Read complete books and articles on: Mysticism

Mysticism - mĭsˈtĭsĭzəm [Gr.,=the practice of those who are initiated into the mysteries], the practice of putting oneself into, and remaining in, direct relation with God, the Absolute, or any unifying principle of life. Mysticism is inseparably linked with religion. Because of the nature of mysticism, firsthand objective studies of it are virtually impossible, and students must confine themselves to the accounts of mystics, autobiographical and biographical, or, as the mystics themselves say, they must experience for themselves. The terms mystic and mysticism are used very broadly in English, being extended to mean magic, occultism, or the esoteric.

The Nature of Mysticism

There are certain common fallacies current about mysticism: that mystics are not "practical" and that they are revolutionary; on the contrary, many of the greatest mystics have been both intensely active as well as submissive to authority of whatever sort. Nor is the "solitary thinker" necessarily, or even usually, a mystic. There is no accepted explanation of mysticism, and few psychologists have interested themselves in its practice. William James studied the nature of mysticism but reached no conclusion that satisfied him. A significant philosophical evaluation of mysticism was made by Henri Bergson.

There are two general tendencies in the speculation of mystics—to regard God as outside the soul, which rises to its God by successive stages, or to regard God as dwelling within the soul and to be found by delving deeper into one's own reality. The idea of transcendence, as held most firmly by mystics, is the kernel of the ancient mystical system, Neoplatonism, and of Gnosticism. Their explanation of the connection between God and humans by emanation is epoch-making in the philosophy of contemplation. Among those who think of God, or the Supreme Reality, as being within the soul are the Quakers (see Friends, Religious Society of) and the adherents of Vedanta.

The language of mysticism is always difficult and usually symbolic. This is readily seen in the Song of Songs in the Old Testament, in the book of Revelation in the New Testament, and in the writings of William Blake. Mystics, especially those of the Roman Catholic and the Islamic traditions, have made use of a terminology borrowed from ordinary human love. A conventional analysis is as follows: The soul undergoes a purification (the purgative way), which leads to a feeling of illumination and greater love of God (the illuminative way); after a period the soul may be said to enter into mystical union with God (the unitive way), which begins with the consciousness that God is present to the soul; the soul progresses through a time of quiet and an ecstatic state to a final perfect state of union with God (spiritual marriage). Late in this process there is an experience (the dark night of the soul) wherein the contemplative finds himself completely deserted by God, by hope, and, indeed, even by the power to pray; it lasts sometimes for years.

Visions, voices, ecstasies may accompany any or none of the states of contemplation before the final union. It is because of these external and nonessential manifestations that the erroneous idea has arisen that all enthusiastic and nonintellectual religious movements are necessarily mystical. The positive convictions of the mystic arise from the fact that they are based on what he or she must regard as objective reality directly perceived.

Great Mystics and Mystical Traditions

Among the principal contemplatives of Christianity from post-Apostolic times to the Reformation are Clement of Alexandria, Origen, St. Augustine, the false Dionysius the Areopagite, Cassian, St. Gregory I, Erigena, St. Peter Damian, St. Anselm, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Joachim of Fiore, Richard of Saint Victor, Hugh of Saint Victor, Hadewijch, St. Gertrude, St. Francis, Jacopone da Todi, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, Ramon Lull, Dante, Eckhart, Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck, Groote, Thomas à Kempis, Nicholas of Cusa, Rolle of Hampole, Walter Hilton, Juliana of Norwich, Margery Kempe, St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Catherine of Siena, Gerson, St. Bernardine of Siena, and St. Joan of Arc. The Catholic tradition was continued by St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Theresa of Ávila, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Theresa of Lisieux. Orders that have given their name to types of mysticism are Carmelites, Carthusians, and Cistercians.

Among great Protestant mystics are Jakob Boehme and George Fox, founder of Quakerism, the foremost Protestant mystical movement. In the 17th and 18th cent. much literature of the contemplative life was written by the metaphysical poets and by Henry More, William Law, and others. Extremes in post-Reformation mysticism are seen in Jansenism (see under Jansen, Cornelis) and in quietism; and Emanuel Swedenborg may be regarded as a Protestant mystic. Also included in the mystic tradition were the Hermetic philosophers and the Alchemists.

