Mystical Consciousness Research Articles

Особенности трансформации мистической антропологии Вячеслава Иванова в 1930-е гг.: статья «Anima» в свете мистериально-дионисийского метатекста

The article «Anima» is the most important Ivanov’s work during the period of emigration, representing his religious and mystical views to the European reader. It presents a kind of symbolic and phenomenological description of the dynamic structure of religious and mystical consciousness. In our article, we have three goals: 1) to establish a conceptual relationship between the early (article «Ty esi») and the late («Anima») version of Ivanov’s mystical anthropology, 2) to describe the transformations of Ivanov’s mystical anthropology in the 1930th, 3) to establish the specifics of Ivanov’s mystical-religious worldview. The research material is Ivanov’s religious and philosophical works, his epistolary and scientific works. In the course of the research, we used comparative, hermeneutical, contextual, and motivic-thematic analysis methods. First, we define the place of the article «Anima» in the Ivanov’s work during the period of emigration, then we describe the structure of the Dionysian-mysterial plot, which acts as a generative model of Ivanov’s mystical anthropology. The Dionysian-mysterial plot is devined as such a dialectically organized mythological narrative, which is based on the orphic mythologeme of the tearing of Dionysus by Titans and his resurrection. Then we characterize the plot of «Ty esi» as an expanded symbolic narrative representing Ivanov’s mystical anthropology. This narrative presents a dramatic story of the relationship between Psyche-Anima (feminine, irrational principle), Eros-Animus (masculine, rational) and the Self, the superpersonal principle, the divine center of personality. The main content of the study is the analysis of the content of the article «Anima», in the process of which we record the transformations of Ivanov’s religious and mystical thought. One of the most significant innovations in the «Anima» is the comparison of the plot of «Ty esi» with Dostoevsky's «basic myth», which is understood as a transformation of one of his lines – the mysterial one. Dostoevsky’s «basic myth» is an archetypal plot about how demonic-type heroes, false Animuses (Raskolnikov, Rogozin, Stavrogin, Versilov, Ivan Karamazov) are rejected by female characters personifying Psyche, a wanderer who is waiting for her heavenly Bridegroom, i.e. a transformed hero. Another fundamentally important innovation of the «Anima» is the introduction of Friedrich Nietzsche’s fate into the context of Ivanov’s mystical anthropology. She is identified with the mysterial line of the plot «Ty esi», which explains the nature of the madness of the Basel philosopher by the betrayal of his Anima.

Neurophenomenology and Neuroepistemology Approaches to Integrating Constructivist, Perennialist, and Universalist Perspectives on Mystical Experiences

Differences among constructivist, perennialist, and universalist perspectives on mystical experiences are bridged with neurophenomenology and neuroepistemology perspectives that illustrate constructivist and deconditioning processes and universal innate experiences. These approaches show that phenomenal similarities and differences in the features of meditative experiences are related to specific brain functions and processes. This illustrates that recurrent forms of mystical consciousness involve the activation or suspension of specific brain functions and their forms of knowing. Meditators’ deliberate modifications of brain processes engage constructivist and deconditioning processes that provide access to intrinsic states understood as mystical experiences. Deconditioning of habitual cognitive processes through meditation changes habitual attention and cognition, permitting access to preconceptual awareness and normally unconscious intrinsic mental processes. Different mystical experiences involve changes in specific neurologically mediated forms of self that provide the basis for universal forms of mystical experience. Neuroepistemological perspectives on qualia of meditative states and their relations to mental processes and brain features provide a framework for understanding recurrent forms of mystical experiences as natural brain states.

