Rational mysticism

Last updated

Rational mysticism, which encompasses both rationalism and mysticism, is a term used by scholars, researchers, and other intellectuals, some of whom engage in studies of how altered states of consciousness or transcendence such as trance, visions, and prayer occur. Lines of investigation include historical and philosophical inquiry as well as scientific inquiry within such fields as neurophysiology and psychology.

Contents

Overview

The term "rational mysticism" was in use at least as early as 1911 when it was the subject of an article by Henry W. Clark in the Harvard Theological Review. [1] In a 1924 book, Rational Mysticism, theosophist William Kingsland correlated rational mysticism with scientific idealism. [2] [3] South African philosopher J. N. Findlay frequently used the term, developing the theme in Ascent to the Absolute and other works in the 1960s and 1970s. [4]

Columbia University pragmatist John Herman Randall, Jr. characterized both Plotinus and Baruch Spinoza as “rationalists with overtones of rational mysticism” in his 1970 book Hellenistic Ways of Deliverance and the Making of Christian Synthesis. [5] Rice University professor of religious studies Jeffrey J. Kripal, in his 2001 book Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom, defined rational mysticism as “not a contradiction in terms” but “a mysticism whose limits are set by reason.” [6]

In response to criticism of his book The End of Faith , author Sam Harris used the term rational mysticism for the title of his rebuttal. [7] [8] [9] [10] University of Pennsylvania neurotheologist Andrew Newberg has been using nuclear medicine brain imaging in similar research since the early 1990s. [11] [12]

Executive editor of Discover magazine Corey S. Powell, in his 2002 book, God in the Equation, attributed the term to Albert Einstein: “In creating his radical cosmology, Einstein stitched together a rational mysticism, drawing on—but distinct from—the views that came before.” [13]

Science writer John Horgan interviewed and profiled James Austin, Terence McKenna, Michael Persinger, Christian Rätsch, Huston Smith, Ken Wilber, Alexander Shulgin and others for Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality, [14] his 2003 study of “the scientific quest to explain the transcendent.” [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idealism</span> Philosophical view

Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical idealism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, spirit, or consciousness; that reality is entirely a mental construct; or that ideas are the highest form of reality or have the greatest claim to being considered "real". The radical latter view is often first credited to the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato as part of a theory now known as Platonic idealism. Besides in Western philosophy, idealism also appears in some Indian philosophy, namely in Vedanta, one of the orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, and in some streams of Buddhism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kabbalah</span> Type of Jewish mysticism

Kabbalah or Qabalah is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal. The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it, from its origin in medieval Judaism to its later adaptations in Western esotericism. Jewish Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternal God—the mysterious Ein Sof —and the mortal, finite universe. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism.

Pantheism is the philosophical religious belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical to divinity and a supreme being or entity. The physical universe is thus understood as an immanent deity, still expanding and creating, which has existed since the beginning of time. The term 'pantheist' designates one who holds both that everything constitutes a unity and that this unity is divine, consisting of an all-encompassing, manifested god or goddess. All astronomical objects are thence viewed as parts of a sole deity.

In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification", often in contrast to other possible sources of knowledge such as faith, tradition, or sensory experience. More formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory "in which the criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive".

Pseudophilosophy is a term applied to a philosophical idea or system which does not meet an expected set of philosophical standards. There is no universally accepted set of standards, but there are similarities and some common ground.

The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheistic, pandeistic, or panentheistic faiths to suggest that the spiritual world permeates the mundane. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world.

Naturalistic pantheism, also known as scientific pantheism, is a form of pantheism. It has been used in various ways such as to relate God or divinity with concrete things, determinism, or the substance of the universe. God, from these perspectives, is seen as the aggregate of all unified natural phenomena. The phrase has often been associated with the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, although academics differ on how it is used. Natural pantheists don’t believe in any God, though they do worship the universe as if it was one. They believe in science, hence the name scientific pantheist, instead of a deity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantin Brunner</span>

Constantin Brunner (1862–1937) was the pen-name of the German Jewish philosopher Arjeh Yehuda Wertheimer. He was born in Altona on 27 August 1862. He came from a prominent Jewish family that had lived in the vicinity of Hamburg for generations; his grandfather, Akiba Wertheimer, was chief Rabbi of Altona and Schleswig-Holstein. Brunner studied philosophy under a number of prominent scholars, but never completed his doctorate. He established himself as a literary critic, and enjoyed a wide celebrity. In the 1890s, he withdrew from public life to devote himself to writing. He lived in Germany until 1933, when, with the rise to power of the Nazi party, he moved to The Hague, where he died on 27 August 1937.

