CHAPTER IV THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICISM Mysticism and Magic—Distinction between them—The Way of Love and the Way of ... Mystic has obtained contact with the Absolute—He is a spiritual genius—All men have latent mystical feeling—Such ...

Author: Underhill Evelyn

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 9781351341462

Category: Religion

Page: 594

View: 563

Read Now »

This book falls naturally into two parts: each of which is really complete in itself, though they are in a sense complementary to one another. Whilst the second and longest part contains a somewhat detailed study of the nature and development of man’s spiritual or mystical consciousness m the first is intended rather to provide an introduction to the general subject of mysticism. Exhibiting it by turns from the point of view of metaphysics, psychology, and symbolism, it is an attempt to gather between the covers of one volume information at present scattered amongst many monographs and texts books written in divers tongues, and to give the student in a compact form at least the elementary facts in regard to each of those subjects which are most closely connected with the study of the mystics.

In Evelyn Underhill's popular study, Mysticism (1911), she defines mysticism as "experience in its most intense form."I A mystic writes, Underhill argues, because she is "often a literary artist as well" and is able to clothe her ...

Author: Amy Hollywood

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 9780521863650

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 390

View: 284

Read Now »

The Cambridge Companion to Christian Mysticism is a multi-authored interdisciplinary guide to the study of Christian mysticism, with an emphasis on the 3rd through the 17th centuries. Written by leading authorities and younger scholars from a range of disciplines, the volume both provides a clear introduction to the Christian mystical life and articulates a bold new approach to the study of mysticism.

Mysticism (1911) Underhill's greatest book, Mysticism: A Study of the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual Consciousness, was published in 1911, and is distinguished by the very qualities which make it inappropriate as a ...

Author: Henry Epps

Publisher: Lulu.com

ISBN: 9781300160489

Category:

Page:

View: 114

Read Now »

In the early 1920s her perspective began to shift from writing about mysticism to giving retreats on various themes of the ... in her three earliest works: Mysticism (1911), The Mystic Way (1913), and Practical Mysticism (1914).

Author: Susan Rakoczy, IHM

Publisher: Paulist Press

ISBN: 9781587685835

Category:

Page:

View: 634

Read Now »

59. For example , James , Varieties of Religious Experience ( 1902 ) and Underhill , Mysticism ( 1911 ) ; Staal , Exploring Mysticism ( 1975 ) , esp . pp . 173 , 189 ; Stace , Mysticism and Philosophy ( I960 ) . 60.

Author: Jess Byron Hollenback

Publisher: Penn State Press

ISBN: 0271015527

Category: Religion

Page: 646

View: 300

Read Now »

This sweeping study of mysticism by Jess Hollenback considers the writings and experiences of a broad range of traditional religious mystics, including Teresa of Avila, Black Elk, and Gopi Krishna. It also makes use of a new category of sources that more traditional scholars have almost entirely ignored, namely, the autobiographies and writings of contemporary clairvoyants, mediums, and out-of-body travelers. This study contributes to the current debate about the contextuality of mysticism by presenting evidence that not only are the mystic's interpretations of and responses to experiences culturally and historically conditioned, but historical context and cultural environment decisively shape both the perceptual and affective content of the mystic's experience as well. Hollenback also explores the linkage between the mystic's practice of recollection and the onset of other unusual or supernormal manifestations such as photisms, the ability to see auras, telepathic sensitivity, clairvoyance, and out-of-body experiences. He demonstrates that these extraordinary phenomena can actually deepen our understanding of mysticism in unexpected ways. A unique feature of this book is its in-depth analysis of "empowerment," an important phenomenon ignored by most scholars of mysticism. Empowerment is a peculiar enhancement of the imagination, thoughts, and desires that frequently accompanies mystical states of consciousness. Hollenback shows its cross-cultural persistence, its role in constructing the perceptual and existential environments within which the mystic dwells, and its linkage to the fundamental contextuality of mystical experience.

mystical may in fact be states of psychological disorder, but that nonetheless one cannot rule out the possibility that ... Evelyn Underhill's sprawling work on mysticism, and in particular her widely disseminated book Mysticism (1911), ...

