With the emergence of modernity, the
hermeneutic and liturgical dimensions of mystical thought and practice were
gradually neglected in favour of an appreciation of a generic experiential
value of the category of mysticism. An example of this shift is evident in the
works of the pioneering philosopher and psychologist, William James, and his
book The Varieties of Religious
Experience: A Study in Human Nature, which was first published in 1902.
James’s scholarly interest provided a framework for the study of mysticism and
religious experience through the emerging discipline of psychology, yet he did
not adopt the reductionist approach. For James, organised religion was
secondary in importance in relation to private individual religious
experiences, which reflected the process of secularisation prevalent with the
rise of modernity and affected the transference of significance of religion being
to public affair to that of a more private one.
The study of mysticism in the works of
James has often been conceived as a study of the attainment of altered states
of consciousness, which are inaccessible to the rational mind yet have
exceptional meaning and impact upon the individual. In James’ words, “Our
normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one
special types of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the
filmiest screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely
different.”[1]
According to James, mystical experiences exhibit four characteristics, through
which he was interested providing a theoretical framework for exploring the
rich diversity of mystical texts and traditions throughout the world. The first
characteristic is ‘ineffability’, which refers to the indescribable nature of
the mystical experience. The second, the ‘noetic quality’, is the impact that the acquisition
of the some mystical insight has. The third quality refers to ‘transiency’,
indicated that the experiential state of mystical insight is limited in
duration. The final characteristic is the ‘passivity’ of mystical experiences, where
the powerful sense of the unity of all things experienced through a mystical
insight renders the subject incapable to act, as they are ‘given’ instead of
being an expression of an active imagination.
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