dcame [AT] protonmail [DOT] com
Many of the articles below on mysticism and meditation were written several years ago. I've left them up as a matter of historical record. My current views are in the posts "The Case Against Mysticism" and "Mysticism as Regression," where I argue against Christian mysticism in favor of straightforward New Testament Christianity.
1. Mysticism as Regression. A critical view of mysticism. Mysticism is simply regression to an infantile state of consciousness.
2. Slain in the Spirit? It's a Stage Hypnotist's Trick. It's well known that there is no Biblical precedent for being "slain in the Spirit," the phenomenon whereby Pentecostals fall backwards, supposedly under the influence of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it's little attested at all before the twentieth century. From the earliest days of the Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street, Charles Fox Parham suspected that hypnosis was at work.
3. The Book of Privy Counseling in Middle English. The Book of Privy Counseling was written in England in the late fourteenth century. As with other texts on mysticism, it advocates the abandonment of symbolic thinking in favor of more primitive layers of consciousness. html, pdf
4. Can meditation help with anxiety or depression? As a treatment for anxiety, TM is no more effective than simply sitting still with your eyes closed.
5. Awakening. Marywood Retreat Centre lay on the outskirts of Cranbrook, British Columbia. My first visit was on a beautiful sunny weekend in September 2008. I appreciated the stillness so much that I returned two years’ later for one of their week-long silent retreats. Though I was the only person who had registered for that week, the Sisters kindly allowed the retreat to go ahead.
6. What is Christian Mysticism? An introduction for newcomers to Christian mysticism, with the emphasis on Teresa of Ávila. Christian Mysticism means primarily having direct knowledge of God, as Moses did when he encountered the burning bush (Exodus 3). It also includes supernatural or nonordinary experiences, such as being caught up in the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2).
7. Christian Meditation. Mantra meditation for Christians is really a product of the 1970s. In that decade, Christians asked whether there were an equivalent of mantra meditation in the Christian tradition. To understand what they found, we have to travel back to the deserts of Egypt in the third century.
VIDEO: The Case Against Mysticism
8. The Case Against Mysticism. Christian mysticism conveys "a different spirit than the Spirit of Christ." Mysticism is deceptive, is foreign to Christianity, impairs functionality in the external world, and leads to occultism.
9. Texts. Also hosted on this server are a couple of texts believed to be in the public domain:
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): This site does not use cookies.