The Innate Capacity
December 4, 1997
R L Franklin
3 citations
The classic approach to mysticism emphasizes its unity, pointing to striking parallels in the language used by mystics from different cultures who were unknown to each other. It concludes that they describe the same experience, presenting mysticism as involving a state of consciousness found in virtually all religions, recognizably the same in each, and acknowledged as the highest goal of the religious quest.
The Innate Capacity
December 4, 1997
Lloyd W Pflueger
3 citations
The author describes a recurring waking trance, experienced since boyhood when alone, induced by silently repeating his own name. In this state, the intense consciousness of individuality dissolves into a sense of boundless being, which feels clear and certain beyond words. Death becomes an almost laughable possibility, and the loss of personality seems not like extinction but the only true life. The author expresses shame at the feeble description of this experience.
The Innate Capacity
December 4, 1997
James Robertson Price
Over the past fifty years, philosophers of mysticism have debated the meaning and epistemological status of quotations from mystics like John Ruusbroec. This debate has unfolded in three discernible philosophical moments. The author enters this discussion by focusing on the relationship between mysticism, mediation, and consciousness, a vexed issue within the ongoing debate.
The Innate Capacity
December 4, 1997
Robert K C Forman
Nearly half of all Americans (43 percent) and 48 percent of all British people report having had one or more mystical experiences, according to large-scale studies summarized by David Hay in Religious Experience Today. Such experiences are not limited to the uneducated; more than half of all college graduates report them. The observation that many seminal religious leaders have undergone mystical experiences is common, but the widespread prevalence of these experiences among the general population is less known.