Friday, June 4, 1:30 p.m. and repeated on Saturday, June 5, 4:00 p.m. at the Caroline Wiess Law Building, Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Mysticism: The Quest for Oneness with the Divine
Presented by Dr. B. Jill Carroll, Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University
Much like poetry, the words of mystics encapsulate truths beyond ordinary experience— God is Love. What is the sound of one hand clapping? Atman is Brahman. All mystical traditions have as their goal the intensely personal experience of oneness with the divine. Dr. B. Jill Carroll explores the vast array of practices encompassed by the term “mysticism,” focusing particularly on the Abrahamic mystic traditions—which include Sufism in Islam, Kabbalahism in Judaism, and Theosis in Christianity—and their expression in the arts.
Promotional support for the May and June Friday and Saturday Afternoon Lectures related to the exhibition Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam is generously provided by His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for the Southwestern United States.
via MFAH Calendar.
Ismailimail 
Consciousness remains the greatest of human problems. We have not known why a mystical experience occurs, or how it can be attained. Hence the name, mysticism!
The mystical experience is a sudden realization that manifests itself just as a sudden idea abruptly and unexpectedly arrives in the mind. It is a deep, penetrating insight. Buddhists call it, enlightenment. The mystical experience is the onset of the so-called, mystical state. This gift, this attainable state of mind is not the result of intellect or logic. Lacking logic and reason, there has been little or no incentive to reach for it. Through intellect, logic and reason however, we can now know why, why this phenomenon occurs. This will then provide the motivation for us to reach for that most treasured state of mind. It is that state each and every one of us subconsciously seeks … and that our world so, so desperately needs.
The foundation for reaching the mystical state rests in a number of prominent names including Whitehead, Hegel, Huxley, Shaw, Holmes and Heraclitus. Alfred North Whitehead wrote, “Familiar things happen and mankind does not bother about them. It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.” And Hegel said, “Because it’s familiar, a thing remains unknown.” Reinforcing the idea of analyzing familiar, obvious and known things are words from both from the Buddha and from Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke, author of Cosmic Consciousness. Both stressed the importance of placing one’s self in the right frame of mind. The Bhagavad Gita agrees: Only the yogi whose joy is inward, inward his peace, and his vision inward, shall come to Brahman and know nirvana. When we look inward we can only look at things we already know! The curiosity we need and lack in analyzing familiar, obvious and known things, and things we take for granted can and must be aroused.
Most importantly, from the time of our birth we learn so very much, some of which becomes known completely – intuitively! Unaware, many things become known to us partially, superficially and are quickly accepted, taken for granted and thereafter, ignored. We fail to understand that some of these thoughts must–become–known–intuitively! Example: consciousness. We know we are conscious, but never experience higher consciousness. We know we think, but rarely think about our thoughts or the thinking taking place in our minds; it was historian James Harvey Robinson who said, “We do not think enough about thinking.” We must revisit things we unknowingly ignore. It is there sudden insight waits….
In “The Structure of Scientific Revolution,” Thomas S. Kuhn wrote, “Deviation from the standard method is often the first step in a new discovery.” In the realm of consciousness, science has perhaps looked too deep, religion too high and philosophy too far for the answer to the consciousness dilemma. It is now possible for us to erase that dilemma through analysis of what is not intuitively known!
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