What did Ezekiel see? As we begin our short but chronological examination of the genre of spiritual autobiographies, I think it is important to acknowledge the great role that both intertextuality and prophetic texts play in the Western branch of spiritual autobiography. Loosely defined, intertextuality is a term used to define the relationship between texts to one another. Intertextuality has a particularly complex relationship with spirituality. Although scholars of comparative religion such as Steven Katz or Evelyn Underhill argue about whether mystics who speak of satori, moksha, or d'vekut, are truly speaking about the same phenomenon when they write about no-self, liberation, or cleaving, respectively, in many Western mystical texts, even the very language used to convey these experiences is a palimpsest of stories and images.
The Book of Ezekiel and the vision of the Merkabah in the first chapter of his prophetic narrative has been the model for later expressions of Jewish mysticism as well as John of Patmos' Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible. In the essay, "The Problem of Pure Consciousness," Katz has famously argued that "there are no unmediated religious experiences." Though Katz' argument pertains more directly to the phenomenology of religious experience, we might apply it to the material culture and literary depiction of mysticism as well. Hence John of Patmos' written testament of visionary experience echoes Ezekiel's because he has inherited the archetypal images from a cultural tradition, namely that of the Jews. It should of course be conceded that John's vision differs slightly from Ezekiel's, but they notably share much of the same language.
The religious language of the West--mystical or not--is largely intertextual. Indeed, even Ezekiel's Hebrew mirrors that of Jacob's vision of the ladder from Genesis 28:10-22. One could claim that these writer's are speaking about the same experiences and as such, their language mirrors each other. On the other hand, one could also make the counterclaim that an ineffable experience requires the language of a culturally authenticated other experience for validation.
What do you think about the role of literary models in spiritual texts? Do these models and the appropriation of their imagery make novel depictions of spiritual experience seem any less or more convincing?
When Ezekiel had his vision I believe he had a vision of God and the Heavens. God appeared and delivered his message to Ezekiel. He wanted him to take his message and carry it on to the rebellious Israelites. God made Ezekiel ingest the scroll with his word and take it to Israel. Ezekiel also describes four figures that appear before him. These figures are incredibly creative and therefore make the telling of his story almost more believable in a way. The figures are described in such a way that could almost not be thought up by man, making them seem as if they were created by a divine being.
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ReplyDeleteEzekiel's vision describes something Angelic, in the likeness of man, but each with four faces, four wings, calves feet and sparkling in a coulor of bronze. Though this could be a vision of god, I think more likely angelic figures such as Cherubim or Seraphim. It is interesting to see different spiritual prophets views or visions of godlike or angelic entities because of the wide variety in how they describe them. Most likely this is because of the inability to accurately describe a spiritual experience through text. Ezekiel is struggling to describe an ineffable experience, and the result is an almost nonsensical description. That being said Ezekiel does follow a pretty standard literary model that we see in many other spiritual texts. Ezekiel includes specific places and dates for context, as well as what is happening outside of his own experience. I feel like any Autobiographical experience should include those non-self centered elements to add context if anything. He goes on to use that context as the reason for his divine experience. I feel as though this model of spiritual autobiographical text adds believably to the work, because of the sheer detail put into it.
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