The mystical experience is a universal state of mind, although its specific cultural expression are different. What is the mystical experience? How have those who experienced it reported it? What is its place in world religions? What are its theories? What is its expressions in literature, poetry, art, and music? What is the difference between the ecstatic and the quietistic-meditative mystical experience?

These and other question will be explored in the seminar, while studying a variety of sources - scholarly  texts, direct reports, poetry and art of the mystics - East and West, past and present, from Christianity to Hinduism.