{"id":1810,"date":"2025-05-05T10:50:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T10:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/?page_id=1810"},"modified":"2025-12-30T09:25:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T09:25:27","slug":"mysticism-fullness-of-life","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/?page_id=1810","title":{"rendered":"Mysticism, Fullness of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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MYSTICISM, FULLNESS OF LIFE<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Vol. I, Part One
Opera Omnia
Maryknoll, New York (ORBIS BOOKS) 2014<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Philosopher, religious expert, theologist, man of dialogue between cultures and a bridge between the West and India, Panikkar chose mysticism as the subject for the first part of his Opera Omnia: Mysticism, the Fullness of Life.
Two possible questions that this subject might arouse are \u201cWith all the things he has written, did he have to begin with a phenomenon that is so singular, so borderline, so almost excessive?\u201d, and \u201cWhy begin from the end, from that attainment that is so sublime and limited to so few?\u201d The first question is of a secular, somewhat sceptical nature, while the second is more religious\/spiritual. From whatever angle mysticism is viewed it tends to be seen as something excessive – to some almost annoying and pathological, to others unattainable and sublime. Panikkar, and with him an important tradition of religious thought produced by the major religions, including Christianity itself, turns around for us the difficult questions of mysticism. Mysticism is neither an eccentricity nor a performance for the exceptionally gifted; it is a fundamental dimension of Man. Man is not made to live by bread alone, but to cultivate his relationship with the Mystery. Man constantly questions the Mystery and the supernatural, even when he denies it. It is through mysticism that dialogue \u2013 mutual understanding between religions and cultures \u2013 most directly realises the mystical and original dimension in each of us. Man reflects on the meaning of life and opens up to the Mystery, the ineffable. Mysticism is the fullness of mankind, and without this dimension Man would be impoverished.
The composition of the volume is simple: a first part has the title of\u00a0The New Innocence<\/em>, as authentic mysticism is not a reflection on Being, but a free and spontaneous attitude welling up from the person\u2019s fullness.
A second part deals with\u00a0meditation<\/em>, on which little can be said for it is silence.\u00a0 Three examples from saints follow: their differences show how there is no single concept of sainthood.
The third part consists of a systematic and philosophical study of the\u00a0mystical<\/em> experience.\u00a0 This is where I attempt to confute the rather widespread idea of mysticism as an extraordinary phenomenon reserved to a small elite of mortals.\u00a0 We all are potentially opened to the mystical experience.\u00a0 The idea that we all are \u201cGod\u2019s children\u201d in so many religions has received a Christian formulation and is constantly repeated but little meditated upon.\u00a0 I added as an appendix a philosophical reflection on the supreme experience<\/em>\u00a0from various perspectives as well as a prayer from my innermost being.<\/p>

INDEX OF ORIGINAL TEXTS IN VOLUME I. Part 1<\/p>

\u201cA Prologue Instead of an Epilogue.\u201d Preface to J Martin Velasco, Il Fenomeno mistico. Struttura del fenomeno e contemporaneit\u00e0<\/em>, Jaca Book, Milan 2003, pp 9-14. Text partially revised.<\/p>

\u201cThe new innocence\u201d: in La nuova innocenza. Innocenza cosciente,<\/em> Servitium, Sotto il Monte-Bergamo 2003, new edition 2005, pp 25-38, 39-57, 105-109, 229-258. \u201cLightning\u201d is a summary of the three prefaces Original book: La nova innoc\u00e8ncia<\/em>, Proa, Barcelona 1998.<\/p>

\u201cMeditation without Object: Gedankenfreie\u201d. (Meditation oder seinserf\u00fcllte Gelassenheit?),<\/em> in H M Enomiya-Lassalle, Munen Mus\u00f6. Ungegenst\u00e4ndliche Meditation,<\/em> edited by G Stachel, Gr\u00fcnewald, Mainz 1978, pp 309-316.<\/p>

\u201cThe Origin: Silence\u201d: in La dimora della saggezza<\/em>, Mondadori, Milano 2005, pp 97-123.<\/p>

\u201cContemplating in the World\u2019s Naves\u201d: in AA VV, L\u2019utopia di Francesco si \u00e8 fatta \u2026 <\/em>Chiara<\/em>, Cittadella, Assisi 1994, pp 102-110.<\/p>

\u201cSome Aspects of the Spirituality of John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila in \u201cThe Living Word\u201d, 1976, pp 258-268.<\/p>

The experience of life. <\/em>Mysticism:<\/em> L\u2019esperienza della vita. La mistica<\/em>, Jaca Book, Milan 2005, (complete original work).<\/p>

\u201cThe Supreme Experience: The Ways of East and West\u201d: in Myth,Faith andd Hermeneutics.<\/em> Paulist, New York 1979 and Bangalore: AsiAN Trading Corporation, 1983.<\/p>

\u201cMy Prayer\u201d Unpublished.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MYSTICISM, FULLNESS OF LIFE Vol. I, Part OneOpera OmniaMaryknoll, New York (ORBIS BOOKS) 2014 Philosopher, religious expert, theologist, man of dialogue between cultures and a bridge between the West and India, Panikkar chose mysticism as the subject for the first part of his Opera Omnia: Mysticism, the Fullness of Life.Two possible questions that this subject […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1810","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1810"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5490,"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1810\/revisions\/5490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raimon-panikkar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}