Is the sort of love that can arise, and often does arise, during the mystical experience in some sense altruistic? If so, is this kind of altruistic love possible outside of the mystical experience?
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By "altruistic love", I mean a love in which no thought or consideration is given for oneself.
Maybe a different way to talk about this is the difference between Eros and Agape. Eros is a love or yearning for or towards something, as in we yearn for the Divine. Agape is an outflowing of the Divine Love from Source into manifestation, the womb of Life. I describe it as a "Love for Love's sake". Now what you add here about this sort of 'altruistic love', can be understood contextually as that Divine Love, or Agape.
There is the useful formula Cynthia Bourgeault has for this that "Eros times Kenosis equals Agape" or "E * K = A" Kenosis is self-emptying, where you seek to empty out or pour forth what is given to you from the Source, and what flows out is that Divine Love, or Agape. It letting the Divine flow through us to the world, where we merely become vessels as it were, or conduits. It becomes realized in our own nature as Divine. This Love becomes the very condition of our being.
It does not mean we are not aware of or have no consideration for ourselves, but the difference is we have moved from deficiency needs, into abundance needs. Another word to describe this Love, Divine Love or Agape, is
Abundance. It cannot help but move through us as we allow it in ourselves.
Is it possible to know this sort of Love outside mystical states? Certainly, yes. To me that is what the goal and exercise of mystical states is to bring about in our lives. But even if someone does not enter into these states of consciousness that open our minds into that Awareness, it can in fact be realized and exercised in ourselves. At which point, "God" or "Love" can in fact be known. And isn't that what actually defines the "mystical", being in touch with the Source, the Ground of Being itself which is Love?
Please Note: By "The Mystical Experience", I mean the experience that comes about when subject/object perception comes to an abrupt end while some sort of awareness nevertheless continues on.
I'm not so keen on that definition. One can in fact be quite aware of their own unique distinction as a human in relation to the Divine, in states of mystical communion. I think all of life is mystical. I don't divide it up into a "this and not that", duality. How aware we are of that is another matter. One can be fully immersed in the Divine, and be fully aware of themselves as well. I would say the highest mystical state is where the Divine Will and your Will are one and the same. You are still you, but the True Self and the Unique Self are fully realized.
There are different ways in which the Divine is experienced in mystical states. I think splitting it up into pieces can in some cases be helpful for discussion points, while at the same time detrimental to conceive its reality is limited to a definition.
However, this does not mean that one necessarily sacrifices for another, or that one in no way benefits from another. It might mean those things, but it does not necessarily mean those things. The key is not who benefits or does not benefit. The key is that the no thought or consideration is given for oneself.
But if you are acting in Divine Love through yourself there is a consideration for yourself, and it is Joy. Love for Love's sake, is Joy. It seeks to give for that sake of Life, for the sake of Love.
