Mysticism, Thick and Thin
Leon Roth
Is There a Jewish Philosophy? March 1, 1999 DOI: 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774556.003.0010 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that mystical experience is common to everyone to some degree and not denied to the majority of mankind. |
Abstract
This chapter suggests that we are all mystics nowadays but we need not be contentiously so. It queries the mystic vision, asking if it is conceivable that just this, allegedly the greatest prize of all, is denied to the vast majority of mankind. The chapter suggests is that it is not so denied — everyone can, in some way, sense the divine. The chapter brings up other concepts related to the subject: the empty void of seeming meaninglessness; the emergence of rightness or pattern and the accompanying enlargement of the mind; the conceiving of the inconceivable; the sudden joy, the sustained satisfaction. It argues that these are the acknowledged marks of the classical mystical experience and they are common in some degree to us all.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |