Mystique seems like a matter of the past, but it continues to exert a powerful fascination. John of the Cross, Blake and Simone Weil arouse admiration and wonder, as their life experience exceeds the limits set by scientific thought. Their mystical experiences could be dispatched as mere fantasies or entices, but the truth is that they transformed their lives, acting as a starting point for a particularly fruitful existence. From Jewish and skeptical origins in religious matters, Edith Stein decides to convert to Catholicism after a feverish reading of the Book of the Life of Teresa of Jesus. "Who seeks the truth," Stein writes, "seek God, whether or not he is aware of it." However, not all mystics believe in God. Bataille describes religious experience as an ecstasy where we transcend our individual dimension, immersing ourselves in the current of being. A furious nihilist, Cioran ex...read more