The Poet’s Knowledge of God: The Work of Parvin Etesami in the Context of the Iranian Spiritual Tradition

The subject of this article is the mystical poetry of Parvin Etesami (1907–1941). In it, we analyse the religious foundations of the poet’s work of the first half of the twentieth century (a turning point in Persian culture), which continue the Persian tradition of searching for God on the paths laid by her predecessors and express her knowledge of God in old poetic forms (monazere, qasida) with a new poetic language. The study of the poetic ontology of Parvin Etesami, that is, of her reflections on God, is based not only on a collection of 60 poems published in Russian (Journey of a Tear, 1984), but primarily on precise translations of Etesami’s poems, published for the first time in the article, which could not be included in the Soviet edition and which were carried out by two of the authors of this article. The article analyses the poet’s ideas about God as the creator of man, about God’s predestination(the establishment of man’s mission on earth as a reflection of divine beauty), and about the Grace of God as the essence of human destiny. In the monologues of the dervishes, ideal personalities in the verses of Parvin, the value of the fruits carried by the mystical consciousness of one who has achieved contemplation of true reality is affirmed. It opposes the ideas of ordinary consciousness, for which the style of behaviour of the mystic is like madness. The love for God and God’s love are shown in Etesami’s poetry as the centre of the heart, so that externally manifested religiosity (the Kaaba as a shrine is the architecturally revealed centre of the world) and the inner comprehension of God (the Kaaba of the heart) are affirmed by Parvin in their complementary wholeness. In this way, it is shown that in the verses of Parvin, fidelity to the thousand-year-old spiritual tradition and individual creativity appear as an organic unityTransl.: Koshemchuk T. A., Reisner M. L., Yahyapour M. 2022. The Poet’s Knowledge of God: The Work of Parvin Etesami in the Context of the Iranian Spiritual Tradition. Concept: Philosophy, Religion, Culture. 6(2). P. 41–58. DOI: https://doi. org/10.24833/2541-8831-2022-2-22-41-58. (In Russian)

Mystical ineffability: a nonconceptual theory

This paper discusses the nonconceptual theory of mystical ineffability which claims that mystical experiences can’t be expressed linguistically because they can’t be conceptualized. I discuss and refute two objections against it: (a) that unconceptualized experiences are impossible, and (b) that the theory is ad hoc because it provides no reason for why mystical experiences should be unconceptualizable. I argue against (a) that distinguishing different meanings of ‘object of experience’ leaves open the possibility of non-empty but objectless nonconceptual experiences. I show that (b) is a valid objection but can be countered by a new theory of mystical non-conceptuality: mystical experiences are not conceptual because the specific mode of mystical consciousness prevents conceptualization. The dissolution of the subjectivity of consciousness during mystical experiences undermines the very foundation of the possibility of conceptual thought and thus renders them ineffable.

The Poetics of Color “Cattleya Labiata” in the Lyrics by Vladimir Nabokov: Data from the Dictionary of Lexical Combinations

Purpose. The study is devoted to the description of the poetic world of V. V. Nabokov-lyricist, more precisely – its color fullness on the example of purple. The method of multidimensional lexicographic description of the color aspect of Nabokov's poetic world is proposed. The presented article offers observations on the dictionary of lexical combinations with a color component, the data for which were obtained using the original software system “Hypertext Search for Companion-words in Author’s Texts”.Results. The use of the software package makes it possible to find stable groups of lexemes in the works of a poet, “passing” from poem to poem. Tokens are adjacent to each other at some distance and usually do not show obvious connections between themselves. These are lexical combinations. They mark common language, general poetic and individual author associations that arise unconsciously in authors. Some of purple’s satellites are obviously attracted by the sound. Purple partners organize the space, emphasizing the top of the vertical and outlining the horizontal landscape; indicate the time; note the presence of plants and humans, mark mystical (religious) consciousness. The properties and characteristics of objects and phenomena associated with purple are due to the play of light. A positive emotional state associated with purple is obvious.Conclusion. In his “purple” lexical combinations Nabokov follows the golden age of Russian poetry, describing the celestial sphere or characterizing the earth's surface, but radically diverges, transferring this color association to the plant world, the mystical region and man. The proximity of purple to God or Russian, as well as to the characteristics of a cheerful disposition, is Nabokov’s idiosyncrasy.

Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness

AbstractThis article focuses on the meeting of faith traditions—interfaith dialogue—from the perspective of mystical consciousness. In doing so, it aims to understand the dynamics and potentialities of interfaith mysticism. The contribution of this article to religious studies, in combination with theological inquiry, is threefold: first, it illuminates how the Trinity is directly experienced in interfaith contexts; second, it provides an interfaith framework that accounts for the possibilities, complexity, and challenges of interfaith encounters; third, it shows how Gavin Flood’s three orders of discourse—traditions’ experience and texts, interpretation within traditions, and academic inquiry—can be applied to the study of interfaith mysticism, employing a phenomenological emphasis on hermeneutics. The inquiry is located within the context of representatives of Hindu mystical consciousness (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo) and the Christian interfaith tradition (Henri Le Saux, Bede Griffiths, David Steindl-Rast), in conversation with Raimon Panikkar’s and Francis X. Clooney’s approaches to interreligious studies.

The Poet’s Knowledge of God: the Work of Parvin Etesami in the Context of the Iranian Spiritual Tradition

The subject of this article is the mystical poetry of Parvin Etesami (1907–1941), the article analyzes the religious foundations of the poet's work of the first half of the 20th century (the era of the turning point in Persian culture), continuing the Persian tradition of searching for God on the paths laid by her predecessors and expressing her knowledge of God in old poetic forms (monazere, qasida) with a new poetic language. The study of the poetic ontology of Parvin Etesami, that is, the poet's reflections on God, is based not only on the collection of 60 poems published in Russian (Journey of the Tear, 1984), but primarily on the exact translations of the poems of the Persian poet published for the first time in the article, which could not be included in the Soviet edition and which were carried out by two of the authors of the article. The article analyzes the poet's ideas about God as the creator of man, about God's predestination — the establishment of human mission on earth as a reflection of divine beauty, and about the Grace of God as the essence of human destiny. In the monologues of the dervishes, ideal personalities in the verses of Parvin, the value of the fruits carried by the mystical consciousness of a person who has achieved contemplation of true reality is affirmed. It opposes the ideas of ordinary consciousness, for which the style of behavior of the mystic is like madness. The love to God and the love of God are shown in the poetry of Parvin as the center of the heart, so that externally manifested religiosity (the Kaaba as a shrine is the architecturally revealed center of the world) and inner comprehension of God (the Kaaba of the heart) are affirmed by Parvin in their complementary wholeness. In this way, it is shown that in the verses of Parvin, fidelity to a thousand-year-old spiritual tradition and individual creativity appear as an organic unity.

Studi Komparasi Konsep Tuhan dalam Mistisisme Jawa dan Advaita Vedanta Adi Śańkarācārya

Mysticism gives a different nuance in defining the concept of God. Because this is related to the individual experience of those who reach the mystical consciousness, awareness of God in mysticism cannot be reached by reason or empirically but through the way of the senses in mind. This article attempts to explain the concept of God in Javanese mysticism and Advaita Vedanta Adi Śańkarācārya. The method used in this research is (library research). The results of this study are 1) the concept of God in Javanese mysticism (Sangkan Paraning Dumadi) and Advaita Vedanta (Brahman as the highest and absolute reality) is monistic theism, namely understanding God as one (transcendent monotheism). 2). In the view of Javanese mysticism, the universe is sourced from God and will return to God, while in Advaita Vedanta, apart from Brahman as an absolute reality, everything else, including nature, is an illusion of Maya. 3). To achieve God's consciousness, Javanese mysticism emphasizes doing Heneng, Hening, Henong, and Catur Lampah Laku, with the spiritual path to reach Manunggaling Kawula Gusti. Whereas in Advaita Vedanta, the union between Atman and Brahman can be achieved by removing the veils of Maya and avidya (ignorance).

