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In Dark Night of the Soul, which is a Western work, John of the Cross talks about the extreme pain that the soul undergoes during prayer if/when God is removing its impurities. Also, from the East, tears are considered to be an important part of prayer, and they represent the pain of the soul for its sins being poured out in tears of repentance. As for ...

This subject is all about balance. Rationalism and Mysticism are the extremes to avoid. Your question does not seem biased to either extreme. I do not think you will find reformers making direct attacks upon particular forms of meditation so long as those meditating, mediated on those objective doctrines that they taught! The moment any type of mysticism ...

I can tell you what Catholicism has to say about it, for the most part. Though, if you're looking for some survey of western Christians to get some sense of what all of them think mysticism is, this isn't the forum for that. But, even without a poll, I can say with high confidence that most Christians, especially those from larger denominations like ...

The key understanding for this is that God is present everywhere (omnipresence) but He is not Present (capital intentional) everywhere. That is, God doesn't make His Presence manifest everywhere. With that in mind, the quote becomes a bit clearer. At the outset, a sponge doesn't have any water. Put it in some water though, and the water will start seeping ...

Christian Mysticism has a long and honourable tradition. You can read the histories of many holy Christian mystics. Wikipedia will give you a good starting point. Meditation is only one aspect. For a working definition, try: ""that part, or element, or Christian belief and practice that concerns the preparation for, the consciousness of, and the effect of ...

I'm not aware of anything the Catholic Church has said specifically about Emanuel Swedenborg, but from my quick read of the two linked wikipedia articles, it seems many of his teachings are direct contradictions of Catholic teachings. For example, Swedenborg claims that there is marriage in heaven; a view not supported by Catholic teaching and contradictory ...

Mysticism leads one to union or unity. There are many ways to achieve this union. Remember Jesus said,"I and the Lord are One." If one uses Christian symbols and the teachings of Jesus to achieve this spiritual state then it is called Christian mysticism. For more information visit http://thinkunity.com

This is a very difficult question to answer. There are some anti-mystic Christians that claim anybody who slightly leans to the appreciation of poetry as an evil mystic. There are also very emotional people drawn to mysticism to such a degree that they seem incapable of properly thinking through any doctrine at all. To get down to the heart of the ...

In addition to the answer by RiverC, it is of note that the desert Fathers do have record of the devil inflicting physical hardship at time of prayer: [Theodora] also said, “It is good to live in peace, for the wise person practices perpetual prayer. It is truly a great thing for a virgin or a monk to live in peace, especially for the younger ones. ...

It's a matter of definition. A lot of Christians are confused by the term because it is very much misused today. They are right to condemn it the way that they mean it, as quite a few people call themselves mystics. Christian mysticism is the belief that you can be closer to God by meditating on His word, but other people mean it a different way then they ...