The mystical perception of both self and world is sub specie aeternitatis, a vantage point beyond time from which ordinary consciousness and experience seem like a state of estrangement. Indeed, the stronger the mystical perspective, the more sharply ordinary existence appears to be a life of blindness, bondage, and misery, a plight that triggers compassion, sadness, and sometimes even anger. When this experience is combined with a sagacious intellect, the result is insight.