Mistycyzm integralny w ujęciu Bernarda McGinna

Bernard McGinn is widely considered the preeminent scholar of mysticism in the Western Christian tradition. He is a leading authority on the thought of the 14th-century mystic Meister Eckhart as well as on various issues concerning apocalypticism. His current long-range project is a six-volume history of Western Christian mysticism under the general title The Presence of God , five volumes of which have already been published. He is the Naomi Shenstone Donnelley professor emeritus of Historical Theology and professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Chicago Divinity School. This article aims to explain his understanding of mysticism, which has been described as integral. Instead of trying to define mysticism, B. McGinn prefers to discuss the term under three headings: mysticism as an element of religion, mysticism as a process and mysticism as an attempt to express a direct consciousness of the presence of God. In his theory of mysticism there appear four fundamental categories that organize the content of this paper, namely: context, process, presence and consciousness . Mysticism in his approach should be considered in its broad context as a part of a particular religion and fulfillment of a spirituality within the community of believers, as well as a developing spiritual process of individual existence. The term presence McGinn finds as most useful for grasping the unifying note in the varieties of Christian mysticism. On the other hand mystical consciousness has been found as a more precise and fruitful concept than the highly ambiguous term of mystical experience . Generally the essence of B. McGinn’s understanding of mysticism can be summarized in his own words as “Christian belief and practice that concerns the preparation for, the consciousness of, and the effect of what the mystics themselves have described as a direct and transformative presence of God.” Professor McGinn’s considerations on the mysticism covered in this presentation constitute a substantial contribution to a contemporary discussion on the nature of mysticism.

Religion, Authoritarianism and the Perpetuation of Capitalism: The Role of Atheism in a Marxist Critical Pedagogy

A central tenant of a Marxist critical pedagogy is a critique of the role education can, and does, play within a superstructure that validates and maintains a capitalistic base. Recognizing the great hegemonic potential of education, such critical pedagogues have long sought to usurp its power – especially in the case of mass, compulsory schooling – and reverse its current; transforming it into a tool of enlightenment and empowerment for those whose exploitation serves as fuel animating the capitalist tyranny. In seeking to manipulate, if not outright commandeer, the role that education plays within the superstructure, we acknowledge that the maintenance of the capitalist base requires the development of a specific human character and, in turn, a specific “form of social conscience” – informed by what Marx and Engels (1932/1996) described as the “ruling ideas” that represent the “ideal expression of the dominant material relationships” (p.61). As Erich Fromm (1941) indicated, there is a dynamic correlation between the structure of human character within a given society and the economic base of that society. In other words, the maintenance of any particular “way of life” requires a compatible, if not mirrored, version of human consciousness and character. Fromm (1941) argued that even intellectuality itself “…aside from the purely logical elements that are involved in the act of thinking, [is] greatly determined by the personality structure of the person who thinks” (p. 305). This, Fromm (1941) continued, “holds true for the whole of a doctrine or of a theoretical system, as well as for a single concept, like love, justice, equality, sacrifice” (p. 306). Education therefore, when carefully shaped and crafted, can serve the pernicious goal of providing those in power with an invaluable tool for nurturing and shaping a particular human character, consciousness and epistemology that is tuned to the specific needs of a respective base. Although such a revelation seems obvious, should one require further convincing, we need look no further than the desperate efforts to control education by some of the most authoritarian regimes in history, from Hitler to Stalin to Kim Jung-un. As Anton Makarenko (1955), architect of Stalin’s educational system, wrote, “It was clear to me that many details of human personality and behavior could be made from dies, simply stamped out en masse … although of course the dies themselves had to be of the finest description, demanding scrupulous care… by the communist party” (pp.267-268). Conversely, when education is conceived as an act of liberation, illuminating systems of oppression, it becomes an equally powerful threat to the dominant. For such liberatory education, as Marx (1843) contended, …our motto must be: reform of consciousness not through dogmas, but by analysing the mystical consciousness that is unintelligible to itself, whether it manifests itself in a religious or a political form (p. 46). In short, a liberated mind has never been the outcome of dogmatic training - regardless of its source.

