Open Theology
August 1, 2018
P. Hedges
Abstract “Ultimacy,” it is argued, is not an area that academic studies in theology nor the study of religion can properly investigate; nevertheless, it is also illegitimate to argue therefore that claims to it are simply linguistic power plays. Using an autobiographical methodology, the author explores how their own “imagined” “mystical” experience and scholarly studies may shed light on...
Spirituality in Clinical Practice
July 30, 2018
Enrico Facco, Daniela Lucangeli, Patrizio Emmanuele Tressoldi
10 citations
In this article, we report some excerpts from the writings of Dr. A.M., an adult female, regarding the knowledge she acquired during the regular mystical experi- ences she has been having since April 2014. This case is exceptional for multiple reasons. First, she experienced this particular state of consciousness without any associated medical or neurological illnesses. Second, these...
British Academy eBooks
July 26, 2018
Christina van Dyke
19 citations
This chapter focuses on the corrective and complementary roles that a historically oriented approach can occupy in philosophical discussions. First, it argues that analysis of the development of key definitions, concepts, principles and so forth can often illuminate problematic prejudices that should motivate a re-examination of the philosophical considerations in their favour. Second, it...
July 24, 2018
Наталья Сергеевна Жиртуева, Natal'ya Zhirtueva
The monograph studies the mystical phenomenon as the essential core of religion and its universal principle. The comparative analysis of mystical traditions formed on the basis of world and national religions is realized. They have common features as the endeavor to "unite" with the reality of Absolute, which contributes to the transformation of the consciousness and personality of a person...
July 23, 2018
Giuliana di Biase
The paper aims to investigate Iris Murdoch’s Platonic mysticism, setting it in the context of the contemporary debate between perennialists and constructivists. Like many perennialists, Murdoch believed in the existence of an essential link between mysticism and morality: this clarifies why she was fascinated by Plato’s philosophy. She conceived of mysticism and morality as having the same...
Sociological Forum
July 20, 2018
Julie Fennell
22 citations
Previous research onBDSM(bondage & discipline, dominance & submission, sadism & masochism) subcultures has largely ignored the spiritual aspects ofBDSMfor participants. Drawing primarily from my years of experience and participant observation as an insider in theDC/BaltimoreBDSMpansexual community and 70 interviews conducted with self‐identified kinksters throughout the Mid‐Atlantic United...
Journal of the Society for American Music
July 10, 2018
John Kapusta
4 citations
Abstract In the late 1960s, the prominent psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that music-making was an inherently bodily activity, which like sex, could induce what Maslow called “peak experiences”—moments of mystical transcendence and personal insight. Amass enough such peak experiences, Maslow suggested, and one could achieve “self-actualization”—the full realization of one's potential as a...
July 6, 2018
C. Dyke
2 citations
Discussions of immortality in the Middles Ages tend to focus on the nature of the rational soul and its prospects for surviving the death of the body. The question of how medieval figures expected to experience everlasting life – what I will be calling the phenomenology of immortality – receives far less attention. Yet expectations for immortal existence speak volumes about a whole nest of...
International Review of Psychiatry
July 4, 2018
Peter S. Hendricks
181 citations
A psychological model of classic psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy informed by contemporary scientific data is presented in this paper. It is suggested that classic psychedelic-occasioned mystical experience is characterized by profound awe, a discrete emotion experienced in the presence of a vast stimulus requiring accommodation of mental structures. Awe, in turn, promotes the small self, a...
Medieval Mystical Theology
July 3, 2018
B. McGinn
ABSTRACT In the Prologue to his Ascent of Mount Carmel John of the Cross mentions the three sources of his mystical teaching–experience, theological science, and scripture – noting that scripture is his fundamental guide. Perhaps because he did not write formal biblical commentaries, it has not been sufficiently recognized that John’s mysticism is fundamentally mystical. This article presents...