Academic study of Jewish mysticism, especially since Gershom Scholem's Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), draws distinctions between different forms of mysticism which were practiced in different eras of Jewish history. Of these, Kabbalah, which emerged in 12th-century southwestern Europe, is the most well known, but it is not the only typological form, nor was it the first form which emerged. Among the previous forms were Merkabah mysticism, and Ashkenazi Hasidim around the time of the emergence of Kabbalah.

<i>Sex, Ecology, Spirituality</i> 1995 book by Ken Wilber

Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution is a 1995 book by integral philosopher Ken Wilber. Wilber intended it to be the first volume of a series called The Kosmos Trilogy, but subsequent volumes were never produced. The German edition of Sex, Ecology, Spirituality was entitled Eros, Kosmos, Logos: Eine Jahrtausend-Vision. The book has been both highly acclaimed by some authors and harshly criticized by others.

Scholarly approaches to mysticism include typologies of mysticism and the explanation of mystical states. Since the 19th century, mystical experience has evolved as a distinctive concept. It is closely related to "mysticism" but lays sole emphasis on the experiential aspect, be it spontaneous or induced by human behavior, whereas mysticism encompasses a broad range of practices aiming at a transformation of the person, not just inducing mystical experiences.

Jorge N. Ferrer is a US-based Spanish psychologist who wrote about the applications of participatory theory to transpersonal psychology, religious studies, integral education, and sexuality and intimate relationships.

Quantum mysticism, sometimes referred pejoratively to as quantum quackery or quantum woo, is a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate consciousness, intelligence, spirituality, or mystical worldviews to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations. Quantum mysticism is criticized by non-believers with expert knowledge of quantum mechanics to be pseudoscience or quackery.

<i>The End of Faith</i> 2004 book by Sam Harris

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason is a 2004 book by Sam Harris, concerning organized religion, the clash between religious faith and rational thought, and the problem of intolerance that correlates with religious fundamentalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Errol Harris</span> American philosopher

Errol Eustace Harris, sometimes cited as E. E. Harris, was a South African philosopher. His work focused on developing a systematic and coherent account of the logic, metaphysics, and epistemology implicit in contemporary understanding of the world. Harris held that, in conjunction with empirical science, the Western philosophical tradition, in its commitment to the ideal of reason, contains the resources necessary to accomplish this end. He celebrated his 100th birthday in 2008.

<i>Philosophical Inquiries into the Essence of Human Freedom</i> 1809 work by Friedrich Schelling

Philosophical Inquiries into the Essence of Human Freedom is an 1809 work by Friedrich Schelling. It was the last book he finished in his lifetime, running to some 90 pages of a single long essay. It is commonly referred to as his "Freiheitsschrift" or "freedom essay".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mysticism</span> Practice of religious experiences during alternate states of consciousness

Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, and to human transformation supported by various practices and experiences.

This is a bibliography of literature treating the topic of criticism of Christianity, sorted by source publication and the author's last name.

Dutch philosophy is a broad branch of philosophy that discusses the contributions of Dutch philosophers to the discourse of Western philosophy and Renaissance philosophy. The philosophy, as its own entity, arose in the 16th and 17th centuries through the philosophical studies of Desiderius Erasmus and Baruch Spinoza. The adoption of the humanistic perspective by Erasmus, despite his Christian background, and rational but theocentric perspective expounded by Spinoza, supported each of these philosopher's works. In general, the philosophy revolved around acknowledging the reality of human self-determination and rational thought rather than focusing on traditional ideals of fatalism and virtue raised in Christianity. The roots of philosophical frameworks like the mind-body dualism and monism debate can also be traced to Dutch philosophy, which is attributed to 17th century philosopher René Descartes. Descartes was both a mathematician and philosopher during the Dutch Golden Age, despite being from the Kingdom of France. Modern Dutch philosophers like D.H. Th. Vollenhoven provided critical analyses on the dichotomy between dualism and monism.