In Judaism the mystical tradition represented by the kabbalah was continued in the modern Hasidism. For Islamic mysticism, see Sufism; al- Ghazali; Farid ad-Din Attar; Jalal ad-Din Rumi; Muin ad-Din Hasan Chishti; Hafiz; Jami; Sadi. For Hindu mysticism, see Vedanta; yoga; Aurobindo Ghose; Chinmoy Ghose; Dayananda Saraswati; Ramakrishna; Vivekananda; Yogananda. For Buddhism, see Zen Buddhism; Buddha; Milarepa; Daisetz Suzuki. See also Taoism.

Bibliography

See R. M. Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion (1909, repr. 1970); S. N. Dasgupta, Hindu Mysticism (1927, repr. 1959); E. A. Peers, Studies of the Spanish Mystics (3 vol., 1927–60); E. Underhill, Mysticism (rev. ed. 1930, repr. 1961); J. de Marquette, Introduction to Comparative Mysticism (1949); D. T. Suzuki, Mysticism: Christian and Buddhist (1957, repr. 1971); W. T. Stace, Mysticism and Philosophy (1960); R. C. Zaehner, Hindu and Muslim Mysticism (1960, repr. 1969); G. G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (3d ed. 1961); D. Knowles, The English Mystical Tradition (1961); E. O'Brien, Varieties of Mystical Experience (1964); E. C. Butler, Western Mysticism (3d ed. 1967); L. H. Bridges, American Mysticism (1970); G. Parrinder, Mysticism in the World's Religions (1976); D. R. Blumenthal, Understanding Jewish Mysticism: A Biography of Rama Krishna (1985).

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12 of the Best Books and Articles on: Mysticism

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Understanding Mysticism » Read Now
by Richard Woods. 588 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...Contemporary Lifestyle . UNDERSTANDING MYSTICISM Edited by Richard Woods, O.P. IMAGE...Main entry under title: Understanding mysticism. Bibliography Includes index. 1...
2.

Understanding Mysticism, in The Psychological Record » Read Now
by Linda J. Hayes. 23 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library
3.

Understanding Mysticism: Transpersonal Theory and the Limits of Contemporary Epistemological Frameworks,in Re-vision » Read Now
by Donald Rothberg. 17 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

...Understanding Mysticism: Transpersonal Theory and the Limits...us to understand the phenomena of mysticism? 1 How do the main contemporary epistemologies...frameworks to...
4.

Mysticism and Language » Read Now
by Steven T. Katz. 262 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

This is a collection of original essays designed to continue and expand the groundbreaking discussion begun in Katz's previous collections, Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (OUP 1979) and Mysticism and Religious Traditions (OUP 1984). The publication of the earlier volumes established Katz as a...
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This is a collection of original essays designed to continue and expand the groundbreaking discussion begun in Katz's previous collections, Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis (OUP 1979) and Mysticism and Religious Traditions (OUP 1984). The publication of the earlier volumes established Katz as a leading authority on mysticism and a major figure in the study of comparative religion, and his approach to the subject has been both influential and controversial. Each of the ten essays included in Mysticism and Language analyzes the relationship between language and mystical experience in one of the world's great religious traditions. The essays are by some of the foremost authorities in the field, including Ninian Smart, William Alston, Moshe Idel, Bernard McGinn, Carl Ernst, Ewert Cousins, Steven Katz, Bernard Faure, Stephen Phillips, and Bimal Matilal.
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5.

The Mystical Society: An Emerging Social Vision » Read Now
by Phillip Wexler. 168 pgs.

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6.

The Innate Capacity: Mysticism, Psychology, and Philosophy » Read Now
by Robert K. C. Forman. 245 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, Entire Library

