Abstract The classic approach to mysticism emphasizes its unity. It points to striking parallels in the language used by mystics from different cultures who were unknown to each other and concludes that they describe the same experience. Hence, it presents mysticism as involving a state of consciousness found in virtually all religions, recog-nizably the same in each, and acknowledged by those...
Abstract Many among an earlier generation of scholars saw in mysticism a distinctive type of experience-a pure or contentless awareness of ultimate reality-which was often made the basis for a “perennial philosophy.’’1 More recently many have distinguished several different types of mystical experience, each tending to recur across different traditions. More recently still has arisen a...