Das Begehren der Mystik

To understand mysticism as pure desire is to grasp its criteriological character as the suspension of any fulfilment - including "God" - by an object. It is thus desire as immanently living self-desire, whereby not only the tradition of negative theology since the early days of Christianity can be integrated, but also the universality of mystical experimentation in other forms of spirituality such as Buddhism and Sufism, but also in a non-religious mysticism such as that of Bataille and Lacan. In addition to an interpretation of mysticism that is currently mostly characterised by metaphorical contexts, the original "desire of mysticism" is therefore analysed radically phenomenologically in its significance for cognition and practice par excellence. As a principal test for every subjective human being in its affective corporeality, the question ultimately arises as to whether such a pre-religious "mysticism of life" cannot be relevant at all for our cultural future.