/lit/ - Literature

"While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal"
2 Corinthians 4:18 King James Version (KJV)
Your body is seen. You soul is not seen.
Your body is temporal.Your soul is eternal.
Needs of your body are temporal.Needs of your soul are eternal.
Chose wisely.

Why does mysticism seem so absent from modern Western philosophy, /lit/?

You think of the most influential figures in Western thought over the last two hundred years, and you end up with a bunch of rationalists, academics, theorists and atheistic Marxists. Some may have been exposed to and slightly influenced by mystic ideas, especially things like neoplatonism, hermeticism, etc. but for the most part, they tend to focus on the political world of forms, trends, critiques, etc. Any sense of stillness or contemplation as a means to unravelling truth seems to be largely absent.

What gives?

How the FUCK did the medieval monks not come to conclusion of non-duality? Seriously, all the doctrinal, contemplative, meditative etc. conditions were there for them to have developed the idea of ecstatic union with God, but nope, the closest thing we got was "ok we're not God but if we believe really hard when can kinda sorta emulate Him."

And yeah, I know the reason why it never happened ("muh heresy"), but goddamn, reading up about the history of the medieval scholastics, insular christian philosophers, etc. is like a perfect example of "miss by an inch, miss by a mile."