Philosophical Mysticism: The Contemplative Path to Truth
By NICOLE LAU
Introduction: Philosophy as Spiritual Practice
Philosophical mysticism represents the integration of rigorous philosophical inquiry with direct mystical experience—a path where reason prepares for and clarifies what contemplation realizes, where concepts point beyond themselves to ineffable truth, and where philosophy is not mere intellectual exercise but transformative spiritual practice. This tradition, stretching from Plato and Plotinus through medieval mystics to contemporary contemplatives, recognizes that the deepest philosophical questions—What is real? What am I? What is the Good?—cannot be answered by thought alone but require direct realization through contemplative practice.
Unlike pure rationalism, which trusts only logic and analysis, or anti-intellectual mysticism, which rejects concepts entirely, philosophical mysticism uses reason in service of transcendence. Philosophy clears away confusion, refines understanding, and prepares the mind for direct knowing. Mysticism provides the experiential verification of what philosophy points toward. Together, they form a complete path: thinking that becomes contemplation, concepts that dissolve into direct perception, and understanding that transforms into being.
The Ancient Roots
Plato: Philosophy as Preparation for Vision
The Cave Allegory: Most people live in shadows (appearances); philosophy is the ascent toward the light (reality); the final vision of the Good is mystical realization.
Dialectic as Spiritual Practice: Philosophical dialogue isn't just intellectual debate but purification of the soul, preparation for direct vision of eternal Forms.
Recollection (Anamnesis): Learning is remembering what the soul already knows—philosophy awakens innate wisdom.
The Good Beyond Being: The ultimate reality transcends concepts and can only be known through direct vision—mystical experience.
Plotinus: The Mystical Philosopher
The One: Ultimate reality beyond being, thought, and language—can only be known through mystical union.
The Path: Philosophy purifies the soul, dialectic ascends through levels of reality, contemplation achieves union with the One.
Mystical Experience: Plotinus describes his own experiences of union—"the flight of the alone to the Alone."
Integration: Rigorous Neoplatonic philosophy serving and expressing mystical realization.
The Stoics: Philosophy as Way of Life
Spiritual Exercises: Philosophy is not theory but practice—meditation, contemplation, examination of conscience.
Logos: Universal reason pervading all things—aligning with Logos is both philosophical and mystical.
Contemplation of Nature: Seeing the divine intelligence in all things—philosophical observation becoming mystical perception.
Medieval Philosophical Mysticism
Augustine: Faith Seeking Understanding
Credo ut intelligam: "I believe in order to understand"—faith and reason work together.
The Inner Teacher: Truth is found within through contemplation, not just through external authority.
Ascent to God: From sensory experience through reason to mystical vision—philosophy as ladder.
Anselm: The Ontological Argument as Contemplation
Not Just Logic: The ontological argument is contemplative practice, not mere proof—thinking about God that becomes encounter with God.
Fides Quaerens Intellectum: "Faith seeking understanding"—mystical experience seeking philosophical clarity.
Aquinas: Reason and Revelation
Natural Theology: Reason can know God exists and some attributes—philosophy reaches toward the divine.
Limits of Reason: Ultimate mysteries require revelation and mystical experience—philosophy knows its limits.
Contemplation: The highest human activity is contemplation of divine truth—both philosophical and mystical.
Meister Eckhart: Mystical Philosophy
Scholastic Rigor: Trained in Thomistic philosophy, precise theological distinctions.
Mystical Realization: Direct experience of union with God, birth of God in the soul.
Integration: Philosophical precision expressing ineffable mystical truth—concepts pointing beyond themselves.
The Apophatic Path
Via Negativa: The Way of Negation
Method: Saying what God/Reality is NOT, systematically negating all concepts and attributes.
Philosophical Rigor: Precise logical negation, careful distinction between what can and cannot be said.
Mystical Goal: Emptying the mind of all concepts to encounter the inconceivable directly.
The Paradox: Using concepts to go beyond concepts, thinking that leads to the end of thought.
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Darkness
Affirmative Theology: Saying what God is (good, wise, powerful)—necessary but inadequate.
Negative Theology: Denying all attributes—God is not good, not wise, not powerful (in any way we understand).
Mystical Theology: Beyond both affirmation and negation—entering the divine darkness, unknowing.
Integration: Philosophy preparing for mystical unknowing through systematic negation.
The Cloud of Unknowing
Teaching: God cannot be known by thought but only by love; place a "cloud of forgetting" between you and all concepts.
Philosophical Clarity: Precise distinction between knowing and unknowing, thought and contemplation.
Mystical Practice: Resting in unknowing, loving attention without concepts.
