Mysticism as Invalid

1. Mysticism relies on the premise that consciousness has metaphysical primacy
2. consciousness does not have metaphysical primacy
3. mysticism is false

Mysticism refers to any epistemology which holds that it is possible to obtain knowledge apart from the senses. At its root, mysticism is an example of the primacy of consciousness—to verify simply consider how it is that the mystic claims to know whether his intuitions are correct or not. He is certainly not verifying them by reference to some existent as one might verify the sky to be blue by pointing at it—the mystic knows without the senses, so this is out. He is also not verifying any claims with logic—logic is the art of non-contradictory identification, it is the method of reason and is based at its core on reference to perceptual data. Rather, the mystic attempts to validate his conclusions based upon ineffable feelings—in short, the mystic takes the stance “I think this is true because I feel like it is.”

This is simply an absurd notion—feelings are not supernatural conduits to reality, they are the product of one’s past thinking and ideas. To say that you feel a certain way means only that in the past you had certain thoughts which then imply the emotion at hand—this does not show that said thoughts from which the feeling arises are indeed accurate. You require a method of validating those thoughts—this method is the method of reason.

The stance that thinking something is true actually makes it true relies on the prior metaphysical premise that your thoughts are the basis of reality and the standard of truth—that consciousness is the fountainhead of reality—that consciousness has metaphysical primacy.