Jerome Gellman
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195138092
- eISBN:
- 9780199835348
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138090.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter discusses (1) wide and narrow definitions of “mystical experience” and of “religious experience”; (2) categories and attributes of mystical experience; (3) perennialism vs. ...
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This chapter discusses (1) wide and narrow definitions of “mystical experience” and of “religious experience”; (2) categories and attributes of mystical experience; (3) perennialism vs. constructivism; (4) on the possibility of experiencing God; (5) epistemology: The doxastic practice approach and the argument from perception; (6) criticisms of the doxastic practice approach and the argument from perception; (7) religious diversity; (8) naturalistic explanations; and (9) mysticism, religious experience, and gender.Less
This chapter discusses (1) wide and narrow definitions of “mystical experience” and of “religious experience”; (2) categories and attributes of mystical experience; (3) perennialism vs. constructivism; (4) on the possibility of experiencing God; (5) epistemology: The doxastic practice approach and the argument from perception; (6) criticisms of the doxastic practice approach and the argument from perception; (7) religious diversity; (8) naturalistic explanations; and (9) mysticism, religious experience, and gender.
S.J. William Harmless
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195300383
- eISBN:
- 9780199851560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300383.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter shifts from looking at individual mystics to the broader question of the nature and varieties of mysticism. It takes up theoretical issues and examines key threads in the century-long ...
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This chapter shifts from looking at individual mystics to the broader question of the nature and varieties of mysticism. It takes up theoretical issues and examines key threads in the century-long scholarly conversation on mysticism. It brings all this together under three broad headings: mystical texts, mystical communities, and mystical experiences. This three-sided view provides a way of mapping and defining the mystical. It ends with a brief look at Karl Rahner, one of the finest theologians of the twentieth century, exploring his bold claim that being a mystic is not only normal but, in fact, is constitutive of our very nature as human beings.Less
This chapter shifts from looking at individual mystics to the broader question of the nature and varieties of mysticism. It takes up theoretical issues and examines key threads in the century-long scholarly conversation on mysticism. It brings all this together under three broad headings: mystical texts, mystical communities, and mystical experiences. This three-sided view provides a way of mapping and defining the mystical. It ends with a brief look at Karl Rahner, one of the finest theologians of the twentieth century, exploring his bold claim that being a mystic is not only normal but, in fact, is constitutive of our very nature as human beings.
Paul Marshall
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199279432
- eISBN:
- 9780191603440
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199279438.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
The present study is devoted to mystical experiences of the natural world and the disparate ways in which they have been explained. Typically, these so-called ‘extrovertive mystical experiences’ are ...
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The present study is devoted to mystical experiences of the natural world and the disparate ways in which they have been explained. Typically, these so-called ‘extrovertive mystical experiences’ are characterized by some combination of unity, deepened knowledge, sense of contact with reality, self-transcendence, altered time-experience, light, bliss, and love. The experiences are well represented in modern collections of spiritual testimonies, but unlike some other extraordinary experiences, they have received little sustained investigation in recent years. In Part I of the book, the experiences themselves take centre stage, with attention given to definition, phenomenology, present-day incidence, historical occurrence, circumstances, and after-effects. The classic characterizations of extrovertive experience are found wanting, and a more nuanced survey of characteristics is attempted. In Part II, attention turns to the explanation of extrovertive experience, with a survey and critique of a hundred years of explanations that range from the spiritual and metaphysical to the psychoanalytic, contextual, deconstructive, and neuropsychological. Theorists covered include R. M. Bucke and Edward Carpenter on the evolutionary path to cosmic consciousness, liberal Christian thinkers on the divine presence in nature, W. T. Stace and Robert Forman on pure consciousness, Bruce Garside and Steven Katz on the contextual construction of mystical experience, H. N. Wieman and Arthur Deikman on deconstructed, nondual awareness, R. C. Zaehner and Erich Neumann on regression to the Jungian unconscious, Sigmund Freud on the oceanic feeling, neuropsychologists on the biological basis of mystical experience, Aldous Huxley on filtration of Mind at Large, and idealist thinkers on contact with universal consciousness. A recurrent theme is the lack of attention given by theorists to extrovertive phenomenology: many explanations fall down because they fail to address the full range of experiential characteristics. Although no firm conclusion can at present be reached on the essential nature of extrovertive mystical experience, the author favours a transpersonal form of explanation that is rooted in idealist metaphysics, but which is also attentive to the contributions of neuropsychological, collective, and contextual factors.Less
