Christianoid Mysticism

Mysticism is the belief that complete detachment from the visible world aids fulfillment.

"[599] The evangelical counsel of chastity assumed for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, which is a sign of the world to come and a source of more abundant fruitfulness in an undivided heart, entails the obligation of perfect continence in celibacy.

[600] The evangelical counsel of poverty in imitation of Christ who, although he was rich, was made poor for us, entails, besides a life which is poor in fact and in spirit and is to be led productively in moderation and foreign to earthly riches, a dependence and limitation in the use and disposition of goods according to the norm of the proper law of each institute."

Vatican Library, Code of Canon Law, #599 and #600, 2003 edition. The supposed virtues of celibacy and poverty express the preference for the otherworld.

Mundialism is the belief that full detachment from this world hinders fulfillment.

"Our task as humans is to cultivate the world's resources."

Vid Auty, A Creed for Real Christianity, 2017.

Mysticism says that the otherworld deserves all our attention, that the visible world has no value.

Christianoid Mysticism shares this belief with all other forms of Mysticism, some of which predate and probably influenced it.

Earlier forms of Mysticism include (Chinese) Daoism, (Indian) Yoga and Buddhism and (Greco-Roman) Neoplatonism.

Later forms include (Islamic) Sufism, (Judaic) Kabbala and some modern forms of Eclecticism.

Unlike some of those other forms, Christianoid Mysticism sees the cultivation of the otherworld as as cultivation of friendship with God. Thus it superficially resembles Christianity, and has often passed as such.

Christianoid Mysticism has mainly been expressed in what became known as "monasticism" or "the religious life".

The father of Monasticism, Anthony of the Desert, dropped out in c.305 CE.

The anonymous author "Dionysius the Areopagite" (c.750 CE) was in the following centuries the most influential in promoting Christianoid Mysticism.

Among Christianoids, Mysticism has often been implied rather than directly stated, as in the passage from the Canon Law that I have quoted. But I have found nothing more explicit. Heresy, of course, often speaks in equivocations.

Mundialism affirms that what we do in the visible world is important.

"Mundialism" is from Latin mundus "world" but specifically the visible world.

It is not to be confused with "mudane" in the sense of drudgery or lack of imagination.

I cannot find any statement of mundialism earlier than mine. It seems generally to have been presupposed rather than stated. I expect there are statements somewhere.

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