There is a problem with conventional mysticism in that it leads to a state of Enlightenment or Liberation for the individual practitioner alone (if he is lucky!). At the very most one can transform oneself, have bliss and light within oneself, but the immense sufferings in the world continues. One now experiences that suffering as - to use the Hindu metaphor - lila, the Play of the Godhead. Within oneself there is bliss. Within non-enlightened beings dukkha (suffering). The ugly character of cyclic existence (samsara) which is the projection of the desires and passions of sentient beings is not be changed.
Esoteric religions like Gnosticism, Manichaeanism and many Eastern philosophies go so far as to deny that collective liberation is possible. Mahayana Buddhism however presents the Boddhisattva as the savior figure (a little like Christ or the Messiah) who will not enter nirvanna until every sentient being is enlightened, even if this takes an eternity.
This is a beautiful vision, but not very practical. And even the goal of enlightenment offered is still one of transcendence of the world, rather than it's transformation or transmutation.
Change in self must come first, certainly. It does no good to try to change the world without changing oneself. That is where Marxism went wrong. But change does not have to stop within the self. A number of traditions have proposed the idea of the healing or spiritual redemption of matter and creation as a whole.
A good illustration of this is the Lurianic tradition within Kabbalah, especially the concept of Tikkun olam or healing the world (universe). Similiar themes are found within many messianic religions (e.g. the Christian dream of a New Heaven and a New Earth) but these are just mythic images, there is no technique offered at all. In fact, most of these exoteric religions specifically forbid any spiritual practices that go beyond the egotistic self and dualistic conception of deity.
The theme of transformation and nature also occurs within the Anthroposophy of Rudolph Steiner and his successors, in Alchemy, and in a number of New Age teachings.
But perhaps the most profound tradition of cosmic transformation and divinisation is represented in the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and Mirra, who claimed to have found a way (the Supramental transformation) to transform the world-process as well as the self. Here, Supramentalisation is considered a stage stage that follows after and is much much higher than the "selfish" nirvana or even the selfless boddhisattva state of self-enlightenment. Because it pertains not only to the enlightenment of the individual, but also of the entire Earth (and ultimately the universe) it is far more difficult to attain. And indeed of Sri Aurobindo and Mirra, seem to be the only ones who are really aware of preceisely how difficult! What a contrast with the woolly thinking of many (I say many, not all!) New Age people who, despite the very best of intentions and sensitivity and compassion, often become caught up in cults of personality and superficial interaction on the etheric-emotional plane. Yet even they are far, far above the exoteric fundamentalists with their mental inflexibility and hugely deluded egos.
What is required therefore are practical techniques free of personality
cult, dogmatism, and mythological obscuration
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