The present study is devoted to mystical experiences of the natural world and the disparate ways in which they have been explained. Typically, these so-called ‘extrovertive mystical experiences’ are characterized by some combination of unity, deepened knowledge, sense of contact with reality, self-transcendence, altered time-experience, light, bliss, and love. The experiences are well represented in modern collections of spiritual testimonies, but unlike some other extraordinary experiences, they have received little sustained investigation in recent years. In Part I of the book, the experiences themselves take centre stage, with attention given to definition, phenomenology, present-day incidence, historical occurrence, circumstances, and after-effects. The classic characterizations of extrovertive experience are found wanting, and a more nuanced survey of characteristics is attempted. In Part II, attention turns to the explanation of extrovertive experience, with a survey and critique of a hundred years of explanations that range from the spiritual and metaphysical to the psychoanalytic, contextual, deconstructive, and neuropsychological. Theorists covered include R. M. Bucke and Edward Carpenter on the evolutionary path to cosmic consciousness, liberal Christian thinkers on the divine presence in nature, W. T. Stace and Robert Forman on pure consciousness, Bruce Garside and Steven Katz on the contextual construction of mystical experience, H. N. Wieman and Arthur Deikman on deconstructed, nondual awareness, R. C. Zaehner and Erich Neumann on regression to the Jungian unconscious, Sigmund Freud on the oceanic feeling, neuropsychologists on the biological basis of mystical experience, Aldous Huxley on filtration of Mind at Large, and idealist thinkers on contact with universal consciousness. A recurrent theme is the lack of attention given by theorists to extrovertive phenomenology: many explanations fall down because they fail to address the full range of experiential characteristics. Although no firm conclusion can at present be reached on the essential nature of extrovertive mystical experience, the author favours a transpersonal form of explanation that is rooted in idealist metaphysics, but which is also attentive to the contributions of neuropsychological, collective, and contextual factors.
Paul Marshall
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199279432
- eISBN:
- 9780191603440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199279438.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter sets the scene for the two major topics under investigation, extrovertive mystical experiences (Part I), and their explanation (Part II). The experiences are introduced by means of some ...
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This chapter sets the scene for the two major topics under investigation, extrovertive mystical experiences (Part I), and their explanation (Part II). The experiences are introduced by means of some examples and a preliminary attempt at definition: the experiences can be called ‘mystical’ because they bring a sense of unity, knowledge, and reality, and they are ‘extrovertive’ because they are orientated towards the natural world. The study of intense and unusual experiences is defended against critics. A historical survey previews the many ways in which extrovertive experience has been explained. Transpersonal, contextual, and intrapersonal contributions to mystical experience are distinguished, and various types of explanation are identified, reductionistic and non-reductionistic. A place for metaphysical enquiry in the study of mystical experience is affirmed, and the benefits and drawbacks of a scholar‘s insider familiarity with mystical experience are noted.Less
This chapter sets the scene for the two major topics under investigation, extrovertive mystical experiences (Part I), and their explanation (Part II). The experiences are introduced by means of some examples and a preliminary attempt at definition: the experiences can be called ‘mystical’ because they bring a sense of unity, knowledge, and reality, and they are ‘extrovertive’ because they are orientated towards the natural world. The study of intense and unusual experiences is defended against critics. A historical survey previews the many ways in which extrovertive experience has been explained. Transpersonal, contextual, and intrapersonal contributions to mystical experience are distinguished, and various types of explanation are identified, reductionistic and non-reductionistic. A place for metaphysical enquiry in the study of mystical experience is affirmed, and the benefits and drawbacks of a scholar‘s insider familiarity with mystical experience are noted.
William Harmless
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195300383
- eISBN:
- 9780199851560
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300383.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Mystics are path-breaking religious practitioners who claim to have experience of the infinite, word-defying mystery that is God. Many have been gifted writers with an uncanny ability to communicate ...
