Ordinary Mysticism, the Hyperbolic, and the Supernormal
John Ó Maoilearca
Vestiges of a Philosophy January 15, 2023 DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780197613917.003.0003 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that the concept of the "supernormal" dissolves the duality between natural and supernatural by framing them as differences of degree rather than kind, and proposes that this opens the possibility of an "ordinary mysticism" in which mystical experience is immanent within ordinary experience and mystical thought is immanent within philosophy. |
Abstract
Abstract The concept of the “supernormal” is introduced as a means to exit from a substantive duality between natural and supernatural, or between the normal and the paranormal, by thinking in terms of differences of degree rather than of kind, of (heterogeneous) continuities: extracting the supernatural by natural means. It is opposed to the hyperbolic stance that views the supernatural in terms of qualitative difference. Examples of ghosts and time travel are used to illustrate this paradigm. The possibility of an “ordinary mysticism,” a mysticism rendered ordinary through supernormalization, is then introduced. Such an ordinary mysticism would change the way we see the extraordinary by enfolding it within the ordinary while also showing how esoteric knowledge might be equal (continuous) with supposedly more “accessible” forms of knowledge, such as philosophy. We begin to show how mystical experience can be immanent within ordinary experience, just as mystical thought can be immanent within philosophy.
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 |
Citations in the library
Cites 4
- Introduction: Mysticism, Constructivism, and Forgetting The Problem of Pure Consciousness March 29, 1990
- “Neither God, nor World”: on the One foreclosed to transcendence Humanities and Social Sciences Communications October 13, 2015
- The Appeal of Panpsychism in Victorian Britain Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net June 5, 2020
- Introduction: Mystical Consciousness, the Innate Capacity, and the Perennial Psychology The Innate Capacity December 4, 1997