Mystical Experience & Paradoxical Statement (Experience of Meeting God in Speech)
International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding August 10, 2023 Borjsaz Gaffar
This article argues that the paradoxical language used by mystics is not a verbal trick or a sign of language's failure to express mystical experience, but rather a faithful reflection of the experience itself, which is inherently paradoxical. It reviews competing theories—some claiming paradoxes are merely verbal, others that they result from linguistic inadequacy—and rejects the latter. The author concludes that mystical language is paradoxical because the experience it describes is paradoxical, and language can accurately mirror that experience. The final stage of mystical language is symbolic speech, identified with the experience of Shath, or meeting God in speech, which represents the highest union of mystical experience and paradoxical statement.