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Mystics are path-breaking religious practitioners who claim to have experience of the infinite, word-defying mystery that is God. Many have been gifted writers with an uncanny ability to communicate the great realities of life with both a theologian's precision and a poet's lyricism. They use words to jolt us into recognizing ineffable mysteries surging beneath the surface of our lives and within the depths of our hearts and, by their artistry, can awaken us to see and savor fugitive glimpses of a God-drenched world. This book introduces readers to the scholarly study of mysticism. The author explores both mystics' lives and writings using a case-study method centered on detailed examinations of six major Christian mystics: Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, and Evagrius Ponticus. Rather than presenting mysticism as a subtle web of psychological or theological abstractions, the author's case-study approach brings things down to earth, restoring mystics to their historical context. He highlights the pungent diversity of mystical experiences and mystical theologies. Stepping beyond Christianity, he also explores mystical elements within Islam and Buddhism, offering a chapter on the popular Sufi poet Rumi and one on the famous Japanese Zen master Dōgen. The author concludes with an overview of the century-long scholarly conversation on mysticism and offers an optic for understanding mystics, their communities, and their writings.Less
Mystics are path-breaking religious practitioners who claim to have experience of the infinite, word-defying mystery that is God. Many have been gifted writers with an uncanny ability to communicate the great realities of life with both a theologian's precision and a poet's lyricism. They use words to jolt us into recognizing ineffable mysteries surging beneath the surface of our lives and within the depths of our hearts and, by their artistry, can awaken us to see and savor fugitive glimpses of a God-drenched world. This book introduces readers to the scholarly study of mysticism. The author explores both mystics' lives and writings using a case-study method centered on detailed examinations of six major Christian mystics: Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, and Evagrius Ponticus. Rather than presenting mysticism as a subtle web of psychological or theological abstractions, the author's case-study approach brings things down to earth, restoring mystics to their historical context. He highlights the pungent diversity of mystical experiences and mystical theologies. Stepping beyond Christianity, he also explores mystical elements within Islam and Buddhism, offering a chapter on the popular Sufi poet Rumi and one on the famous Japanese Zen master Dōgen. The author concludes with an overview of the century-long scholarly conversation on mysticism and offers an optic for understanding mystics, their communities, and their writings.
Pinchas Giller
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195328806
- eISBN:
- 9780199870196
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328806.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This book is a combination of a historical survey of a kabbalistic school and a study of a “lived tradition” that is, a living community of Kabbalists. Beit El has maintained a direct historical link ...
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This book is a combination of a historical survey of a kabbalistic school and a study of a “lived tradition” that is, a living community of Kabbalists. Beit El has maintained a direct historical link to earlier schools going back to the Safed revival. It is assumed that Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism and that, as “mysticism,” it shares common properties with other mystical traditions in the religions of the world. There seems to be little of the mystical experience in Beit El Kabbalah. The metaphysical object of the practice is clear, however. Beit El kabbalah is obviously an authentic form of Jewish esotericism. Boaz Huss of Ben Gurion University has addressed these reasons with a bracing clarity in recent years. The terms of the “study of mysticism” originated in Christology and have often retained an appropriationist dimension. These anxieties have blinded scholars to certain new developments in the history of Kabbalah. Beit El kabbalah may serves as a wedge to distinguish Kabbalah from “mysticism.”Less
This book is a combination of a historical survey of a kabbalistic school and a study of a “lived tradition” that is, a living community of Kabbalists. Beit El has maintained a direct historical link to earlier schools going back to the Safed revival. It is assumed that Kabbalah is Jewish mysticism and that, as “mysticism,” it shares common properties with other mystical traditions in the religions of the world. There seems to be little of the mystical experience in Beit El Kabbalah. The metaphysical object of the practice is clear, however. Beit El kabbalah is obviously an authentic form of Jewish esotericism. Boaz Huss of Ben Gurion University has addressed these reasons with a bracing clarity in recent years. The terms of the “study of mysticism” originated in Christology and have often retained an appropriationist dimension. These anxieties have blinded scholars to certain new developments in the history of Kabbalah. Beit El kabbalah may serves as a wedge to distinguish Kabbalah from “mysticism.”
Shlomo Biderman
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195097030
- eISBN:
- 9780199848805
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195097030.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
What are we to make of a mystic who is trying to reach or convey a unique mystical experience and, at the same time, to base this unique experience on the shared texts of religious tradition? This ...
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What are we to make of a mystic who is trying to reach or convey a unique mystical experience and, at the same time, to base this unique experience on the shared texts of religious tradition? This chapter takes a few steps toward an explanation of this dialectical relation between mystical experience and scriptural exegesis. It focuses on the two conceptual frames that are entangled in the dialectical relations that often seem to characterize the relationship between convictions based on mystical experience and those grounded in scriptural authority. It begins by sketching the major arguments that have been given in favor of a dialectical presentation of mysticism and tradition. In emphasizing the dialectical relations between scripture and mysticism, the chapter suggests a possible explanation of the nature and meaning of this conceptual entanglement. It then turns to Sailkara, the great Hindu exegete and mystic, and shows how the explanation of the dialectical mode offered is clearly present in his writings.Less
What are we to make of a mystic who is trying to reach or convey a unique mystical experience and, at the same time, to base this unique experience on the shared texts of religious tradition? This chapter takes a few steps toward an explanation of this dialectical relation between mystical experience and scriptural exegesis. It focuses on the two conceptual frames that are entangled in the dialectical relations that often seem to characterize the relationship between convictions based on mystical experience and those grounded in scriptural authority. It begins by sketching the major arguments that have been given in favor of a dialectical presentation of mysticism and tradition. In emphasizing the dialectical relations between scripture and mysticism, the chapter suggests a possible explanation of the nature and meaning of this conceptual entanglement. It then turns to Sailkara, the great Hindu exegete and mystic, and shows how the explanation of the dialectical mode offered is clearly present in his writings.
