Existential Foundations of Mystery Creativity*

Abstract

Mystery is a state of consciousness in which its visual-figurative, sensual-emo­tional sides, processes of thinking, memory, imagination, memories, etc. are inte­grated. Mystery is realized as a deep transformation of the spiritual world of the person. The basis of the mystery is the image of its object, containing cognitive and value-semantic components. In the value-semantic two existential relations are concentrated – the dependence of the subject on the object of the mystery and the volitional focus on overcoming such dependence, on the disclosure of the mystery. Their interaction generates that high sensual-emotional tension, the manifestations of which are the “exotic” properties of the mystery – ecstasy, meditation, “transpersonal” experiencing the world, “exit” into the unconscious, etc. Secrets are born (with the decisive role of the volitional factor) at the moti­vational stage of the formation of activity in conditions where the objective and (or) subjective possibilities of goal-setting are limited. Such conditions can be caused as an unintended circumstances (objective – on the borders of the known and unknown, developed and undeveloped activity of the subject, ordered and disordered, regular and chaotic; or subjective – poor entity) and deliberate ac­tions (e.g. in the protection of state, commercial, personal secrets, etc.). The mo­tivational model of mystery-making explains the origins of the sacralisation of imaginative imagery, as well as the ability of mysteries to dominate a person.