Knowing the Self and Touching the Ineffable : The Role of Contemplative
Practice and Unitive Mystical Experience in Philosophical Enquiry and the
Possibility of a Common Core
Joanne Moore ( PhD in Philosophy , Keele University )
Introduction
My thesis originated in an interest in the philosophical similarities between certain schools of thought in Ancient Greece and India . For example , we can find in both Platonic philosophy and the Upanishadic or Yogic schools in India , the idea that the soul ( or spirit ) has in some sense descended into the state of matter from a higher , spiritual state of unified consciousness or ‘ being ’. The ultimate goal of human life is therefore to transcend the sensible world in order to re-ascend to the source and reach a state of Union ( Henosis in Ancient Greek ) with the Absolute or Universal .
Broadening the enquiry out from this initial observation , a similar transformative goal may be identified in different mystical traditions across the world alongside various spiritual practices which are employed with this goal in mind . The central question of my research is whether the conceptual similarities across different mystical traditions might have , in part , an experiential basis . I am interested , therefore , in whether mystical experience amounts to knowledge and how this influences the development of philosophical ideas . Although there is a body of philosophical work enquiring into the nature of mysticism , less work has been done on how mystical experience has been an aim of the philosophical life or on any possible
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