Mystic or Morbid?
Colm O'Shea
Routledge eBooks June 9, 2022 DOI: 10.4324/9781003208242-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that the impulse to transcend the subject-object division can be either "mystic" or "morbid," with the same ego dissolution increasing suffering in the latter case. Proposes a "twin-pole" view of mandalic art as both "breakthrough" and "breakdown" of the personal self, illustrated through geometric works by Louis Wain and Adolf Wolfli compared with Joyce's Wake. |
Abstract
Considers whether the impulse to transcend the experiential subject-object division is more predominantly “mystic” (i.e., a radical ego “shattering” which destroys the craving and aversion that produces suffering) or “morbid” (i.e., the same ego dissolution, but experienced in a way that increases suffering). It considers the elaborate geometric designs produced by schizophrenic artists—notably Louis Wain and Adolf Wolfli—and compares them thematically and structurally to Joyce’s Wake . This final chapter establishes the “twin-pole” view of mandalic art as both a “breakthrough” and “breakdown” of the personal sense of self, and how that breakdown-breakthrough manifests itself in the “ordered chaos” of mandala construction.