Friedrich Nietzsche was a mystic whose post-1882 thought expresses his mystical experiences. Drawing on his notes, letters, and published writings, the author shows that Nietzsche had at least two major mystical experiences that generated all the central motifs of his later philosophy. Apparent tensions in his teachings, especially between the superman and the eternal recurrence, dissolve when understood as products of a mystical epistemology derived from an intuitive source beyond ordinary dualities. This intuitive mysticism, which Nietzsche considered the real purpose of all philosophy, is a type called apotheosis, based on the individual ego's identification with a unity underlying all reality.
Revelation is often thought of as a purely passive event, but this essay argues that contemplative practices—such as those in monastic and liturgical life—actively prepare a person to receive revelation without controlling or determining it. Drawing on Jean-Luc Marion's phenomenological account of revelation, the essay examines mystical and liturgical experiences to show that habituated practices of contemplation increase the capacity for reception. The argument challenges the view of revelation as entirely passive, suggesting instead that disciplined spiritual practices play a preparatory role.
Zen Buddhist mysticism can be understood as a general category of mystical experience alongside those in Abrahamic faiths, but only through a revised phenomenological framework. Existing accounts by Anthony Steinbock and Angela Bello are inadequate as universal descriptions because Zen both coheres with and problematizes them. A new formula for speaking phenomenologically about mystical experience is needed to capture the phenomenon in all its manifestations.