The Truth of Mysticism - Wendell Marshall Thomas Jr.

8/8/2019 The Truth of Mysticism - Wendell Marshall Thomas Jr.

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The Truth of MysticismAuthor(s): Wendell Marshall Thomas, Jr.Source: The Journal of Religion, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Jan., 1924), pp. 60-70Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1195638

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THE TRUTH OF MYSTICISMWENDELL MARSHALL THOMAS, JR.

Baroda, IndiaMysticism is here examined from the point of view of functional psychology. The"reality" involved in mysticism is not to be discovered by asking whether the mysticalexperience yields evidence of some metaphysical entity arbitrarily defined. Theoutcome of a mystical experience depends upon the particular social environment

which is emotionally appropriated and interpreted. The article pleads for a "free"as opposed to a "fettered" mysticism. Such free mysticism would yield a joyous,creative attitude quite compatible with a critical and practical interpretation ofenvironment.Mysticism today claims to give us unionwith the supremereality; to foster social creativity; and to lie at the heart ofreligion.' Half a hundreddefinitionsplay about the head ofthe term"mysticism,"andaccording o thedefinition,t maybe

honored or scornedby scholars;2 but suppose we begin byusingthe term in its widestsense,and laterattemptto discrim-inate withinit as to its value. Mysticism, then, is here usedbroadlyto meana warmand intimate individualreligious ife,no matter whetherascetic or practical; a mentalfeelingof thehighestReality; the aesthetic orcontemplative ype ofprayer.Let us first consider he claim of mysticismto uniteus with thesupremereality, and then discussits relationto socialactivityand to religion. I

To start from the outside, very simply, What is reality?Nothing deep or cryptic is here intended-not the graspingof Reality as opposed to Appearanceor Illusion, but simplythe analysis of our commoneveryday life. Not the supremereality,but any realityforus. Reality, then, is just an experi-' E. Underhill, Mysticism (London, 1922). W. R. Inge, Personal Idealism andMysticism (London, 1913). R. M. Jones, Studies in Mysticism (London, 19o09).2 E. Hocking, Meaning of God . . . . (Yale, 1912). G. A. Coe, Psychology ofReligion (Chicago, 1916), chap. xvi.

6o


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THE TRUTH OF MYSTICISM 61ence of events includingboth things and persons. By askingnot, Is the mystic's Reality true, but, What is reality anyhow,we use a method of approaching mysticism that is franklycriticaland practical. It seeks to interpretthe actual experi-ence of mysticism to the man of fact rather than convincehim of the truth or falsity of any mysticalmetaphysics. Theassumptionat the outsetis that ourworld s not sharplydividedinto appearanceand reality. Avowedly, this is not meetingsome types of mysticismon their own ground; but it is theapproachof sympathetic criticism, justified if thereby mys-ticismis placedin a new light whereit canbe seen andused.To return, then, to usual human experience. Man is anorganism, responding to the stimuli of his environment;a socialanimal, n directactivecontact fromthe verybeginningwith his physical and social world of reality. Indeed, soimmediateis the experience n its originalform in the baby,or savage group2 that things and persons, the self and itssurroundings re not distinguished,but mergein the commonlife of the inclusive situation.3 It is the situation, not an"outer world" or an "inner self" that is hard or soft, sweetor sour,painfulorpleasant,tabooedor allowed, ull of graspingor loving, or failureor peace, a fluid heaving mass of feelingand effort.Now man, in his growth, has definite needs and desires.Throughsocial trial and error,he finds that some portionsofthe environmentsatisfy desires-these becomethings.4 Otherportions help him to satisfy desires-these become persons.4Otherportionssuggest or point to what will satisfy desires-these becomesigns or meanings.s A certain group of desiresand feelings seems to hang together, and to aid or oppose'William James on the baby's undifferentiated world.

2 G. Santayana, Reason in CommonSense (New York, 1920), p. 141.3 Dewey in CreativeIntelligence (New York, 1917), pp. 6-8.4 J. Royce, Worldand Individual (New York, 1920), chap. vi.s J. Dewey, How We Think (New York, 1916), p. 116.