Spirituality in Contemporary Ireland: Manifesting Indigeneity

Spirituality in Contemporary Ireland:Manifesting Indigeneity1 Bernadette Flanagan (bio) and Michael O’Sullivan (bio) The focus of this essay is an examination of a few of the contours of the spiritual search in contemporary Ireland, a society where the form and structures of a long dominant Roman Catholic tradition are becoming less influential and are being resisted, opposed, or rejected by some people. This search—to a greater or lesser extent—seeks to unite a perennial inner yearning with external practices in a new social context. Uniquely, Ireland has an indigenous, spiritual tradition that has a strong ecological core, which is in tune with the spirit of the age. A return to some of the practices of this tradition is proving attractive to many contemporary Irish spiritual seekers. The current intersection then of two spiritual streams, one hidden but enduring, the other dominant but shamed publicly through the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in Ireland, is not dissimilar to the process described by the French cultural theorist of mysticism Michel de Certeau. When reflecting on the sociocultural context in which mysticism blossomed in sixteenth and seventeenth century Spain, de Certeau notes that the hidden mysticism present in Judaism’s historical heritage such as that which came from the Essene community, the Kabbalah and the Book of Splendor (Sefer ha-Zohar) broke through in the mystical writings of Teresa of Avila, whose paternal family line was of Jewish stock.2 Similarly, Julia Kristeva has identified an allusion to the seven palaces of Jewish mysticism’s Sheva Hekalot in the imagery of the Interior Castle.3 The blossoming forth of Spanish mysticism occurred in the context of the fragmented and contested religious landscape of a post-Reformation social reality. Philip Sheldrake has pointed out Certeau’s insight that mystics often tend to be socially, culturally or religiously sequestered in a liminal space.4 This insight is relevant for an understanding of the process of change underway in Ireland, where shared certainties of a common religious affiliation are unravelling. For example, it is not uncommon in media interviews with those visiting indigenous holy sites such as Croagh Patrick or Lough Derg to speak of being distant from formal religious structures and yet being willing to undertake demanding spiritual practices and journeys. Sheldrake notes as well de Certeau’s analysis of themes in the history of mysticism that include an abiding [End Page 55] Click for larger view View full resolution The Pilgrim. Courtesy Richard Levine [End Page 56] call to wander, to journey seeking a kind of mysticism of historical place. The current religious landscape in Ireland reflects this tendancy, which de Certeau describes in which the wanderer, seeker or pilgrim yearns, like Mary Magdalene, to discover the site of the presence beyond the empty tomb.5 The emergent contemporary expression of indigenous Irish spirituality embraces this pilgrim spirit through a resurgence of practices grouped broadly as “pilgrim path” practices. It is also notable that de Certeau has challenged the view that references to dark night experiences in various mystical texts refer primarily to inner, personal states of disillusionment. Instead, he emphasizes the environmental conditions which precipitate such states.6 The fruitfulness of his perspective is evident in Flanagan’s recent discussion of the close relationship between the current cultural shift in Ireland and the emergence of a renewed mystical consciousness.7 Keeping in mind de Certeau’s attentiveness to mystical awakening on the margins, we can turn to the insights of another notable group of scholars who have been to the fore in providing critical frameworks for reading everyday spiritual practice and popular piety as a window into the soul of society. These theorists include the North American triad of Nancy Annerman, Meredith McGuire and Robert Orsi.8 These three scholars have collectively developed a new way of understanding spirituality within a society. Rather than studying the practices of spirituality as it is defined by a religious organization (for example, Catholic spirituality as it is defined by the Catholic Church), they draw attention to the lived expression of a spirituality in people’s everyday lives. In this group of three, the Harvard scholar Robert Orsi has won many awards for...