Caroline Franks Davis
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198250012
- eISBN:
- 9780191681233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198250012.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
Proponents of arguments from religious experience often succumb to the demand to provide a brief, precise definition of ‘religious experience’. To widen the definition to include all experiences ...
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Proponents of arguments from religious experience often succumb to the demand to provide a brief, precise definition of ‘religious experience’. To widen the definition to include all experiences referred to as ‘religious’ would be foolhardy, since people often use terms such as ‘religious’ and ‘mystical’ metaphorically, to refer to any experience which is overwhelming, extraordinary, thrilling, or sublime. Definitions involving the term ‘God’ are difficult to work with, since the term admits of such a variety of interpretations. In order to gain a much better understanding of religious experiences than a short definition ever could, this chapter considers a workable idea of what counts as a religious experience and looks at borderline experiences which are not deemed ‘religious’. Different types of religious experience are examined, namely, interpretive, quasi-sensory, and revelatory experiences, as well as regenerative, numinous, and mystical experiences.Less
Proponents of arguments from religious experience often succumb to the demand to provide a brief, precise definition of ‘religious experience’. To widen the definition to include all experiences referred to as ‘religious’ would be foolhardy, since people often use terms such as ‘religious’ and ‘mystical’ metaphorically, to refer to any experience which is overwhelming, extraordinary, thrilling, or sublime. Definitions involving the term ‘God’ are difficult to work with, since the term admits of such a variety of interpretations. In order to gain a much better understanding of religious experiences than a short definition ever could, this chapter considers a workable idea of what counts as a religious experience and looks at borderline experiences which are not deemed ‘religious’. Different types of religious experience are examined, namely, interpretive, quasi-sensory, and revelatory experiences, as well as regenerative, numinous, and mystical experiences.
Caroline Franks Davis
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198250012
- eISBN:
- 9780191681233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198250012.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
The great diversity of religious experiential claims gives rise to two powerful challenges to religious experience. Firstly, the challenge that since subjects cannot agree on a description of the ...
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The great diversity of religious experiential claims gives rise to two powerful challenges to religious experience. Firstly, the challenge that since subjects cannot agree on a description of the alleged percept their experiences must be, at worst, illusory, or, at best, serious misperceptions. In any case, they are generally unreliable. Secondly, the challenge that since the different descriptions tend to be correlated with the subjects' different traditions, a reductionist explanation involving prior beliefs is more plausible than any explanation involving an autonomous holy power. This chapter explores some responses to the first challenge, also known as the conflicting claims challenge. Before considering more promising attempts to resolve the prima facie conflict among numinous and mystical experiences, the alleged conflict among the other types of religious experience is discussed.Less
The great diversity of religious experiential claims gives rise to two powerful challenges to religious experience. Firstly, the challenge that since subjects cannot agree on a description of the alleged percept their experiences must be, at worst, illusory, or, at best, serious misperceptions. In any case, they are generally unreliable. Secondly, the challenge that since the different descriptions tend to be correlated with the subjects' different traditions, a reductionist explanation involving prior beliefs is more plausible than any explanation involving an autonomous holy power. This chapter explores some responses to the first challenge, also known as the conflicting claims challenge. Before considering more promising attempts to resolve the prima facie conflict among numinous and mystical experiences, the alleged conflict among the other types of religious experience is discussed.
S.J. William Harmless
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195300383
- eISBN:
- 9780199851560
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300383.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter discusses two theorists of mysticism, Jean Gerson (1363–1429) and William James (1842–1910). Gerson, the great fifteenth-century churchman and theologian, provides a way to begin to ...
