Mystical Expereinces in the Ghazals of Attār: A Revew Based on Willam Jame's Theory

According to William James, mystical experiences have four characteristics: ineffability, noetic quality, transiency and passivity; these marks can be found in almost all texts that narrates mystical experiences. In the present article, those ghazals of Āttār that indicate mystical experiences have been extracted, categorized and analyzed. Also, in these poems, some other marks such as heterogeneous imaginations of mystical intuition and missing the mystic have been found. The results of the research show that after coming face to face with the Holy, the mystic is unable to explain Him; for everyone comprehends Him by his/her own way. The mystic misses himself/herself in the process of revelation; after facing the Holy, also, he claims that he/she knows himself/herself much better, and sometimes he/she claims that has obtained knowledge of the outer world. The reports about this knowledge, like the relation of part to whole and the fact that the part contains all of components of the whole, show that there are a lot of similarities between them and the subjects of holography. The mystic complains that facing with the Holy is transient. During the experience, he is passive and there is a profound sense of being taken over.