The author of the present paper tackles the questions related to mystical experience in St. Thomas’ Aquinas writings. He demonstrates that according to the medieval thinker, assuming the belief of impossibility of experiencing vision of the divine essence in this life, mystical experience of Moses and St. Paul (raptus) should be considered as temporary and transient, that only happens once. Such experience transcends human natural powers since it is God who takes the initiative in rapture. It also remains passive in itself as it occupies only human intellect which is the one to see the divine essence, while the body remains in dormant state. What is more, this experience is limited because someone who experiences rupture is unable to communicate accurately what exactly had happened to him. Therefore, mystical experience in this life was not of primary importance for St. Thomas. He was more attracted by the direct visual perception of God promised in the Holy Scripture, its implication being that in the supernatural domain the eternal act of knowing God and communion with Him persists. During the visio the object of cognition is more active than its subject. By the infusion of divine light (lumen gloriae) human cognitive abilities are intensifi ed until raptus becomes able to see the divine essence. Naturally, the bestowed grace of seeing God and its intensity depends on experienced intensity of love (caritas) and desire of receiving such grace. It results from the above that saints do not have the same knowledge of God and do not reach the same level of happiness. The chosen can reach it in accordance with their merits and God’s will. However, in the state of salvation the nature of human cognition will not change, since the same human being strives for happiness on earth and reaches it in heaven, realising at the same time his non-self-suffi ciency in reaching this state. This problem lies at the core of Thomas’ inquiry into visio beatifi cans.
PL
The author of the present paper tackles the questions related to mystical experience in St. Thomas’ Aquinas writings. He demonstrates that according to the medieval thinker, assuming the belief of impossibility of experiencing vision of the divine essence in this life, mystical experience of Moses and St. Paul (raptus) should be considered as temporary and transient, that only happens once. Such experience transcendshuman natural powers since it is God who takes the initiative in rapture. It also remains passive in itself as it occupies only human intellect which is the one to see the divine essence, while the body remains in dormant state. What is more, this experience is limited because someone who experiences rupture is unable to communicate accurately what exactly had happened to him. Therefore, mystical experience in this life was not of primary importance for St. Thomas. He was more attracted by the direct visual perception of God promised in the Holy Scripture, its implication being that in the supernatural domain the eternal act of knowing God and communion with Him persists. During the visio the object of cognition is more active than its subject. By the infusion of divine light (lumen gloriae) human cognitive abilities are intensifi ed until raptus becomes able to see the divine essence. Naturally, the bestowed grace of seeing God and its intensity depends on experienced intensity of love (caritas) and desire of receiving such grace. It results from the above that saints do not have the same knowledge of God and do not reach the same level of happiness. The chosen can reach it in accordance with their merits and God’s will. However, in the state of salvation the nature of human cognition will not change, since the same human being strives for happiness on earth and reaches it in heaven, realising at the same time his non-self-suffi ciency in reaching this state. This problem lies at the core of Thomas’ inquiry into visio beatifi cans.
The aim of the article is to present the problem of contemplation and knowledge per raptum in St. Thomas Aquinas’s account. Both of these methods of cognizing seem to be an inspiration for the twentieth-century and contemporary Thomists to build the concept of mystical experience. Mystical experience is defined differently in various thomistic interpretations. However, we are primarily interested in the recognition of M. Gogacz, who understood the mystical experience as a sudden, unexpected and unearned experience of God by the human potential intellect. Although Thomas himself was not concerned with the mystical experience as such, but the analysis of selected texts allows us to accept the thesis that mystical experience, which was shared by the great mystics (St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross) contains some elements of Thomistic contemplation, and above all, the cognition per raptum.
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