Abstract
One of the characteristics of the modern age in the realm of religious thinking and spiritual contemplation is - in my opinion - confusion. The scientific mind of the twentieth century which does not heed to, or so it claims and tries to prove, any irrational or undefined or undefinable objective, phenomenon or idea seems to be forgetting itself and rushing towards all sorts of messages and ideas introducing itself in the name of spirituality, mysticism or metareligious consciousness for reasons repeatedly dealt with by writers from the East and the West in the field of mysticism and clearly illustrated in the introduction of all books having been published and being published under the title 'mysticism' or 'spiritualism'. This state of affairs does not trouble the western mind at all, the mind which seems to have concluded for itself that religion is a matter of faith and individual consciousness, not a matter of science and human reason. What matters here is the individual happiness and personal satisfaction, not the objective reality, well-defined sound theory or clear-cut spiritual conception or theologically backed rationally consistent mystical practices.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 135-140 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Islamic Studies |
Volume | 38 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 1999 |
Externally published | Yes |