circulation within my skull

Sep 21

“
…These accounts can be found in rather unexpected places, particularly in the works of the mystics: Hadewijch, St John of the Cross, even Pascal. Each of them does actually depict this unity, and the same characteristics constantly recur.

First, there is the direct presence of what is usually called ‘God’; second, the mystic adopts a passive position in relation to this, and he/she cannot actively intervene; third, the experience cannot be spoken of or described. The whole experience is one of extreme pain and pleasure, with the recurring characteristic that the mystic ceases to have a sense of himself/herself, as an individual. Another description-or is it another interpretation?-can be found in the field of psychiatry. This condition of unity with the original environment, separate from any reflective distancing, is hallucinatory psychosis, daytime dreams from which it is impossible to awake. The main difference from the mystic is that in this case there is no sense of bliss. It is replaced by an almost indescribable anxiety.

Paul Verhaeghe.