Trance in Javanese traditional dance is an artistic communication with the supernatural, rooted in local traditions, not a psychological anomaly. Using ethnographic methods and the Solah Ebrah model, the study documents and analyzes cultural behaviors during trance states in performance. It examines possession from psychological, Islamic, socio-cultural, and performative perspectives, broadening understanding of trance in dance and offering a reference for future studies.
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.