The Means of the Verifiability of Mystical Disclosures

The cognitive basis of theoretical mysticism (or gnosis, ÝirfÁn)—as a school of thought that aims to understand reality—is mystical disclosure, vision, and intuition. The divergent, and sometimes even opposing, visions of the mystics is one of the most important issues that challenges the validity of mystical disclosure and intuition as a basis and source of cognitive knowledge. The article acknowledges the diversity in the levels and types of mystical visions, but goes on to present the most important criteria found in the works of the mystics that distinguishes true from false visions.