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Document Details : Title: The Textuality of Mystical Experiences Subtitle: Mysticism as Literature and Theory of Literary Criticism Author(s): OFILADA MINA, Macario Journal: Studies in Spirituality Volume: 11 Date: 2000 Pages: 28-46 DOI: 10.2143/SIS.11.0.505275 Abstract : Various theories of literary criticism are helpful in the understanding of mysticism. Insofar as it is scientifically knowable, mysticism is textual, and the texts represents the culminating stage of the mystical experience. Experianciality is the key to understanding mysticism and its affinity with the literary because literature is the textualization of significant human experiences. In determining experienciality, one is confronted with the mutual antagonism between the three literary taxonomical elements: author, reader, and text. A mystical text lies in its mystagogical capibility, the area accessible to literary theory. A better understanding of the techniques, principles, etc., of mystical texts and their interpretation is key to the establishment of spirituality, under whose broad spectrum mysticism thematically pertains as an academic discipline. |
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