Author: Arthur Versluis

Publisher: SUNY Press

ISBN: 9781438466330

Category: Philosophy

Page: 172

View: 642

Read Now »

Restores the Platonic history and context of mysticism and shows how it helps us understand more deeply the humanities as a whole, from philosophy and literature to art. In Platonic Mysticism, Arthur Versluisclearly and tautly argues that mysticism must be properly understood as belonging to the great tradition of Platonism. He demonstrates how mysticism was historically understood in Western philosophical and religious traditions and emphatically rejects externalist approaches to esoteric religion. Instead he develops a new theoretical-critical model for understanding mystical literature and the humanities as a whole, from philosophy and literature to art. A sequel to his Restoring Paradise, this is an audacious book that places Platonic mysticism in the context of contemporary cognitive and other approaches to the study of religion, and presents an emerging model for the new field of contemplative science. “An important work on the mystical experience delving deep into its history, particularly from the Platonic perspective. An essential text for anyone interested in mysticism and its relationship to philosophy and creative expression.” — Andrew Newberg, author of How Enlightenment Changes Your Brain: The New Science of Transformation “The present work, the latest from the pen of Arthur Versluis, provides a trenchant, learned, and illuminating analysis of the origins of Western mysticism in the Platonist tradition, relayed through such figures as Plotinus and Dionysius the Areopagite, down through Meister Eckhart and others, while suitably excoriating the attempts of certain modern philosophers and sociologists of religion to ‘deconstruct’ it from a materialist perspective. I found it a rattling good read!” — John Dillon, author of The Heirs of Plato: A Study of the Old Academy (347–274 BC)

Accordingly, what I wish to provide is a working definition of the term 'mystical' that enjoys meaning in the engagement ... I return to the classic formulation of Evelyn Underhill (1875–1941) as outlined in Mysticism (1911).14 Whilst ...

Author: David Ranson

Publisher: ISD LLC

ISBN: 9781922239372

Category: Religion

Page: 325

View: 134

Read Now »

Between the Politics of Mysticism and the Mysticism of Politics traces the dialectic of 'the mystical' and the political' from both a theological and an historical perspective. It presents the dialectic as a hermeneutic for the rise of the new ecclesial communities within the Roman Catholic Tradition and suggests it as the framework by which a trajectory for Christian holiness might emerge in the 21st century.

After all, outside the pseudo- Dionysian context, mystic originally meant hidden, secret, allegorical. ... and Anglican theologians, such as Evelyn Underhill in Mysticism (1911), took mystical theology's model of what was now being ...

Author: Samuel Fanous

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 9781139827669

Category: Literary Criticism

Page:

View: 142

Read Now »

The widespread view that 'mystical' activity in the Middle Ages was a rarefied enterprise of a privileged spiritual elite has led to isolation of the medieval 'mystics' into a separate, narrowly defined category. Taking the opposite view, this book shows how individual mystical experience, such as those recorded by Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe, is rooted in, nourished and framed by the richly distinctive spiritual contexts of the period. Arranged by sections corresponding to historical developments, it explores the primary vernacular texts, their authors, and the contexts that formed the expression and exploration of mystical experiences in medieval England. This is an excellent, insightful introduction to medieval English mystical texts, their authors, readers and communities. Featuring a guide to further reading and a chronology, the Companion offers an accessible overview for students of literature, history and theology.

(Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, 1911) Shortly before the third and most controversial Quartet was published, Eliot sent a draft-copy of the work to a few of his friends and invited them to read and to study it. One of these friends, ...

Author: Paul Murray

Publisher: Springer

ISBN: 9781349134632

Category: Literary Criticism

Page: 326

View: 443

Read Now »

'At last, we have a study that tackles these questions, and does so with a wealth of learning, a poet's sensibility and a thorough theological literacy...Murray has given us a superb study.' Rowan Williams, Doctrine and Life 'His point of view is always that of someone practised in meditation, and his book is in consequence one of the half-dozen really valuable guides to Eliot's poetry.' Stephen Medcalf, Times Literary Supplement The story of the composition of Four Quartets, in relation to mysticism, constitutes one of the most interesting pages in modern literary history. T.S. Eliot drew his inspiration not only from the literature of orthodox Christian mysticism and from a variety of Hindu and Buddhist sources, but also from the literature of the occult, and from several unexpected and so far unacknowledged sources such as the 'mystical' symbolism of Shakespeare's later plays and the visionary poetry of Rudyard Kipling. But the primary concern of this study is not with sources as such, nor with an area somewhere behind the work, but rather with that point in Four Quartets where Eliot's own mystical attitude and his poetry unite and intersect.

3Some especially good ones, to mention only a few, include: William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902; 1985) Richard Maurice Bucke, Cosmic Consciousness (1901; 1969); Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (1911; 1955); Raynor ...

Author: Michael Gellert

Publisher: Nicolas-Hays, Inc.

ISBN: 9780892546053

Category: Religion

Page: 240

View: 948

Read Now »

Gellert takes us on a moving journey to explain modern mysticism and the highest religious experience.