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This chapter discusses two theorists of mysticism, Jean Gerson (1363–1429) and William James (1842–1910). Gerson, the great fifteenth-century churchman and theologian, provides a way to begin to think through the initial issue and near-impossible task of defining mysticism, what it is and what it is not. In his book On Mystical Theology, he defined mystical theology as an experiential knowledge of God that comes through the embrace of unitive love. William James, the father of American pragmatist philosophy and a pioneer in the modern field of psychology, holds mysticism to be a religious experience. James's Varieties of Religious Experience offered a pathbreaking psychological approach to mystical experience, one that has set the terms for many modern investigations. He suggested four qualities that define mystical experience: ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity.Less
This chapter discusses two theorists of mysticism, Jean Gerson (1363–1429) and William James (1842–1910). Gerson, the great fifteenth-century churchman and theologian, provides a way to begin to think through the initial issue and near-impossible task of defining mysticism, what it is and what it is not. In his book On Mystical Theology, he defined mystical theology as an experiential knowledge of God that comes through the embrace of unitive love. William James, the father of American pragmatist philosophy and a pioneer in the modern field of psychology, holds mysticism to be a religious experience. James's Varieties of Religious Experience offered a pathbreaking psychological approach to mystical experience, one that has set the terms for many modern investigations. He suggested four qualities that define mystical experience: ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity.
June O. Leavitt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199827831
- eISBN:
- 9780199919444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199827831.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
Kafka’s clairvoyance was comprised of a diverse assortment of attributes-- paranormal perception, awareness of a mysterious gnosis permeating the world, apprehension of spiritual realms and a ...
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Kafka’s clairvoyance was comprised of a diverse assortment of attributes-- paranormal perception, awareness of a mysterious gnosis permeating the world, apprehension of spiritual realms and a hierarch of beings, a belief in the existence of the soul with a yearning to encounter it, and a type of imagination which generates symbols and images with eschatological undertones. This chapter argues that the diverse assortment of attributes may account for the depiction of a variety of mystical experiences in his texts. The varieties of mystical experience depicted by Kafka are in harmony with experiential esoteric systems whose province is personal revelation. However, the chapter maintains that his writings also provide evidence that he was an enthusiastic participant in a spiritual movement which idealized mystical and clairvoyant modes of consciousness and encouraged their representation in art and literature.Less
Kafka’s clairvoyance was comprised of a diverse assortment of attributes-- paranormal perception, awareness of a mysterious gnosis permeating the world, apprehension of spiritual realms and a hierarch of beings, a belief in the existence of the soul with a yearning to encounter it, and a type of imagination which generates symbols and images with eschatological undertones. This chapter argues that the diverse assortment of attributes may account for the depiction of a variety of mystical experiences in his texts. The varieties of mystical experience depicted by Kafka are in harmony with experiential esoteric systems whose province is personal revelation. However, the chapter maintains that his writings also provide evidence that he was an enthusiastic participant in a spiritual movement which idealized mystical and clairvoyant modes of consciousness and encouraged their representation in art and literature.
Christina Van Dyke
Marcel van Ackeren and Lee Klein (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780197266298
- eISBN:
- 9780191872891
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266298.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter focuses on the corrective and complementary roles that a historically oriented approach can occupy in philosophical discussions. First, it argues that analysis of the development of key ...
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This chapter focuses on the corrective and complementary roles that a historically oriented approach can occupy in philosophical discussions. First, it argues that analysis of the development of key definitions, concepts, principles and so forth can often illuminate problematic prejudices that should motivate a re-examination of the philosophical considerations in their favour. Second, it claims that this re-examination should involve looking at the relevant historical context in which the idea developed. Third, it demonstrates (via the case study of medieval mysticism and modern conceptions of mystical experience) that turning to the relevant historical context can sometimes provide viable philosophical resources with which to complement existing discussions. The chapter concludes by suggesting that this approach can also help philosophers engage in meaningful interaction with scholars working on similar topics in other disciplines.Less
This chapter focuses on the corrective and complementary roles that a historically oriented approach can occupy in philosophical discussions. First, it argues that analysis of the development of key definitions, concepts, principles and so forth can often illuminate problematic prejudices that should motivate a re-examination of the philosophical considerations in their favour. Second, it claims that this re-examination should involve looking at the relevant historical context in which the idea developed. Third, it demonstrates (via the case study of medieval mysticism and modern conceptions of mystical experience) that turning to the relevant historical context can sometimes provide viable philosophical resources with which to complement existing discussions. The chapter concludes by suggesting that this approach can also help philosophers engage in meaningful interaction with scholars working on similar topics in other disciplines.
June O. Leavitt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199827831
- eISBN:
- 9780199919444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199827831.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter creates a classification of signs by which clairvoyant textuality can be evaluated. Subsequently, it examines Kafka’s writings for such signs. Certain diary entries are marked by the ...