Hermeneutic Neurophenomenology in the Science-Religion Dialogue: Analysis of States of Consciousness in the Zohar

Many mystical texts convey insights into the nature of mind that have the potential to assist in the framing of scientific models in psychology and neuroscience. In many cases, however, the insights are concealed within complex, codified symbolic systems, meaning that the reader must engage with the hermeneutic employed by the texts’ authors in order to access the insights. Combining such a hermeneutic approach with that of neurophenomenology can enrich the input from mysticism to science. I exemplify this hermeneutic neurophenomenology through an analysis of states of mystical consciousness as portrayed in the classic of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar. Three distinct mystical states are identified, each of which is understood as being dominated by a specific dimension of consciousness. The normal state of consciousness is dominated by the narrative construction of self. The first mystical state arises as this narrative is attenuated, allowing the intentionality of perception and emotion to become the dominating dimension. The second mystical state comes to the fore as the mystic increasingly identifies with an associational propensity at the core of memory processing. The final mystical state conveys the essential feature of consciousness—phenomenality—with little, if any, intentional content. I explore how the Zohar’s insights into these states can combine with neurocognitive data and thereby enrich our understanding of consciousness.

Multiple States of Consciousness in a Point of Time: Inadequacy of Psychological Constructs and Need for Quantum Perspectives

A much repeated theme in spiritual experiences is that the subject often feels that he can experience multiple states at the same time or he can experience multiple states of time. This theme of simultaneous multiple states of awareness are a unique subject the scientific understanding of which remains almost nil. The most common simultaneously existing states of awareness recorded in the spiritual literature is that of an inner blissful state of awareness along with the awareness of the outer world perceived through the sensory flow of information. On one hand, the inner state of blissfulness (a meditative/spiritual experience) is a realm of unique world which encompasses a plethora of strange and unique experiences. At the same time, the reported awareness of the outer world perceived through the sensory flow of information is the same as always. At present, there is no psychological construct which could explain such an existence and mostly such experiences have been rejected as para-psychological or mystical. However, before rejecting the very theme of dual-consciousness at the outset, it is important to evaluate the possibility of simultaneous existence multiple experiences in other disciplines. In fact, such a theme has some analogies in quantum mechanics. It is a well-known fact that quantum states exist in multiple superimpositions of space time probabilities. In this article, we will explore another under -studied concept of quantum mechanics- the many minds view (MMV). We will explore the perspectives of MMV from the vantage points of both Albert & Loewer as well as that of Lockwood. At the end of this exploration we will be concluding that in both of these versions of MMV, the existence of multiple states of consciousness is an arguable possibility and thus MMV can be explored further for explaining these mystical consciousness experiences.

“A Necessary but Not Sufficient Condition”:

ABSTRACT In 1957, Aldous Huxley published The Doors of Perception, a work that would galvanize debates regarding the sacredness and profaneness of mystical consciousness. In connecting psychedelically inspired, unmediated perception with mystical, and perennial, modes of understanding, Huxley, critics like R. C. Zaehner declared, elided the conditions that make mystical consciousness possible, inserting an amoral universal monism where only theistic doctrines should function. The comparative debates that subsequently emerged over the nature of real versus ersatz mysticism, while questioning critically the connection between morality and mysticism, ultimately extend beyond a mere critique of psychedelic culture. More distinctly, the debates over the “authenticity,” “truth,” and ethical weight of psychedelic mysticism demonstrate the challenges perennial beliefs posed to traditional, supernaturally based monotheistic religions. What critics of psychedelic mysticism fail to understand, as evidenced by Zaehner's extended critique of Huxley, is the efficacy of psychedelics as a sacramental source for reimagining the experience of everyday living. The significance of reading the perennial undertones of the psychedelic experience can thus be found in Huxley's overarching religious proclamation: “The truth is, of course, that we are all organically related to God, to Nature and to our fellow men.” To inhabit the perennial philosophy as a mode of being makes unitive interconnection the lived expression of reality; it reveals, as Huxley's final psychedelic revelation signifies, that “one never loves enough.” Indeed, as this article argues through an engagement with the comparative debates that emerged in the 1960s, the liminal spaces unveiled in psychedelic consciousness—between the divine wonders of theism and the natural emptiness of monism—helped the 1960s counterculture reimagine, and reengage, complex dialogues between self and other, between the always already and the never quite yet. In so doing, psychedelic mysticism comes to represent an entry point into a perennial religion in which the divisive characteristics of modern religious and political positions gives way to an unmediated space of interconnection. Here, then, the psychedelic becomes the entheogenic: it inspires—as it did for members of the Marsh Chapel Experiment, a case study this article concludes with—a unitive, spiritual experience structured within an alteration of consciousness unbounded and unlimited.

