Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

The notions of faith and reason are two sources to approach religion. Faith is the mystical experience of God, and reason is its philosophical approach. The former is in sharp contrast with the latter. Any reasoning that tries to return us to mystical experience detaches us more from that moment. In fact, mystical experience is a secret moment when reasoning collapses and it remains enigmatic, yet reasoning itself is the moment of secret because its target is to control human thought, an experience of impossible for a deconstructionist because there is nothing as certainty in thought. My purpose is to study the description of mystical experience, by using Rumi’s, Iranian 13 Century Mystic poet, poetic experience of mysticism, and mention that such description is not theological (experience of God), but religious (reasonable description of mystical experience). The term “religious” is borrowed from Jacques Derrida because for him religion has two sources which are “the religion of cult… [and] moral religion which is interested in good conduct of life”. Such a concept leads us to a concept of “god” that has nothing to do with God. Reason remains a secret (not a transcendental meaning), but as an abysmal condition that leads to more reasoning. The contradiction, favourable to deconstruction, is the duality of the “faith” in God and the “knowledge” of God. Their existence is through their dependence on each other, yet none can help the other to arrive at a certain concept of understanding of God.