Mysticism in African Thought

The impact of Christianity and Islam on the African continent has been and continues to be profound. In most places, indigenous religious and practices coexist with, and may form new syncretic traditions with, Christianity and Islam. This results, increasingly, in the overlap and combination of mystical practices and trends. Many of these manifestations, readily observable today, take on a form that departs from the "pure" manifestation of African mysticism and is more in line with the common understanding of mysticism. Nevertheless, in trying to isolate mysticism in indigenous African thought, it becomes apparent that African mysticism is of a different variety than mysticism in Christianity and Islam. To begin with, whereas mysticism in Christianity and Islam primarily focuses on knowledge and communion with the divine, African mysticism focuses on interaction with spirits. Mysticism in Christianity and Islam involves practices such as meditation and asceticism that require the individual to withdraw from the physical world in order to undergo a subjective experience of the divine and the resultant transformation. African mysticism retains a social, worldly focus, deriving its purpose and value from its functionality in effecting change in the society, rather than in the individual only. Christianity and Islam are based on prophetic traditions and written texts. Their respective mystical practices and beliefs have evolved as specific "paths" within the larger traditions, sometimes differing drastically from mainstream practice. These paths have been documented in written form and have developed into types of theology. Indigenous African mysticism is derived from oral traditions that have been evolving over many millennia. In most cases, these traditions are not contained in formal texts and are not associated with prophetic traditions. Mystical practices and beliefs are integrated into the larger, dynamic belief structure, which has no prophetic ideal.