dyanaprajna2011
Dharmapala
What are the differences between mysticism and esotericism? What are the similarities? Are the two terms basically interchangeable, or are there underlying philosophical differences?
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Mysticism and Esotericism
- Thread starter dyanaprajna2011
- Start date
Infinitum
Possessed Bookworm
I've never thought of them as the same thing. Practically esotericism refers to the study of anything esoteric (understood by a select few; religious; mystical) while mysticism is the belief that divine truth can be gained by intuition or spiritual experiences. Mysticism is esoteric. To make it more complicated esotericism could be described as mystic, as in related to mysteries. Since both of them are dealing with secrets, there obviously is a connection, but they aren't directly interchangeable.
dyanaprajna2011
Dharmapala
I'd like to hear more about your thoughts on this.
Let's try another analogy. Mysticism is about looking through the veil, esotericism is all about the veil. With both, you get this multifaceted symbolism that is difficult to describe. Language is just not adequate and clear (as your vision while looking through a veil is not clear.) Esotericism can give a bit of a framework from which to build a communication system of sorts for imparting the multifaceted nature of mystical experience, but can easily lead to misunderstandings due to the multifaceted nature.
