Psychological Notes on the Nature of Mystical Experience
The true mystic is one who seeks to reconstitute the fragmented elements of experience, not to arrive at a conceptual synthesis, but to replace normal consciousness with spiritual chaos. In this state the mystic is able to renew himself by regression to an undifferentiated state of consciousness, in...
| Published in: | Journal for the scientific study of religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
[1967]
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| In: |
Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Further subjects: | B
Human Condition
B Mysticism B Symbolism B Unconscious mind B Psychological attitudes B Mystics B Faith B Spiritual love B Ego B Divinity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The true mystic is one who seeks to reconstitute the fragmented elements of experience, not to arrive at a conceptual synthesis, but to replace normal consciousness with spiritual chaos. In this state the mystic is able to renew himself by regression to an undifferentiated state of consciousness, in which there is no longer self or "other." It is only by regression to the most archaic levels of religious feeling that one can penetrate the disguises of God, experiencing him as reality, and not as mythical hero or benign father-figure. In this sense, mysticism is different from the attitude of ritual devotion, which stubbornly refuses to repudiate its Adamic nature. The mystic dares to cast off his ego, and along with it, the expectations of others. In this way he replaces the tyranny of the self and of others by the absolute freedom of his surrender to holiness. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-5906 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/1384201 |