Here's a beautiful insight about the notion of "ecstasy": In much of Western thought, the word ecstasy is traced back to the Greek ékstasis "displacement, mental distraction, astonishment, trance," from eksta-, stem of existánai "to displace, drive out of one's senses, confound." As such, there is a great deal of emphasis on the non-rational nature of mystical experience, and the need to go "beyond" one's own self. There is surely an element of going beyond mere rationality in many ecstatic and mystical experiences, but in the Islamic tradition there is a subtle difference from the above: Ecstasy is not about an escape or going outside or beyond, but rather to go fully within. The word for ecstasy is "Wajd (Persian: Vajd)." Wajd is tied to Wujud, which is existence or being. In other words, to be ecstatic is not about going outside or beyond who and what we are, but to find out what we truly are. If we knew what we are, who we are whose we are we would be ecstatic.
