Catholic views on Far Eastern Enlightenment (Moksha / Nirvana)?

[TheReturnofLive]

Because I can be a little devil that likes needless speculations, I'll ask this question:

For those Far Eastern monks or individuals who lay claim to the experience of Moksha or Nirvana, and lay claim to having an experience of the universe as it exists and the all-encompassing reality of life and existence, what is the Catholic response?

Is it possible that these people are experiencing God? Demonic delusion? Neurotic delusion? Passion-based delusion? A foretaste of Hell? A foretaste of Heaven? A demonic parody of Union with God? An experience with the "Unknown God"?

[Insanis]

Because I can be a little devil that likes needless speculations, I'll ask this question:

For those Far Eastern monks or individuals who lay claim to the experience of Moksha or Nirvana, and lay claim to having an experience of the universe as it exists and the all-encompassing reality of life and existence, what is the Catholic response?

It is psychological, a feeling.

Truth isn't a feeling.

This can be done with enough psychological training, or with drugs. It is the brain only.

Is it possible that these people are experiencing God? Demonic delusion? Neurotic delusion? Passion-based delusion? A foretaste of Hell? A foretaste of Heaven? A demonic parody of Union with God? An experience with the "Unknown God"?

Probably psychological states most of the time, maybe demonic if they go beyond natural experiences, definitely not supernatural.

[Michael Wilson]

I read this book once about a man that started eating "natural foods" for his health; in most health foods stores there is material that emanates from the new age; he got into the new age; crystals; meditation; etc. Even drugs to induce deeper mystical experiences; he dedicated a whole room of his office to just a meditation room; spent a lot of time in there; once he was having one of his greatest trips, when all of a sudden the "screen" in front of him ripped and all of a sudden he was face to face with the devil. He struggled to wake up and get away from the fiend all night; and finally woke up in the morning exhausted; he threw out all of his paraphernalia and started warning people against the new age movement. The new age is closely connected to the Eastern occult religions; no coincidence there.
A good book that explains the New Age infiltration into the Catholic Church is "The Unicorn in the Sanctuary".

[DigitalLogos]

Because I can be a little devil that likes needless speculations, I'll ask this question:

For those Far Eastern monks or individuals who lay claim to the experience of Moksha or Nirvana, and lay claim to having an experience of the universe as it exists and the all-encompassing reality of life and existence, what is the Catholic response?

Is it possible that these people are experiencing God? Demonic delusion? Neurotic delusion? Passion-based delusion? A foretaste of Hell? A foretaste of Heaven? A demonic parody of Union with God? An experience with the "Unknown God"?

In short: they are merely experiencing the natural abilities of the human soul.

There is a good book out there with a pre-conciliar imprimatur called "Occult Phenomena in the Light of Theology" by Alois Wiesinger which discusses many of the occult and theosophic phenomena experienced by so-called "mystics" and how it compares to what is taught in Catholic theology on the soul and mystical experience. He found that many of these experiences are most certainly valid, and not due to demonic influence (although rare, this still does happen), but are merely a result of natural abilities of the soul.

So, a Buddhist or Hindu claiming some sort of transcendental experience isn't necessarily an invalid experience, but it is not "transcendental" in the sense of being in union with God like some Catholic mystics and saints. Rather, they are simply tapping into what is already possible for the soul to do separate from the body.

Further, Russian Orthodox hieromonk Fr. Seraphim Rose has a book on the afterlife called "The Soul After Death" where he again relates and analyses these kinds of claims. I only recommend reading this if you have a strong Catholic Faith because it does come from a schismatic. But, he comes to the same conclusion as the good abbot Wiesinger: that these are by-and-large products of one experiencing natural capabilities of the soul, not necessarily genuine experiences of God. One of the most interesting things he covers is when he talks about NDEs (near-death experiences) and how they commonly share the characteristics of weightlessness, bliss, heavenly lights, fearlessness, etc., and he again relates this to the soul rather than a genuine experience of heaven.

It reasonably follows that a disembodied soul wouldn't have the rigors of the body in that state, and would therefore "feel" clarity and bliss because it isn't encumbered by the sinful body. Yet, this does not mean that they have attained heaven or "nirvana" or something contrary to Christian teaching. In his view, they have entered the "aerial realm" (known as the preternatural realm in Catholic teaching) wherein the rational disembodied souls reside (such as devils and angels). So while one could experience some sort of weightless bliss when they leave their bodies, they are still in danger of the demonic because they have entered "their" realm.