Mystics. By WILLIAM HARMLESS, SJ.

Abstract

In this excellent and very readable introduction to the mystics, the author has adopted a case-study approach to the subject instead of the usual historical or systematic approaches (though he does draw on these to some extent). His approach is reminiscent of the one adopted by William James in his famous Varieties of Religious Experience, though it is crucially and deliberately different. For the underlying argument of the author is that James’s pared down psychological approach is only an element of the truth of mysticism. The psychological approach, otherwise known as the core experience approach, is essentially the view that, if you strip away the trappings of language, historical and social context, and religious ritual, tradition, and doctrine, then you come to something which is pure experience. Bernard of Clairvaux, who gave us the language of mystical marriage, introduced the category of experience into the vocabulary of the Western mystical tradition. But, as Professor Harmless points out, Bernard did not believe we arrived at truth by pure experience but by understanding the Bible experientially. It is clear from the author’s exploration of Sufism and Zen Buddhism that the mystical texts of those traditions are as steeped in the language of those traditions as Western mystical texts are steeped in the Bible. The individualistic, timeless approach pioneered by James has become unpopular with scholars of mysticism, and Harmless, in plain and simple language, has convincingly shown us its inadequacies, striving successfully to give us a more balanced picture. Although he has adopted a case-study approach, unlike James he has taken care to situate each mystic in his or her life and times, rather than to emphasize peak religious experiences. As he says, such experiences do not occur only to an elite and in isolation but, if they occur at all, it is within the day-to-day prayer life and spiritual practices of ordinary prayerful people and is part of their process of growth.