HERE AND NOW: DISCOVERING THE SACRED WITH ENTHEOGENS

AbstractRenewed research with entheogens (psychedelic substances) has been able to facilitate the occurrence of mystical forms of consciousness in healthy volunteers with a high degree of reliability. This article explores the potential significance of this development for religious scholars, especially those interested in the study of mysticism. The definition of “mystical consciousness” employed in this research is presented and differentiated from visionary/archetypal and other types of alternative mental states. The ways in which entheogens may be employed with skill and maximum safety are discussed. Implications for clarifying confusion in the study of mysticism are considered, along with suggestions for future religious research on this frontier of knowledge.

The Colorful Depictions of God in Mystical Consciousness

The Colorful Depictions of God in Mystical Consciousness

Loving in the context of community mental health practice: a clinical case study and reflection on mystical experience

Current research on mystical experience is offering community mental health professionals the opportunity to re-consider the role of love within clinical care. In psychological literature the historical conflation of love and sexuality is fraught with ethical concerns about professional impropriety, and the abuse of power. But the intimacy, intensity and beauty to be found within the therapeutic process bears the hallmark of the mystical, alluded to by Carl Rogers near the end of his career. This embodied experience that researchers are striving to understand in client populations is overlooked within the context of the therapeutic relationship. Described as the “essence” of love, or mystical consciousness, this liminal and transformational experience has the capacity to challenge and refresh the medicalised, often inhospitable, culture of community mental health by helping “professionals” re-discover that in treating the help-seeker they are always treating the Sacred Self.

Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism : An Appreciation

Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism: An Appreciation Lawrence Cunningham (bio) Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) published her best-known work Mysticism in 1911. It has never gone out of print.1 In fact, Bernard McGinn has judged that it is one of the best-known books on Christian mysticism ever to be published in the English language.2 The year 2011 marked the one hundredth anniversary of its publication; so it seems like an opportune moment for making a critical reassessment of her work. Such a reassessment will also serve, I believe, to help us judge the actual state of scholarship on the tangled topic of Christian mysticism. That the title of this essay uses the word “appreciation” should not be taken to mean that the book is without deficiencies. Still, I think Underhill’s book deserves appreciation both because it accomplished as much as it did, given the limitations of scholarship at the time, and because it has found an appreciative audience for a century. The very word “mysticism” only entered the English lexicon in the mid-eighteenth century. Nor has it been used uniformly in a positive sense. Indeed, Underhill herself, as if she were summarizing the popular use of the term, tells her readers in her preface that she does not intend the word to mean: “an excuse for every kind of occultism, for dilute transcendentalism, vapid symbolism, religious or aesthetic sentimentality, and bad metaphysics. On the other hand, it has been freely employed as a term of contempt by those who have criticized those things.”3 What Underhill describes in this passage is how the term was vulgarly used in her day. Underhill’s work was not a single flower blooming in an indifferent desert. There was already an increasing interest in Christian mysticism during the Edwardian period. Dean William Ralph Inge delivered the Bampton Lectures on Christian mysticism in 1899. Three years before Underhill’s work was published, Baron Von Hugel published, in two-volumes, The Mystical Element in Religion, which, despite its somewhat idiosyncratic nature, was a highly influential work. Von Hugel, in fact, would later become Underhill’s spiritual director, a few years after the publication of Mysticism, orienting her more firmly into relationship with the person of Christ and encouraging her active participation into the life of the church.4 Underhill admired Rufus Jones, the American Quaker, whose book, Studies in Mystical Religion, was published a [End Page 106] few years before her own, and she was also familiar with the classic work of William James (Varieties of Religious Experience), though she found his analysis of mysticism wanting.5 Click for larger view View full resolution Evelyn Underhill, Courtesy of Retreat House, Pleshey Mysticism is divided into two large sections. The first, entitled, “The Mystic Fact” argues that there is a form of consciousness that we can rightly call “mystical.” Underhill roughly categorizes mystics as falling under three broad categories: those who are seekers or pilgrims; those who cultivate an interiority of the heart; and, finally, those who follow the ascetic path.6 The second half of the book develops under the rubric “The Mystic Way.” The former section takes as its point of departure an exposition of vitalism. Influenced by her reading of Henri Bergson, she traces this mystical consciousness in psychology and investigates its relationship to theology and symbolics while, at the same time, carefully distinguishing it from “magic” (the term that was then used in anthropology). The latter part of the book is a kind of synthesis of her capacious reading in the literature of the mystics themselves. This literature was mostly Christian, but some was also from non-Christian traditions (e.g. The Upanishads, Sufi poetry). [End Page 107] When one consults letters from the period she was doing research for Mysticism, it is astounding to find how much she read when such literature was not easily obtainable in critical translations.7 She read the work of Saint Teresa of Avila in French and engaged a friend to translate some of the German texts on mysticism, including the work of Meister Eckhart. She relied on anthologies for some sources and used Paul Sabatier for analysis of Franciscan sources. She knew...

