Zeitgeist: A Spirited Exchange about Mysticism and AI-Generated Images (and more) with ChatGPT
Jesse D. Mann
The Wabash Center Journal on Teaching February 26, 2026 DOI: 10.31046/jcz4c640 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Duration | Six-week online course (summer 2024) |
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that AI-generated images of medieval mystical texts both reflect social and algorithmic constraints and offer opportunities for wonder, ethical reflection, and transformative learning, examined through the frameworks of purgation, illumination, and union. |
Abstract
This essay explores the intersection of medieval Christian mysticism and AI-generated imagery, reflecting on a six-week online course taught in summer 2024 at Drew University. A student’s experiments with AI-generated images of texts by Pseudo-Dionysius, Bernard of Clairvaux, Jan Ruusbroec, and Catherine of Genoa prompted reflection on pedagogy, ethics, and the representation of spiritual experience. Engaging ChatGPT as a dialogic partner, the author interrogates the capacities and limitations of AI to render mystical texts, considering issues of bias, historical context, creativity, and energy consumption. Using frameworks of purgation, illumination, and union, the essay examines how AI images mirror social and algorithmic constraints while offering opportunities for wonder, ethical reflection, and transformative learning. The discussion foregrounds questions of student-teacher dynamics, the construction of esprit de corps in online classrooms, and the role of generative AI in visualizing the ineffable. Readers are invited to participate in this exploratory, practice-oriented engagement with spirit.
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 |