MYSTICISM: WHAT IS IT?

A mystical experience, similar to the "enlightenment" described by Buddhists and other contemplative practices, involves a disillusion of self and a sense of unity with something grander than ourselves.  We  describes this something-grander-than-ourselves, in various ways - as God, as Tao, as the natural order and so on.  

In this episode we explore the following topics

• Common characteristics of a mystical experience
• Iain McGilchrists hemisphere hypothesis
• An account of a mystical experience from Clare Booth Luce
• Introverted and Extroverted types of unity
• The power of metaphors: "The Kingdom of God," as an example
• No Self: the disillusion of self. 
• Mathieu Ricard and Wolf Singer's book Beyond The Self
• Different approaches to enlightenment, Buddhist, mystical and hemispheric
• Unity with God (etc.) is a process of becoming.