Modern Philosophical Mysticism
Spinoza: Intellectual Love of God
Geometric Method: Rigorous philosophical demonstration, logical precision.
Mystical Vision: All things are modes of one infinite substance (God/Nature); seeing sub specie aeternitatis (from the perspective of eternity).
Amor Dei Intellectualis: Intellectual love of God—knowing and loving the whole, mystical and philosophical.
Schelling: Philosophy of Revelation
Negative Philosophy: Reason can know what things are (essence) but not that they are (existence).
Positive Philosophy: Existence requires revelation, mystical experience, direct encounter.
Integration: Philosophy reaches its limit and opens to mystical knowing.
Bergson: Intuition and Duration
Intellect vs Intuition: Intellect analyzes and spatializes; intuition grasps duration and life directly.
Mystical Experience: Direct intuition of reality as creative evolution, élan vital.
Philosophy's Role: Preparing for and clarifying intuitive/mystical knowing.
Heidegger: Thinking as Meditation
Meditative Thinking: Not calculative but contemplative—dwelling with Being, letting-be.
Gelassenheit: Releasement, letting go—both philosophical and mystical practice.
The Fourfold: Earth, sky, mortals, divinities—contemplative dwelling in the whole.
The Contemplative Method
Philosophical Contemplation
1. Choose a Question: What is consciousness? What is being? What is the Good?
2. Rigorous Inquiry: Think deeply, precisely, systematically about the question.
3. Reach the Limit: Follow thinking to where it points beyond itself, to what cannot be thought.
4. Release into Contemplation: Let go of thinking, rest in direct awareness of what the question points toward.
5. Return with Understanding: Bring mystical realization back into philosophical clarity.
The Role of Concepts
Not the Goal: Concepts are not truth itself but fingers pointing at the moon.
Necessary Preparation: Clear concepts prepare the mind, remove confusion, point in the right direction.
Clarification Tool: After mystical experience, concepts help clarify, communicate, integrate.
The Middle Way: Neither clinging to concepts nor rejecting them—using them skillfully.
Spiritual Exercises
Pierre Hadot's recovery of ancient philosophy as spiritual practice:
Meditation on Death: Contemplating mortality to live authentically (Stoics, Plato)
View from Above: Seeing from cosmic perspective, releasing attachment (Stoics)
Attention to the Present: Mindfulness of the now (Stoics, Buddhists)
Contemplation of Nature: Seeing divine intelligence in all things (Stoics, Spinoza)
Key Figures in Philosophical Mysticism
Simone Weil: Attention as Prayer
Attention: Rigorous intellectual attention is spiritual practice, preparation for grace.
Decreation: Philosophical and mystical practice of emptying the self.
Integration: Brilliant philosophical mind in service of mystical realization.
Pierre Hadot: Philosophy as Way of Life
Recovery: Ancient philosophy was spiritual practice, not just theory.
Spiritual Exercises: Philosophical practices that transform the practitioner.
Mystical Dimension: Philosophy culminates in contemplation and union with the whole.
Iain McGilchrist: The Master and His Emissary
Two Hemispheres: Left brain (analytical, conceptual) and right brain (holistic, experiential).
Integration: Left brain (philosophy) should serve right brain (mystical knowing), not dominate it.
Contemplative Attention: Open, receptive awareness—both philosophical and mystical.
Practical Integration
Daily Practice
Morning Contemplation:
- Read a philosophical text (Plato, Plotinus, Eckhart)
- Contemplate a key question or insight
- Let thinking become meditation
- Rest in direct awareness
Throughout the Day:
- Practice attention and presence
- See the divine in all things
- Contemplate from the perspective of eternity
Evening Reflection:
- Examine the day philosophically
- What did I learn? How did I live?
- Contemplate the whole
Study as Spiritual Practice
Not Just Information: Study to be transformed, not just informed.
Slow Reading: Contemplate each sentence, let it work on you.
Memorization: Internalize key passages for meditation.
Dialogue: Philosophical conversation as spiritual practice.
Conclusion
Philosophical mysticism reveals that the deepest philosophy is not mere intellectual exercise but transformative spiritual practice, that rigorous thinking can prepare for and clarify mystical realization, and that concepts, while not truth itself, can point beyond themselves to what cannot be spoken but must be realized. From Plato's vision of the Good to Plotinus's union with the One, from medieval apophatic theology to contemporary contemplative philosophy, this tradition shows that reason and mysticism are not opposed but complementary—philosophy as the ladder that, once climbed, reveals the view that transcends all ladders. The contemplative path integrates logos and gnosis, thinking and being, understanding and realization into a complete way of truth.
NICOLE LAU is a researcher and writer specializing in Western esotericism, Jungian psychology, and comparative mysticism.
