Difference between genius and mysticism

In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates speaks of the four types of Divine madness(ecstasy) – prophetic, initiatory, poetic and erotic – which humans can obtain as gifts from the Gods.  The gift of prophecy exemplified by the oracle at Delphi comes from Apollo, the mystic rites which bring relief from hardship are a gift from Dionysus, the gift of poetry is seen in those artists who are possessed by the Muses and lastly, the gift of love, which Socrates calls the best of the four, is derived from Eros[1].  This fourth madness is the universal love manifested by the mystic; it is, according to Socrates, “imputed to him who, when he sees the beauty of earth, is transported with the recollection of the true beauty; he would like to fly away, but he cannot; he is like a bird fluttering and looking upward and careless of the world below; and he is therefore thought to be mad”[2].

My words will remain imprinted on your soul

There is a golden thread which knits together the lives of all sages.  Behind their unique beatific personalities and inimitable ways of expression, they are all manifesting the same Divine Consciousness.  It is this underlying unity which forms the basis for the similar phenomena that are visible in their lives.   This article examines their ability to utter those aphoristic Truths which continue to resonate long after they are gone.

Sri Aurobindo on synchronicity

The eminent Swiss psychologist Carl Jung coined the term synchronicity to describe what he called “temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events“.  A disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, Nirodbaran, once experienced this type of uncanny acausal coincidence.  In this brief post, we read Sri Aurobindo’s explanation of synchronicity.  Synchronous events occur because, unbeknownst to us, we are eternally in communion with the people around us through the inner sheaths of our consciousness, and sometimes those hidden perceptions float to the surface, making us respond in some striking fortuitous manner which our plodding reasoning mind would not have otherwise exhibited.