Mystical Experiences

The mystical experience, an experience felt beyond the realms of ordinary consciousness that has affected many prominent figures throughout history. Mystical experiences often defy any physical description and such experiences involve ineffable awareness of time, space, and physical reality. These experiences are universal and share common characteristics no matter what religion, beliefs, or culture in which the person attends and the experiences are often spiritual rather than religious. William James, a philosopher and a psychologist indentified four characteristics that have laid the foundation for the validity of a mystical experience; these characteristics are ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity. According to James mystical experiences vary in intensity and they present themselves as having sudden insight or knowledge, then there is the maximum state of a mystical experience where an individual experiences being in union with God. Teresa of Avila and Hildegard of Bingen are two women who have had mystical experiences in which it truly affected their lives and the people around them, although their experiences were different both women felt the presence of god and were immediately filled with insight. Teresa of Avila had two kinds of visions during her mystical experiences and each vision differs from each other significantly. One of the visions that she experienced only consisted of feeling Jesus Christ within her vicinity; she states not being able to see him but to feel his presence at her side and nothing more. She was very ignorant about this type of vision at the time and the consequence of her vision left her soul quiet, deeply and continuously recollected. The second type of vision that she had began with parts of Christ’s body: his hands, his face and eventually the whole. She then began to witness the resurrected glory of Christ and initially fell into confusion and turmoil but soon after she began to feel certain and secure from her experiences that lead to her soul being transformed. Saint Teresa’s experiences can be considered mystical because as she became more entwined in her deep prayer she felt a stronger sense of oneness with God. There were times were she felt overwhelmed with the divine love of Christ. The experiences were so transforming for Teresa at times that she would feel the grace of God cleansing her soul and in one experience she had an angel pierce her heart with a flaming sword. It was through Teresa’s visions where she became a prominent writer on mental prayer as she deals with her personal experiences with great insight, and analytical wisdom in which was given to her through the visions. Hildegard of Bingen had visions throughout her whole life starting at the age of 3, and it is in her first vision where she sees the shade of the living light. In the beginning she was hesitant to tell people about her visions and she only shared them with her church mother Jutta. It wasn’t until she was forty-two years old when Hildegard had a vision in which God told her to record her spiritual experiences. Once Hildegard’s visions were approved from the church, she produced her first book which consisted of 26 visions. In these visions Hildegard addresses many topics that dealt with religion and were prophetic in form. Her numerous other writings included the lives of saints, holistic medicine and natural history. It was through her writings on medicine and natural history that reflected a high quality of scientific observation that was unmatched during her time. Hildegard was also able to contribute to music in such a way that a lot of her hymns and songs are still played throughout the catholic churches. Because of her extensive knowledge on subjects such as science and music we are able to see that her mystical experiences were valid and contributed to her insight and overall wisdom. Her visions not only changed how she saw the world but it also changed the world around her by changing their views on relationships as well as their attitude towards the female gender. Although both women lived in different periods of time there are still some significant similarities. Hildegard and Teresa helped reformed their church and made major contributions with their literary works. They also battled with severe illnesses and each found breakthroughs in their spiritual life by overcoming their illnesses. Both women throughout their lifetime caught a wide variety of flak because of their position as well as their visions and both lived in a time were heresy was a severe crime and punishable by death. Although these women were faced with great adversity they remained unscathed and were quite remarkable in their perseverance in getting their message across. Through their message Teresa and Hildegard played a vital role in converting people to their faith and it is through their success of the conversion process where these women were able to maintain their renown. They gained great popularity among the lay people because both women were known to be very cunning as well as very persuasive in their endeavors. These very similar women in mysticism still had some differences, which was their understanding of their mystical experiences as well as severity and frequency. They also had differences in their literary works. In their visions, Teresa saw the way in which she was to analyze prayer and she was most interested in the power of prayer and its direct relationship with god. Because of this Teresa’s teachings were focused on the inner self therefore her books were a reflection. The most significant distinction between the two is where Hildegard only saw, Teresa classified and analyzed. Teresa applied her mind analytically to any mystical experience and as a result formed her experiences into a structure for understanding prayer and charity. As for Hildegard, her focuses were more on medicine and her teachings were consisted of botany, zoology and minerals. Her advice was very practical and what she wrote about wasn’t entirely religious her main concern was the advancement of her gender as well as the advancement of humans while maintaining closeness with god. Teresa of Avila and Hildegard of Bingen will remain prominent figures not only in history but as well as in the Catholic Church. Both of these women can be looked upon by other women as a stepping stone to feminist rights as well as spiritual role models. These women also provide a great example of the power within a mystical experience, and it is because of this experience that they are able to change the world around them by affecting the people with their knowledge and great insight. Although their experiences were different and their oneness with god varied one thing holds true, there is a universal theme of direct and intimate receptivity in mystical experiences.

Bibliography
Teresa of Avila; Cohen, J.M. The life of Saint Teresa of Avila by herself. Penguin Classics, 1988.
Teresa of Avila, Life of St. Teresa of Jesus 2008
Atherton, Mark, trans. Hildegard of Bingen: Selected Writings. London: Penguin. 2001.
Baird, Joseph L. (trans.), Radd K. Ehrman. The letters of Hildegard of Bingen. New York. Oxford University Press.1994
Venn Diagram Hildegard and Teresa. SFSU. 2013

Bibliography: Teresa of Avila; Cohen, J.M. The life of Saint Teresa of Avila by herself. Penguin Classics, 1988. Teresa of Avila, Life of St. Teresa of Jesus 2008 Atherton, Mark, trans. Hildegard of Bingen: Selected Writings. London: Penguin. 2001. Baird, Joseph L. (trans.), Radd K. Ehrman. The letters of Hildegard of Bingen. New York. Oxford University Press.1994 Venn Diagram Hildegard and Teresa. SFSU. 2013