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62 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGIONothers'-this is himself.2 In various ways he learns to dis-criminate-to associate feelings with himself, tabooes orregulationswith society, meanings with the mind, and themind withotherbodies; and thus he introduces copeandorderinto his life. Meaningshere are especiallyhelpful, for theylead him to a growing multitude of satisfactions in thingsandpersons. Meanings, et us notice,donot separatehimfromhis contacts with reality-rather it is through them that hewidens his contacts. He still handlesthings,but moreeffect-ively; he still sharesexperienceswith persons,but morehelp-fully. Through meanings or ideas, his fellows-who werealways present to him, working together with him in thesameobjectivesituation,3and visible, like him, by the changesthey made in objects-his fellows can be still more presentand realby helpinghimto solvehisproblemsmoresatisfactorily.Alive to his difficultiesand to his mental tradition,they inter-pose theirresponsesat the criticaljuncturewherehe attemptsto apply his mind to the problem,supply his lack, and thusfulfil his desire. Almost as real to him as himself are they,for they do for him what he wouldhave done, were he able.4Reality is graspedmost fully, however, in consciousself-development, when meanings are not merely followed, butselected,organized,controlled,and enjoyed,so as to engendera feeling of resourcefuland happy intimacy with the world.Personsbecome not only helpersor annoyersin general,butfriends and enemies,graded and appreciated. In short, ourusual experienceof reality consists not only in immediatecontact with things and persons,but in a personalevaluationand organizationof these contacts into a more or less satis-factoryself.5S'J.Royce, World and Individual (New York, 1920), chap. vi.

2 C. H. Cooley, Human Nature .... (New York, 1902), chaps. ii-v.3 Hocking, Part IV.4W. Urban, Valuation (London, 1go8), pp. 262 ff.s Coe, op. cit., chap. xi.


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THE TRUTH OF MYSTICISM 63We are nowin a betterpositionto ask what is the experienceof the supremereality. It is simply the usual experienceofreality raised to its highest power in scope and satisfaction.It includes, then, as was hinted above, two aspects: (i) awide and varied contact with things and persons, and (2)a supremelysatisfactoryorganizationof these contacts,whichwe may call, forbrevity, a joyous control.i. With the naturalgrowthof the mind,thingsandpersonsassume ever new meanings,with their far-reaching ontacts-and by actuallymovingwithin this system of meaningsa manmay comeinto contact with a widerangeof life, as the savagewho shares n the customsof his tribe lives a life more full andreal than the poor brutish individual who has been thrustforth into exile, but less full and real than the modern manwho is in touchwith world affairs.2. Moreover, meanings themselves may personally begrasped and manipulated to sway vast domains of events;as, in practical life, the great industrialmanagercontrolsthedrillingfor oil in Wyoming,and the growingof tea in Ceylon;meaningsmay be graspedand enjoyed,as in artisticapprecia-tion, so as to bringbeforethe mind,in a Tschaikowskymarch,the whole mingled joy and tragedy of the Russian people;

meaningsmay be graspedand sifted, as in the moralstruggle,whereevilmeaningsarescornedandshunned, ndgoodmeaningsareharmonized nto a strongand joyous contact with reality.The supreme experiencewould be in intimate personaltouch with all reality, through the uttermost harmonious,powerful, and satisfying meanings, in vast blissful memoryand fulsomeaction: in short, in creation. Such must be theexperienceof God; and in so far as we sharein this, we comeinto contactwith the supremereality.

IIWe have now seen the nature of the experienceof thesupremereality, and are preparedto evaluate mysticismas a


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64 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGIONmethod of leading us to this experience. It is the thesisof this paper that the method of mysticism, in co-operationwith adequateouterconduct,givesus the experience fsupremereality. This means on the one hand (in contrast to thosewho would scornmysticism)that without its method of joyouscontrol,of intelligentaestheticappreciation,we cannotexperi-ence supremereality, we cannot feel God as close as we feelourselves; but on the other hand (in contrast to those whowouldembracemysticismuncritically) t means that we cannotexperiencereality or God fully, unless our social orderallowsa free and adequate outer expressionof life. This paper,then, boldly asserts that in spite of the fact that mysticismexhibits within itself a variety of difference' in theology,metaphysics,technique,habit of life, tradition,temperament,nervous stability, and visions or the lack of them-in spiteof these differences;mysticism in general follows the samepsychologicalmethod; whereas the radicaldistinctionamongtypes in the mystic life is caused by a radical difference nsocial environment. The mystics, then, employ the samepsychology--a unification of life by mental feeling: butthey differaccording o whethertheir social system is oppres-sive, or favorable to free conduct. If this is true, mysticswill readily unite, and show us the way to God, when socialjustice is everywhereachieved.The mystic method, then, is always a joyous control, orone aspect of the supremeexperience. Discriminatingwithinthe mystic method of joyous control,we find that the threestages2of the method in all mysticism which correspondtodistinctions in psychologicalfunctionare purification,illumi-nation, and union. (i) Purification is a selective or moralactivity, rejecting all tendencies, objects, ideas, and humanrelationswhichcannot be harmonized,whichdo not contribute

1 W. James, Varieties . ... (New York, 190o2), chaps. xvi, xvii. J. B. Pratt,Religious Consciousness (New York, 1920), chaps. xvi-xx.2 E. Underhill, Practical Mysticism (London, I914).