This book is the sequel to Robert Forman's well-received collection, The Problem of Pure Consciousness (Oxford, 1990). The essays in the earlier volume argued that some mystical experiences do not seem to be formed or shaped by the language system--a thesis that stands in sharp contradistinction to...
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This book is the sequel to Robert Forman's well-received collection, The Problem of Pure Consciousness (Oxford, 1990). The essays in the earlier volume argued that some mystical experiences do not seem to be formed or shaped by the language system--a thesis that stands in sharp contradistinction to deconstruction in general and to the "constructivist" school of mysticism in particular, which holds that all mysticism is the product of a cultural and linguistic process. In The Innate Capacity, Forman and his colleagues put forward a hypothesis about the formative causes of these "pure consciousness" experiences. All of the contributors agree that mysticism is the result of an innate human capacity, rather than a learned, socially conditioned and constructive process. The innate capacity is understood in several different ways. Many perceive it as an expression of human consciousness per se, awareness itself. Some hold that consciousness should be understood as a built-in link to some hidden, transcendent aspect of the world, and that a mystical experience is the experience of that inherent connectedness. Another thesis that appears frequently is that mystics realize this innate capacity through a process of releasing the hold of the ego and the conceptual system. The contributors here look at mystical experience as it is manifested in a variety of religious and cultural settings, including Hindu Yoga, Buddhism, Sufism, and medieval Christianity. Taken together, the essays constitute an important contribution to the ongoing debate about the nature of human consciousness and mystical experience and its relation to the social and cultural contexts in which it appears.
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7.

Mysticism: Holiness East and West » Read Now
by Denise Lardner Carmody, John Tully Carmody. 323 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

The particulars of a mystical experience color and shape its essence. But as Denise and John Carmody tell us, be it a Native American vision quest, or the intense soul-wrenching experience of a great storm, or a passionate love, or a dialogue in deep prayer with a personal divinity--any of these can...
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The particulars of a mystical experience color and shape its essence. But as Denise and John Carmody tell us, be it a Native American vision quest, or the intense soul-wrenching experience of a great storm, or a passionate love, or a dialogue in deep prayer with a personal divinity--any of these can be considered a mystical episode, if it draws us into a direct encounter with ultimate reality. In Mysticism: Holiness East and West, the Carmodys apply this broad definition of mysticism--a direct encounter with ultimate reality--to mystical experiences found in the world's great religions, providing insight into mysticism and into religious practice around the globe. The Carmodys offer an informative survey of the six major world religions--the Hindu, Buddhist, Chinese, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions--and they also examine the religious practices of North American, Latin American, African, and Australian native peoples. They illuminate the history, principal beliefs, and teachings of each religion, and then examine the lives and works of each tradition's outstanding mystics. They show, for instance, how yoga has played a large role in the development of the mystical outlooks that we can trace to India, how prophecy has been significant in the mysticism of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and how shamanism has characterized oral religious practice. We learn how Greek ideas about God came to furnish the basic language of Christian mysticism, from the concerns of the desert fathers for virtue and vice, to the flights into the divine darkness of Gregory, Denis, and the author of The Cloud of Unknowing. Equally important, the Carmodys compare the mysticism found in one tradition with that found in the others, revealing how mystical practice varies widely from one religious group to the next. They find, for instance, that Jewish mystical experience has seldom been given to the magical flight practiced by native American shamans, nor has it over-regarded miracle working. Likewise, the book compares John of the Cross's negation of the self with the Indian doctrine of "not this, not that," which relates to the Buddhist idea of Nirvana. Mystical experience takes us to the center of the world, the source of all creation, the divine place where all that happens finds its sense. Yet it may well be the least understood dimension of humanity's yearning for ultimate meaning. In providing a comprehensive and accessible guide to mysticism, the Carmodys have done a major service for anyone seeking mystical experience and for all those interested in religion as practiced throughout the world.
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8.

Mysticism and the Modern Mind » Read Now
by Alfred P. Stiernotte. 210 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library

...MYSTICISM AND THE MODERN MIND I CANNOT accept any definition which identifies mysticism with excited or hysterical emotionalism, with sublimated...ERIERSON 2...
9.

The Essentials of Mysticism and Other Essays » Read Now
by Evelyn Underhill. 250 pgs.

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...THE ESSENTIALS OF MYSTICISM THE ESSENTIALS of MYSTICISM AND OTHER ESSAYS BY EVELYN UNDERHILL 1920 LONDON...years. They deal with various aspects of the subject of...
10.

The Changing Shape of Late Medieval Mysticism, in Church History » Read Now
by Bernard McGinn. 23 pgs.

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11.

Mysticism without Transcendence: Reflections on Liberation and Emptiness, in Philosophy East & West » Read Now
by Louis Nordstrom. 7 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library

...Louis Nordstrom Mysticism without transcendence: Reflections...liberation and emptiness Most writers on mysticism would agree that transcendence is...that there cannot be...
12.

Topomystica: Investigation into the Concept of Mystic Place, in Journal of Cultural Geography » Read Now
by Paul G. Chamberlain. 26 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library