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This chapter creates a classification of signs by which clairvoyant textuality can be evaluated. Subsequently, it examines Kafka’s writings for such signs. Certain diary entries are marked by the intrusion of a disembodied being which Kafka designates as “You.” The confusing dialogues which ensue suggest that Kafka’s clairvoyance may have caused apparitions. The dialogues also reflect occult ideology which granted existence to spiritual beings. The story “Unhappiness” is another example of the intrusion of a spiritual entity into a Kafka text. The struggle which takes place between the narrator and the spirit can be interpreted as dramatization of the conflict which Kafka described to Steiner. This chapter also argues that the story “Description of a Struggle,” dramatizes an out-of-body experience which a clairvoyant might have had. The story may also be an attempt at artistic representation of theories espoused by psychical researchers and occult ideologues during Kafka’s lifetime.Less
This chapter creates a classification of signs by which clairvoyant textuality can be evaluated. Subsequently, it examines Kafka’s writings for such signs. Certain diary entries are marked by the intrusion of a disembodied being which Kafka designates as “You.” The confusing dialogues which ensue suggest that Kafka’s clairvoyance may have caused apparitions. The dialogues also reflect occult ideology which granted existence to spiritual beings. The story “Unhappiness” is another example of the intrusion of a spiritual entity into a Kafka text. The struggle which takes place between the narrator and the spirit can be interpreted as dramatization of the conflict which Kafka described to Steiner. This chapter also argues that the story “Description of a Struggle,” dramatizes an out-of-body experience which a clairvoyant might have had. The story may also be an attempt at artistic representation of theories espoused by psychical researchers and occult ideologues during Kafka’s lifetime.
June O. Leavitt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199827831
- eISBN:
- 9780199919444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199827831.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter presents two major implications that can be drawn from Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner that he occasionally experienced states of clairvoyance while writing. First, Kafka’s prose ...
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This chapter presents two major implications that can be drawn from Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner that he occasionally experienced states of clairvoyance while writing. First, Kafka’s prose necessarily contains indications of clairvoyant perception. Second of all, the fact that he deferred to Steiner’s explanation of clairvoyance suggests that Kafka was immersed in the occult discourse of his day, and this discourse would leave traces in his prose. Subsequently, this chapter aims to identify the indications of clairvoyant experience in Kafka’s prose while at the same time it draws attention to occult referents which may have shaped this experience. In addition to presenting definitions of “occult” “occultism” “mystic,” and “mysticism,” the chapter relates to trends in contemporary literary studies that are relevant to a discussion on the mystical life of Franz Kafka but have fallen short of elucidating the textuality of a clairvoyant writer.Less
This chapter presents two major implications that can be drawn from Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner that he occasionally experienced states of clairvoyance while writing. First, Kafka’s prose necessarily contains indications of clairvoyant perception. Second of all, the fact that he deferred to Steiner’s explanation of clairvoyance suggests that Kafka was immersed in the occult discourse of his day, and this discourse would leave traces in his prose. Subsequently, this chapter aims to identify the indications of clairvoyant experience in Kafka’s prose while at the same time it draws attention to occult referents which may have shaped this experience. In addition to presenting definitions of “occult” “occultism” “mystic,” and “mysticism,” the chapter relates to trends in contemporary literary studies that are relevant to a discussion on the mystical life of Franz Kafka but have fallen short of elucidating the textuality of a clairvoyant writer.
Michael W. Dols and Diana E. Immisch
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202219
- eISBN:
- 9780191675218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202219.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The holy fool was an individual who outwardly behaved in an eccentric manner by the commonly accepted standards of his society; inwardly he pursued a religious ideal or was enlivened by mystical ...
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The holy fool was an individual who outwardly behaved in an eccentric manner by the commonly accepted standards of his society; inwardly he pursued a religious ideal or was enlivened by mystical experience. Although holy folly is frequently encountered in many cultures, the ideal of cultivating a highly personal spiritual life to the disparagement of mundane existence is most forcefully displayed in the early Christian Church. The Christian promotion of the holy fool surely had its precedent in the Old Testament prophets, whose outrageous behavior came to be considered symbolic of their divine mission.Less
The holy fool was an individual who outwardly behaved in an eccentric manner by the commonly accepted standards of his society; inwardly he pursued a religious ideal or was enlivened by mystical experience. Although holy folly is frequently encountered in many cultures, the ideal of cultivating a highly personal spiritual life to the disparagement of mundane existence is most forcefully displayed in the early Christian Church. The Christian promotion of the holy fool surely had its precedent in the Old Testament prophets, whose outrageous behavior came to be considered symbolic of their divine mission.
