From Jewish Kabbalah to Neopagan «disaffiliation»: the problem of conscious choice in modern and traditional mysticism

The article is devoted to the problem of leaving the religious denomination in classical mysticism and modern occult communities. It is assumed that the desire of conscious choice and individualized mind of mystic derives from the "Axial age" in terms of German philosopher Karl Jaspers. Yet the empirical basis for this study was the medieval Kabbalah, eastern Sufism and modern Russian neo-pagan movements, which are outside the period. Although modern and traditional mysticism have a few differences caused by long chronological gap between them and cultural factors, there are some strong similarities in different forms of mysticism. Being aimed at self-bridging the gap between the sacred and the profane world Mystic makes a challenge to the religious tradition and social norms. At the same time his spiritual experience is different from the prophetic and magical approach. Exploration of the historical determinants of mystical experience could provide the better understanding of some processes occuring in new religious movements, e.g. the exclusion of orthodox Christianity in modern Russia. Mysticism has a mutual functional dependence with the situation of marginalization. Sometimes it radicalizes the religious practice and leads to the total negation of authorities or public destruction of symbols of faith described in the article. The purposes of the study were to examine the factors of making «conscious decision» by early and modern mystics and to determine what had influence on them. It is hypothesized that the actor of the decision-making in Jewish mysticism is «self-responsible» for his choice, while the Neo-pagans or Sufi are often led by irrational sense of the call of Nature or God. The question of the extent of freedom of modern «mystic» demands a particular consideration. Authors suggest that understanding of «sacred» and «profane» in Neo-paganism is different from the early traditions. «Sacred» is perceived as not something transcendental there, but as «social-like» (patrimonial, ancestral) category. Findings made in the article demonstrate that modern mysticism can be defined both as a response to the repressive pressure of orthodoxy and the situation of group «uncertainty» caused by the social upheavals.

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