Rediscovering faith

Kek

try reading the bible

Do not be an autistic degenerate like we have enough of these people wasting our limited resources

how should I meditate to achieve a mystic experience? Also thanks for the spinoza rec

The Bible (I suggest the NRSV with Apocrypha)
Imitation of Christ - Thomas A Kempis
Introduction to the Devout Life - Francis de Sale

I'm not quite sure how to answer that. It will probably take a while to get there, and you shouldn't go into meditation with a goal anyway (although, it's fine if you notice yourself trying to pursue a goal). Don't be afraid of listening to guided meditations or something to help you out at first, a lot of them are pretty cringey but you just need to get used to doing it and guides can help you focus in the right sort of way.

If you're doing it on your own, use a phone or something to go off at set intervals (every 5 or 10 minutes). Make sure it's a quick chime or something short, and that you won't need to get up to turn it off. The purpose of this is a reminder to catch yourself if you have become lost in thought and begin meditating again.

I should add that I've never had a mystic experience brought about by meditation, but many others have. Mine have always been induced by some sort of sustained period of extreme stress.

>reads the bible
>posts as a christian
>calls people "autistic degenerates"
hmmmmmm

Mysticism without dogma is nothing but solipsistic masturbation.

>What about st. Francis Xavier
His diary desu, but unironically. His life story is pretty interesting. Was a Basque merc basically who's hobbies were drinking and womanizing, but came back to the faith while he recovered from being shot in the leg by a cannon. He was so vain before his conversion that he made the doctors not amputate his leg which of course led to a terribly painful infection that he miraculously survived.

Also, if you're going to read anything affiliated with the orthodox church it should be Pavel Florensky

Go to a church, try praying or alternatively just jump into the deep end and read St. John of the Cross.

I like Dr. Savage and give him credit for getting me to stop being a neocon circa 2007, but this is a hard no.

The only benefit of dogma is rituals that may help you attain a mystic experience. Dogma is a means of implementing social control and the obvious falsehood of the particular teachings associated with any given religion undermine any credibility

>Pro-zionist
>Not a neocon
Lol

Where does the credibility of mystic experiences lie? What is their purpose outside of the framework of a particular faith? I'd be seriously concerned with anyone that claimed to have mystical experiences while at the same time inventing their own beliefs.

Is Orthodox the best branch of Christianity to follow at the moment? If so why? Is it because the Catholic church is corrupt and Protestants are cucks?

Why does it require a purpose that can be put into words or transformed into rules?

What's funny?

It keeps it from drifting into delusion.

You're looking to impose structure onto something that is impossible to comprehend

Whats the point if it can't be comprehended?

That's what god is, user. Most religions will tell you the same

I'm currently attending an Orthodox Presbyterian denomination church. If you are interested I'd recommend reading their Confession of Faith and Catechism.

opc.org/wcf.html

opc.org/lc.html

It doesn't matter what religions will tell you, they can be wrong too.

Anyway, they are partially right in my opinion. The message I can glean from most holy texts, even non-Abrahamic ones, is that God's ideas and comprehension can be grasped as you get older, through contemplation of his divine ideas. You can ruminate on these ideas and they will even give you some existential purpose for your life.

These are the sorts of things your local preacher might not tell you, but would just nod his head and agree if you mentioned it. It is the more philosophical side of religion and theology which is the most important for the contemplative individual, because we believe that God made us different for a reason: to consider and highly develop faculties capable of understanding divine order as the progress of our lives and civilization moves onward.

never even heard of this denom

I was the person arguing against organized religion, but as the other user seemed to respect their authority it seemed relevant to point out that organized religions usually preach some sort of divine mystery.

I do think it's possible to develop a fuller understanding of god/divine ideas, but I don't think it can begin to approach true comprehension. For me at least, a major part of my experience was a sense of humility, recognizing just how little it is possible to know. I consider the pursuit of understanding all things to be intrinsically valuable though, so this is not to say that we should give up.

I don't think it will ever be possible to comprehend a divine purpose, and I'm not sure it's even helpful to think of things in such a way.

>10604045
OP is looking for faith on the divine, not a mystic experience with no meaning or purpose whatsoever other than the sake of being a mystic experience. With nothing to relate this experience to, how will he gain faith towards anything? Even religions try to give an explanation to mystic experiences: possessions, enlightement, etc. Your stance provides no explanation, and it just reminders me of teenagers who consume weed in order to experience strange stuff because it's interesting and feels good, but nothing more than that. Like the other guy said, it's just wanking off your subjectivity, and it can't get any more shallow than that.

Maybe you should leave literature behind for a while and try to find the answers you're looking for in your heart. It may sound cliché, but it's true. Filling your head with other's people's ideas will pollute your mind rather than clearing the path you seek. You seem to want to get into *any* path of faith -no matter if it's a religion that praises the self or an external being, or a self-formed belief- as long as it's something related to the divine or supernatural, but the reasons of why you want to do that are uncleat. Do you want faith because you're looking for new ways to find the truth and answers to existence, or are you simply looking for reassurement?

Start practicing. Mass, prayer, avoid sin, imitate Christ, etc. That's essentially the point of Pascal's Wager--that given the possible cost of not being a Christian, it's at least worth a try.

I definitely wouldn't say it lacked meaning and purpose, it was very intense and changed my outlook in life, how I view myself and others. I see no need why you would need to seek an explanation for the inexplicable or a way to somehow make it more concrete. Maybe you meant something different by "explanation," to me it seems like an odd word to use in this context.
If you want to call it "enlightenment" you could, as it felt like a glimpse at/connection with the greater truth. But I don't think of it like that because it makes it sound like I fully comprehend something about the world, or have attained some sort of guru-like inner peace and tranquility, and I'm still just a normal person.

Mystic experiences by definition are the sense of contact or unity with the divine and can form the basis of faith. To be honest, I don't see how you could believe in god without having one. It's like the difference between watching porn or reading erotica vs having sex. If OP's looking to connect with the divine/god it seems like a relevant thing to pursue.

>t's like the difference between watching porn or reading erotica vs having sex

makes this kind of a debauched analogy, claims to be a man of god

HUH

Read some Emerson, that’s what got me back into religion

aint that ignatius?

Plato

Why are you seeking to connect with the divine? You can't find god within any text, all text is either a construction of man or is a text that is making itself evident to be a something that can never describe the divine. True journey into divinity, is a journey into yourself. lsd and shrooms can give profound mystical experiences, be it shallow and temporary. They provide a gateway that meditation can help you go through

Reading things from Kierkegaard's first authorship led me to start going to church every week. Now that I'm practicing his second authorship makes much more sense to me and I can really appreciate it. You mentioned Fear and Trembling, so you should definitely keep reading more Kierkegaard. Fear and Trembling was the first book I read in high school that made me do a 180 on my approach to Christianity, but Kierkegaard has much better, non-pseudonymous religious writings.
Other than that, just studying philosophy and theology in general helped me to "rediscover" my Christianity. It just kind of happened organically. I think if you're looking for it or trying to force yourself into it because of some rational justification you've concocted, you're already missing the point. Do what you think is right, go to church, pray, take care of your body, learn the subjects you want to learn, and read what you want to read and it'll just happen.