June O. Leavitt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199827831
- eISBN:
- 9780199919444
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199827831.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This book aims to show that the “Kafkaesque” in Franz Kafka may be immediate or residual impressions of the clairvoyance which Kafka admitted he suffered from: Those aspects of his writings in which ...
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This book aims to show that the “Kafkaesque” in Franz Kafka may be immediate or residual impressions of the clairvoyance which Kafka admitted he suffered from: Those aspects of his writings in which the solid basis of human cognition totters, and objects are severed from physical referents, can be understood as mystical states of consciousness. However, this book also demonstrates how the age in which Kafka lived shaped his mystical states. Kafka lived during the modern Spiritual Revival, a powerful movement which resisted materialism, rejected the adulation of science and Darwin and idealized clairvoyant modes of consciousness. Key personalities who were Kafka’s contemporaries encouraged the counterculture to seek the true essence of reality by inducing out-of-body experiences and producing spiritual visions through meditative techniques. Most importantly, they inspired the representation of altered perception in art and literature. Leaders of the Spiritual Revival also called for changes in lifestyle in order to help transform consciousness. Vegetarianism became essential to reach higher consciousness and to return humanity to its divine nature. It is no surprise that Kafka became a vegetarian and wrote several important narratives from an animal’s point of view. Interweaving the occult discourse on clairvoyance, the divine nature of animal life, vegetarianism, the spiritual sources of dreams, and the eternal nature of the soul with Kafka’s dream-chronicles, animal narratives, diaries, letters, and stories, this book takes the reader through the mystical textuality of a great psychic writer and through the fascinating epoch of the great Spiritual Revival.Less
This book aims to show that the “Kafkaesque” in Franz Kafka may be immediate or residual impressions of the clairvoyance which Kafka admitted he suffered from: Those aspects of his writings in which the solid basis of human cognition totters, and objects are severed from physical referents, can be understood as mystical states of consciousness. However, this book also demonstrates how the age in which Kafka lived shaped his mystical states. Kafka lived during the modern Spiritual Revival, a powerful movement which resisted materialism, rejected the adulation of science and Darwin and idealized clairvoyant modes of consciousness. Key personalities who were Kafka’s contemporaries encouraged the counterculture to seek the true essence of reality by inducing out-of-body experiences and producing spiritual visions through meditative techniques. Most importantly, they inspired the representation of altered perception in art and literature. Leaders of the Spiritual Revival also called for changes in lifestyle in order to help transform consciousness. Vegetarianism became essential to reach higher consciousness and to return humanity to its divine nature. It is no surprise that Kafka became a vegetarian and wrote several important narratives from an animal’s point of view. Interweaving the occult discourse on clairvoyance, the divine nature of animal life, vegetarianism, the spiritual sources of dreams, and the eternal nature of the soul with Kafka’s dream-chronicles, animal narratives, diaries, letters, and stories, this book takes the reader through the mystical textuality of a great psychic writer and through the fascinating epoch of the great Spiritual Revival.
Ayon Maharaj
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- November 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190868239
- eISBN:
- 9780190868260
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190868239.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter draws upon Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings and mystical testimony in order to develop a new conceptual framework for understanding the nature of mystical experience. In recent analytic ...
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This chapter draws upon Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings and mystical testimony in order to develop a new conceptual framework for understanding the nature of mystical experience. In recent analytic philosophy of religion, two approaches to mystical experience have been especially influential: perennialism and constructivism. While perennialists maintain that there is a common core of all mystical experiences across various cultures, constructivists claim that a mystic’s cultural conditioning plays a major role in shaping his or her mystical experiences. After identifying the strengths and limitations of these two positions, Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna champions a “manifestationist” approach to mystical experience that provides a powerful dialectical alternative to both perennialism and constructivism. According to Sri Ramakrishna, mystics in various traditions experience different real manifestations of one and the same impersonal-personal Infinite Reality. Sri Ramakrishna’s manifestationist paradigm shares the advantages of both perennialism and constructivism but avoids their respective weaknesses and limitations.Less
This chapter draws upon Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings and mystical testimony in order to develop a new conceptual framework for understanding the nature of mystical experience. In recent analytic philosophy of religion, two approaches to mystical experience have been especially influential: perennialism and constructivism. While perennialists maintain that there is a common core of all mystical experiences across various cultures, constructivists claim that a mystic’s cultural conditioning plays a major role in shaping his or her mystical experiences. After identifying the strengths and limitations of these two positions, Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna champions a “manifestationist” approach to mystical experience that provides a powerful dialectical alternative to both perennialism and constructivism. According to Sri Ramakrishna, mystics in various traditions experience different real manifestations of one and the same impersonal-personal Infinite Reality. Sri Ramakrishna’s manifestationist paradigm shares the advantages of both perennialism and constructivism but avoids their respective weaknesses and limitations.