Time, Eternity, and Trinity

SUMMARY This paper addresses three issues. In the first part the relation between consciousness and time is being discussed as it developed in the history of philosophy and theology. This covers Plato, Plotinus and St. Augustine. It continues in the second part to describe that time is being perceived in the mystical consciousness as eternity which means in this context timelessness. Examples from world religions are offered. The question is asked if this eternity in mystical experience can be understood as relating to the eternity of God or as a mere self-experience. In order to settle this question mystical experiences are being interpreted from the angle of modern neuroscience as the result of self-organizing processes of meditation that can be described as attractors. In the final third part it is suggested to discern the eternity of mystical states of mind as timelessness from eternity as an attribute of the triune God. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Dieser Artikel behandelt drei Themenkreise. Im ersten Teil geht es um die Beziehung zwischen Bewusstsein und Zeit, wie sie in der Philosophie- und Theologiegeschichte diskutiert wurde, insbesondere bei Platon, Plotin und Augustinus. Im zweiten Teil wird Zeit im Kontext mystischer Erfahrung als zeitlos verstandene Ewigkeit beschrieben. Dafür werden Beispiele aus den Weltreligionen gegeben. Es wird die Frage behandelt, ob diese Ewigkeitserfahrung der Mystik mit der Ewigkeit Gottes in Verbindung gebracht werden kann, oder ob es sich um eine reine Selbsterfahrung handelt. Um diese Frage zu klären, wird diese Ewigkeitserfahrung vom Standpunkt moderner Neurowissenschaft betrachtet. Zeiterfahrung wird so als Teil selbstorganisierender neuronaler Prozesse gesehen, die mit Attraktoren im Sinne der Chaostheorie beschrieben werden können. Im letzen Teil wird vorgeschlagen, die Ewigkeitserfahrung mystischer Zustände von der Ewigkeit als Attribut des dreieinen Gottes zu unterscheiden.

Mystical Consciousness: A Modest Proposal

Much of the recent literature on mysticism has taken mystical experience as a central theme. The term itself is not only recent, but also involves complexities both of a theoretical and historical character. The proposal advanced here is that mystical consciousness, understood as the meta-conscious co-presence of God in the entire process of experiencing, understanding, affirming, loving, and deciding, may provide a more adequate way to deepen our understanding of claims to have attained the direct presence of God. Calling upon resources from the transcendental method of Bernard Lonergan, the essay applies an approach based on consciousness analysis to the writings of three classic mystics: Meister Eckhart, Nicholas of Cusa, and John of the Cross.