MYSTICISM. — By this name, derived from «mistica», a term proper to the mysteries (v.), are designated those philosophical-religious currents which place the knowledge of God in inner illumination (through which they experience spiritual union with the divinity) rather than in rational inquiry. All religions have their own mysticism, and all recommend solitude and silence as an indispensable condition, since these above all make it possible to perceive the ineffable word. For this reason, in solemn moments the liturgies recommend silence, because this, like the darkness that prevails inside the sanctuary, serves to intensify religious emotion.
In order to attain the mystical state, the various religions have rules concerning both external and internal life. For external life, rules are prescribed regarding food, the schedule of the day, and sometimes even clothing:
Essenes (v.), the Orphics (v. ORFICI MISTRII), the Pythagoreans (v. PITAGORA), and the Sūfis (v. SŪFISMO). With still greater reason, internal life must conform to the model of perfection toward which the mystic ascends: indeed, the external rules of life, even those marked by the harshest asceticism, are not ends in themselves, but serve precisely to facilitate this inner assimilation.
The path of mystical ascent is long and proceeds through degrees, varying in number according to the different forms of mysticism, but always extending from an initial pleasurable spiritual experience, through trials that may also be painful and that serve to test the candidate’s capacity and refine his spirit, to perfect union with the divinity. Mystical ascent is therefore truly an exercise (ἀρχησις) that tends to strip the individual of everything constituting his personal self, in order to fill him with God. This is the supreme degree of mysticism: the suppression of the distance between the object, which is God, and the subject, which is man. In Catholic mysticism, this union has never exceeded the proper limit of separation between the Creator and the creature, nor has it ever forgotten the relationship of vital dependence that the branch must maintain with respect to the vine; whereas in non-Christian mysticism (Sūfism) and in certain currents of medieval German mysticism, the identification between man and the divinity is so complete that the individual almost feels himself to be God and no longer needs rites or symbols.