William Richards
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231174060
- eISBN:
- 9780231540919
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231174060.001.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Psychopharmacology
Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly ...
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Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly three decades of legal research with volunteers, William A. Richards argues that, if used responsibly and legally, psychedelics have the potential to assuage suffering and constructively affect the quality of human life. Richards’s analysis contributes to social and political debates over the responsible integration of psychedelic substances into modern society. His book serves as an invaluable resource for readers who, whether spontaneously or with the facilitation of psychedelics, have encountered meaningful, inspiring, or even disturbing states of consciousness and seek clarity about their experiences. Testing the limits of language and conceptual frameworks, Richards makes the most of experiential phenomena that stretch our conception of reality, advancing new frontiers in the study of belief, spiritual awakening, psychiatric treatment, and social well-being. His findings enrich humanities and scientific scholarship, expanding work in philosophy, anthropology, theology, and religious studies and bringing depth to research in mental health, psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology.Less
Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly three decades of legal research with volunteers, William A. Richards argues that, if used responsibly and legally, psychedelics have the potential to assuage suffering and constructively affect the quality of human life. Richards’s analysis contributes to social and political debates over the responsible integration of psychedelic substances into modern society. His book serves as an invaluable resource for readers who, whether spontaneously or with the facilitation of psychedelics, have encountered meaningful, inspiring, or even disturbing states of consciousness and seek clarity about their experiences. Testing the limits of language and conceptual frameworks, Richards makes the most of experiential phenomena that stretch our conception of reality, advancing new frontiers in the study of belief, spiritual awakening, psychiatric treatment, and social well-being. His findings enrich humanities and scientific scholarship, expanding work in philosophy, anthropology, theology, and religious studies and bringing depth to research in mental health, psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology.
Stephen R. Lloyd-Moffett
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195162271
- eISBN:
- 9780199850365
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162271.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
César Chávez could be said to be the most famous Latino figure in US history. He indirectly stepped into the gap left by the Mission Band and other civil rights advocacy groups silenced by Cold War ...
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César Chávez could be said to be the most famous Latino figure in US history. He indirectly stepped into the gap left by the Mission Band and other civil rights advocacy groups silenced by Cold War patriotism and the growing conflict in Vietnam. Like Father Martínez in New Mexico, Chávez drew inner strength and resolve from his Catholic faith and its popular traditions, symbols, and rhetoric. This chapter shows that Chávez was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and the civil rights movement. His fasts and pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento were shaped by his reported deep mystical experiences with God. This chapter argues that we do not hear more about the spiritual dimension of Chávez's activism because the liberal intelligentsia have deliberately secularized his image to suit their own political and ideological goals.Less
César Chávez could be said to be the most famous Latino figure in US history. He indirectly stepped into the gap left by the Mission Band and other civil rights advocacy groups silenced by Cold War patriotism and the growing conflict in Vietnam. Like Father Martínez in New Mexico, Chávez drew inner strength and resolve from his Catholic faith and its popular traditions, symbols, and rhetoric. This chapter shows that Chávez was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and the civil rights movement. His fasts and pilgrimage from Delano to Sacramento were shaped by his reported deep mystical experiences with God. This chapter argues that we do not hear more about the spiritual dimension of Chávez's activism because the liberal intelligentsia have deliberately secularized his image to suit their own political and ideological goals.
June O. Leavitt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199827831
- eISBN:
- 9780199919444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199827831.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter presents the classical theory about clairvoyance and contrasts it to Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner about being clairvoyant and to the discourse on clairvoyance popularized by the ...
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This chapter presents the classical theory about clairvoyance and contrasts it to Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner about being clairvoyant and to the discourse on clairvoyance popularized by the modern Theosophical movement. The chapter analyzes the statement that Kafka made to Steiner during their meeting that his soul yearned for “Theosophy,” in light of the tremendous impact which the founder of modern Theosophy, Madame H.P. Blavatsky, made on European arts, literature and culture.Less
This chapter presents the classical theory about clairvoyance and contrasts it to Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner about being clairvoyant and to the discourse on clairvoyance popularized by the modern Theosophical movement. The chapter analyzes the statement that Kafka made to Steiner during their meeting that his soul yearned for “Theosophy,” in light of the tremendous impact which the founder of modern Theosophy, Madame H.P. Blavatsky, made on European arts, literature and culture.
