Natural Metaphors: Expressions of Mystical Experience in John of the Cross, Etty Hillesum, and Björk

Mystical writings use natural metaphors—rivers, gardens, fire, wind—not as decorative language but as symbolic systems that articulate the ineffable through elemental earthly terms. This essay argues that such metaphors sustain a theology of embodiment, relationality, and transformation across epochs and artistic media, bringing together the poetry of John of the Cross, the diaries of Etty Hillesum, and the music and visual art of Björk. The work advocates for a decolonial hermeneutics that resists rigid doctrinal frameworks and colonial interpretations, recognizing mystical experience as still unfolding in the present through poetry, diary, and sound—where theology becomes a matter of vibration, beauty, and embodied openness.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, academic approaches to mysticism often risk reducing the Mystery to an object of erudition and historical distance, as if mystical experience belonged solely to a pre-modern past. Yet, when one encounters the “natural metaphors” that emerge within mystical writings—images of rivers, gardens, fire, and wind—it becomes almost impossible to silence the invitation to perceive the sacred as still unfolding in the present. This article proposes an embodied and associative reflection that brings into conversation the poetry of John of the Cross (1542–1591), the intimate diaries of Etty Hillesum (1914–1943), and the musical and visual work of the contemporary artist Björk Guðmundsdóttir (b. 1965). Through this triadic encounter, I argue that natural metaphors are not mere literary ornaments but symbolic languages that articulate the ineffable through the elemental languages of the earth. They sustain a theology of embodiment, relationality, and transformation that traverses epochs and artistic media. The study also seeks to fracture rigid and hegemonic readings that have confined mystical texts within colonial geographies of interpretation—readings that domesticate spiritual experience through rigid doctrinal frameworks. In contrast, this essay advocates for a decolonial hermeneutics of the mystical imagination, one that recognizes how the natural, the esthetic, and the spiritual interweave in the polyphony of the world. By reading John of the Cross, Hillesum, and Björk together, I suggest that mystical experience continues to unfold today through poetry, diary, and sound—where theology becomes not only a matter of thought but of vibration, beauty, and embodied openness to the Mystery.