References

  1. ↑ Clark, Henry W. (1911). "Rational Mysticism and New Testament Christianity". The Harvard Theological Review. 4 (3): 311–329. doi:10.1017/S0017816000007227. JSTOR   1507131. S2CID   170516645.
  2. ↑ William Kingsland. Rational Mysticism: A Development of Scientific Idealism. London: Allen & Unwin, 1924; description at Weiser Antiquarian Books. Scientific Idealism, or, Matter and Force and Their Relation to Life and Consciousness. London: Rebman, 1909, OCLC   9226308.
  3. ↑ The Theosophical Movement, 1857–1950, a History and a Survey. Archived 2009-10-26 at the Wayback Machine Compiled by Theosophy journal editors as a continuance of a 1925 work published by E. P. Dutton. Los Angeles: The Cunningham Press, 1951 (pp. 158, 220, 303, 309).
  4. ↑ Donald Jay Rothberg; Sean M. Kelly (1998). Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers . Quest Books. pp. Chapter 1, p. 2. ISBN   0835607666. ‘…what is arguably the core philosophical and religious lineage of Western culture—what we might call a “rational mysticism” (Findlay 1970) [Ascent to the Absolute]’ (Quoted here; full text on Google Book Search.)
  5. ↑ Randall, John Herman (1969). "The Intelligible Universe of Plotinos". Journal of the History of Ideas. 30 (1): 3–16. doi:10.2307/2708241. JSTOR   2708241. In one sense indeed, Plotinos is the most consistent "naturalist" in Greek thought; though of course he is not an empirical and functional naturalist, like Aristotle, but rather a rationalistic and structural naturalist, like Spinoza. Spinoza, in fact, is the one philosopher among moderns with whom Plotinos can be most validly compared. Both Plotinos and Spinoza are rationalists with overtones of rational mysticism. (Journal article adapted from a chapter in Hellenistic Ways of Deliverance and the Making of the Christian Synthesis, Columbia University Press, 1970, ISBN   0231033273.)
  6. ↑ Jeffrey J. Kripal. Introduction (p. 3) Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom: Eroticism and Reflexivity in the Study of Mysticism. University of Chicago Press, 2001. ISBN   978-0226453781. “The Sanskritist and Indologist Frits Staal long ago made an eloquent plea for the “rational mystic”… A rational mysticism is not a contradiction in terms; it is a mysticism whose limits are set by reason.”
  7. ↑ Sam Harris (March 2007). "Rational Mysticism". Free Inquiry . Archived from the original on 2016-04-10. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
  8. ↑ Meera Nanda (2003). "The Mystifications of Sam Harris: Spirituality at Faith's Funeral". Butterflies and Wheels . Archived from the original on 2007-11-15.
  9. ↑ New York Public Library (25 September 2006). "About Sam Harris". LIVE from the NYPL.
  10. ↑ Australian Broadcasting Corporation (23 October 2007). "Contributors: Sam Harris". Unleashed.
  11. ↑ A. Chris Gajilan (April 5, 2007). "Are humans hard-wired for faith?". CNN . The frontal lobe, the area right behind our foreheads, helps us focus our attention in prayer and meditation. The parietal lobe, located near the backs of our skulls, is the seat of our sensory information. Newberg says it's involved in that feeling of becoming part of something greater than oneself. The limbic system, nestled deep in the center, regulates our emotions and is responsible for feelings of awe and joy.
  12. ↑ Andrew Newberg, researcher in neurophysiology at the University of Pennsylvania, and Noreen Herzfeld, professor of theology and computer science at St. John's University (May 6, 2001). "God in Our Minds?". Forum at Grace Cathedral (includes links to RealAudio files). Archived from the original on January 29, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Corey S. Powell. 2002 first edition: God in the Equation: How Einstein Became the Prophet of the New Religious Era ( ISBN   0684863480). 2003 paperback edition: God in the Equation: How Einstein Transformed Religion ( ISBN   0684863499.) Both editions New York: Free Press. Chapter 3, p. 43. ( God in the Equation on Google Book Search. Science News book review.)
  14. ↑ Dick Teresi (March 23, 2003). "Book review: Dude, Where's My Karma?". The New York Times .
  15. ↑ McCauley, Charles C. (2005). Zen And the Art of Wholeness: Developing a Personal Spiritual Psychology (Google Book Search). iUniverse. pp. Ch. 3, p. 54. ISBN   0595339204 . Retrieved 2007-11-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.