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THE TRUTH OF MYSTICISM 65to self-realization. (2) The effect of illuminationor meditationon these selected tendenciesis to organizeand expand themby reason,whichexplores,andgrasps,andenjoys. Thisreason,chiefly intuitive, is a correlationof ideas by their feeling end.It discoversnothing new, but harmonizesand emphasizesby"affectivelogic"' like the logic of poetry. It is thus that themystic is sure of a revelation,though he cannot expressit inthe common language of thought,2but must rely upon thesymbolsand artistry of feeling. (3) In momentsof ineffablejoy, known as the ecstatic union, this intuitive pattern isstamped upon the mind by the pressureof pure feeling,andthereafteris strongly potent in guiding conduct. Owing tothe relatively uncontrollableyet intensely affective nature ofthis experience, he subject is passive, the mood is transient,3and the contentof meaning s fixed as by authority. It shouldbe clear that this threefoldprocess is supremelyeffectiveinbringingthe devotee into the closest contact with the widestand best reality his circumstances have permitted him toembrace.But if a wide and varied contact with things and personsis denied, mysticism cannot give us union with the supremereality. The joyouscontrol s forced to workuponinadequatematerial, and only a meager experienceis reached. Whentyranny, injustice, or oppressive social systems deflect theindividual from his normal intelligentpractice, the elementsin his life which he can select, organize,and enjoy are veryfew, and though self-realizationoccurs,it is narrow,and con-finedchieflyto the imagination,and to feeling. This abstractmysticism gives the desired unity of life, but compared tothe unity possible under a free social system, it is poor andconstricted. Such fettered mysticism is linked socially withoppression;psychologically,with extremeemphasison feelingIUrban, op. cit., pp. 120 ff.

2 James, op. cit., p. 380.3 J. Dewey,HumanNatureandConduct(NewYork, 1922), pp. 149, 210, 265.


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66 THE JOURNALOF RELIGIONto the exclusionof intelligenceand effort; and metaphysically,with dualism,or a monismof illusion.But if the wide and variedcontact with personsand thingsis made, mysticism does co-operatein giving us union withthe supremereality. The joyous control of wide and variedcontacts with things and persons raises experience to itshighestpowerin scope and satisfaction,and makes it a union(as far as it goes)with the supremereality. In fetteredmysti-cism, hemmed in by obnoxiousdepersonalizing ocial bonds,with only a stingyand twistedarrayof life'sactivitiesat hand,purificationdemandsan ascetic rejectionof nearly all normalvalues if the individual s to attain an innerpeace; but in freemysticism, reveling in the adventurousdelights of businessachievementand socialcontrol,the purificationappliesmerelyto the ethical expurgationof those characterless,unsocial,orsinful tendencieswhich disturb the harmony of the normalvalues. This free mysticism is based, like other types ofprayer, upon a moral choice: it is distinguished,however,by going furtherin the way of unificationby mental feeling.It is by no means a mere way of escape from the hurryandbustle of the busy world, but an organizingforce that helpsus to deal with the busy worldin a mood of joyful poise andconfident efficiency. It solves problems and clinches thesolutionwith a glow of feeling.Once the morally rigorousselectionof tendenciesis exer-cised, over what depths and ranges of experiencedoes freemysticismofferus a joyous control? (i) The intuitive stateof mysticism s conducive o the congenialupwellingof portionsof subconsciouslife, our instinctive tendencies, embodying

ages of racial experience,our early and forgotten educationandresolves, he responseswhichhave escapedourdirectatten-tion. We becomeone with the solid satisfactionsof our pastunknown ife. (2) The passive and receptiveattitude rendersthe mystic attuned to those subtler expressionsof mind orminds which may be winging their way in the pervasive


