2 2 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 8 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 2 2 4 Are Alternative Spiritualities Mystical Experiences in View of Coelho’s Select Novels? Vast and expansive as the notion of mysticism is in itself, it is not easy to express it through a single definition. Nevertheless, this section makes an attempt at conceiving its attributes via studies in this area. The closest description of mysticism is that it is characterized by an “immediate contact with the transcendent” (Kourie 1992, 85). This definition when viewed from the religious perspective can be construed as the “immediacy of contact with the deity” (Deissmann 1926, 149). Hence this concept, as argued by John Byron (1949, 242), does not just exist “in its own right” as a “self-contained system” but is associated with religion as well as the alternatives to religion. Out of body experiences and extraordinary states of consciousness within yogic meditative practices can be taken as examples to prove that mysticism is not at odds with the attributes of religion. Moreover, many studies have discussed the mystical sensibilities of various writers, dramatists, and poets themselves. A study on William Blake explores the poet’s faith in the internal manifestation of the divine since his childhood: “At the age of four Blake saw God in a vision… the gigantic face with large forehead and eyes peered into the room at the boy. It must have had a supernatural dimension” (White 1966, 286). Wayne White explains the poet’s ability to perceive visions and hear voices as a special power without “mediation or instrumentality of the five senses” (White 1966, 288). Another study explores John Milton’s experience with a supernatural power while he was writing Paradise Lost: “The narrator is the epic bard, physically blind, but, through the heavenly Muse, spiritually enlightened. In this capacity he sings his song of praise to God. By joining with God, through the spirit, he tells his story which asserts ‘Eternal Providence’ and justifies ‘the ways of God to men’.” (Wilson 1971, 359). Similarly, Coelho believes in a personal experiential vision while writing his books. Almost all his works are the expression of an experience with a higher force, and his characters too have enjoyed experiences which are out of the ordinary. To use Coelho’s own words on the “non-ordinariness” of his experiences, “the universe spoke its own language of ‘signs’ and… in order to understand this language, we had only to look with an open mind at what was going on around us – all this made me wonder if the occult really was the one doorway into those mysteries” (Coelho 2005, 21). Deciphering signs or a deep sense of intuition is a rare gift of Coelho’s characters, which leads them to an expanded awareness of happenings around them beyond the normal scope of their mind. This also entails the experience that is not ordinary and hence mystical. The narrator in The Zahir is guided by his instincts or the sixth sense throughout his entire journey. The same is the case with Santiago, the shepherd boy in The Alchemist, who finds the treasure through his intuitive sense. The old man advises the shepherd boy, “[i]n order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens that he left for you” (Coelho 1993, 28). Coelho’s characters believe that “Divinity” comes to their “aid” (Coelho 2005, 169) while they follow the signs. The signs could be recurrent dreams, as in the case of Santiago, which cannot be perceived by the senses involving visual or auditory components. So, while Santiago is spiritually sensitive to the omens, the faculty of intuition is not developed with other characters. “But I am not so stupid as to cross an entire desert just because of a recurrent dream,” says a character from the book, who simply nullifies signs as something irrational (Coelho 1993, 155). Another example surrounds Michael, who “wander[s] the steppes with the hunters,” believes that he has “magical powers,” sees visions, hears voices, and prophesies “when the next drought will come, when the animals will fall sick, when the traders will arrive” (Coelho 2005, 111). While the hunters for whom he prophesies believe that he has magical and intuitive powers, the other characters in the novel with a scientific mind refuse to believe in his powers and use medical science to call his ecstatic experiences “musicogenic epilepsy,” provoked by “hearing a particular kind of sound or music, sound of bells as in the case of Joan of Arc” (Coelho 2005, 122) [5]. The defining traits of mysticism that emerge from the foregoing discussion are “non-ordinariness,” “spontaneity,” and “intuitiveness”; experiences that are largely personal and individual. However, as asserted earlier, it would be wrong to say that mystical experiences are not related to religion. Christopher M. Bache (1991, 217) observes that mystical awareness necessitates a spiritual journey involving “religious awe and trust” and “the time-tested methods of spirituality” creating “conditions of purification.” He contends that it is only when the system is purified that one shall be able to establish contact with the higher force. Surprisingly, Coelho also maintains that one is capable of a mystical experience only when one has distanced oneself from “personal history,” but his methods are undeniably
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MzgxMzI=