Perhaps the illumination results in realizing that this commonly held belief is really an illusion... (no doubt this might be one reason why traditional humakti cultists view the few enlightened as dangerous heretics only redeemed by the fact that they don't meddle too much in the proper affairs of people).
> >Basically, this makes me wonder whether a mystic may
> >experience failures to refute distractions or seductions, or
> >whether this means once failed, never transcendent? Is
> >mysticism forgiving?
> >
> >Was old-Testament Job a mystic?
>
> No, not at all. Job's revelation is a theist one -- the Lord
> gives and the Lord takes away. Trust the Lord and everything
> will eventually be made right, even if you don't understand
> how.
I think Rene Girard's insights into Job might call this conclusion into question. I think Girard might argue the Job was, in fact, on the path of the mystic, trying to realize the enlightened truth (presented by God to Abraham) that sacrifice was no longer (never?) proper behaviour.
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Viktor Haag : Software & Information Design : Research In Motion
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