into mainstream Christianity. As time progressed, however, Mysticism began to gain popular acceptance. (Oberman, p. 259). People generally understood the practice of Mysticism as containing three stages. The first stage, purgation, refers to the effort to break down the wall, or veil of creation, to reach the intellectual intuition of transcendental reality, the union with God in which the soul is absorbed. The second stage of Mysticism, known as illumination, relies on the idea that the reach of human reason is limited to the realm of divine revelation. In the third stage, union, the “affections of the heart” of the Mystic have become “regulated by the law of Christ” (Oberman, pp.263-266). In other words, the will of the individual is dissolved, and becomes one with the will of God. ===