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THE TRUTH OF MYSTICISM 67continuum of mental force. Whatevervalue may lie in thefeasible hypothesis of telepathy, or of spirit rapport, themysticmoodaffordsa readytool fortheirprogressive xploita-tion in the interestsof creativeunity of life. (3) Most signifi-cant, our free mysticism, in the unifying of playful aestheticmental activity (known as illumination and ecstasy) effectsan objectivecorrelationof the total variety of humaninterests-laws of science,achievementsof industry,victories of socialagencies, enderjoys of home,beautiesof art,warmthof friend-ships. In meditation, hese widespreadmeaningsaregatheredin a finerunity of oscillating deaandfeeling,andthe briefbliss-ful trancecapstheirbeautywith its sureapproval. Thefeelingofcertainapprovalwhich themysticconsiderso be the sanctionof Goddoes not,of course,makethe experiencean ethicalone:it merely intensifieswhat is alreadythere. The moralityorlack of it lies in the nature of the previouspurification.Such an experiencesweeps us from the rut of routine,even fromthe usualhasty prayer,and lifts us to unaccustomedfar-stretchingearnest mental play, thence to descend withmore sympathetic vision and controlling vim to embodythese eternalcontacts in the daily toil. It fills the life with"the expulsivepower of a new affection"and fends off theattemptedreturn of the exiledsinfulurges. Sincefree mysti-cism worksupon a wide and varied contact with things andpersons, each intuited meaning has clinging to its ends theparticular objects and persons and social groups which itexpresses. You cannot dwell on the meaning of friendship,for instance,withoutthinkingdirectlyorindirectlyofparticularfriendswho are united in that bond: in so far as a meaning struly a meaning it refers to solidplungesinto life's currents.Meaningand object reciprocallysharethe appreciationwhichfalls to the lot of the other; the contactwithpersonsgivesriseto a luxuriantgrowthof meanings,and the graspof meaningsstimulatesone to the sharingof work and play, of joys andsorrows,with all sorts of persons. Thus the free mysticism


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68 THE JOURNALOF RELIGIONleadsus to the personal enjoymentand controlof a social lifeof widevariety, to union with the supremereality.III

It remains,finally, for us brieflyto survey the relationofmysticism to social activity, and to religion. As to socialactivity, we can now readily see that fettered mysticism hasonly a slight effect upon social life-narrowly disciplinary,or spasmodicallyantinomian; but that free mysticism actsas a powerfullycreativestimulusto social renewal. But thisdistinctionbetweentypes of mysticismneed not alwaysremain.The fetteredmysticismof idle leisureandthe degrading outineof the workadayworld are two faulty extremeswhich maybe reconciledand transformed n a free mysticism of socialcreativity,but only as we achieve a world-widesocial unity:and to attain social unity is a tremendoustask. Althoughfreemysticismis a potent stimulusin effectingthis reconstruc-tion, we need the co-operationof the manifoldsocial agenciesthemselves, each busied with a particularrift, to overcomeour vast cultural dualism, whose symptoms are seen in thecleftbetweenprofitandthetoiler, n industry; betweennationalhonor and individual happiness, in world politics; betweencreativeplay and the public, in art; between the curriculumand the student, in education; and finally, in the cleft ofphilosophicdualism, between Reality and Appearance,theKnown and the Knower, between ends and means. Thispaperis thus not only a brief for ethical worshipof the indi-vidualmeditativesort,but alsoa declaration hat this worship,whichalonecangiveus the supreme eality,cannotbegenerallyenjoyed while the world-widedualismbasedon social-injusticepersists. The necessaryleisure and quiet and beauty, withactive play and engagingworkfor all, will be securedonly bythe vision and toil of us all.As to religion, in a fettered, individual experience,themystic methodis surelythe essenceof religion; but in a free,


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THE TRUTH OF MYSTICISM 69social religion the mystic method is but one phase., Theother phase is the wide and varied practical control. Bothunite in the free mystic life. Though it is not the wholeof religion, he mysticmethod,by its intuition, s quiteessentialto it, making a contributionaffordedby no other activity,namely,the directexperienceof the personalityof God. Nowthe mystic intuition varies accordingto the temperamentofthe worshiper roma mild glow to a sparklingecstasy of rap-ture; but without such an intuition of objective ethicalmeaningsat least as intimate as the most intense feeling ofself in other activities, we would have no right on empiricalgrounds o declare hat Godis personal. Indeed,the traditionof the personalityof God springsfrom the intuitive experi-enceof ethicalleaders,without which Godmay be an externaland authoritative creator, a fluid inner world force, a rigidmoral law, an endless system of knowledge,or a discreetsocial mind, but never a personalfriend,realized in the self.It is when the objective "Other''* f things, and persons,andmeanings blends with the subjective "Self" in the mysticintuitive communion, hat God is realized.But for such a personalrealizationto be an intuition ofGod,and not the mereintensearrogant eelingof self, we mustagain insist (in accordancewith our principle that a wideand varied contact with things and personsis one necessaryaspect of free mysticism)that the Othermust includea socialmindor community; and this demandsa sharingof experiencewith our fellows, a commoninterest in work and play. Thewider and the more diverse this sharing, the greater is theharmonyachieved,the keenerthe sense of God. Just as thetradebetweentemperateclimesand the tropics s economicallymorefruitfuland creativethan trade in the samebelt, so like-wise, the sharingof experiencewith men of other classesandtempersis morallymorecreativethan a routineacquaintance

I Leuba,Journal ofPhilosophy,92i, p. 57.2 A. L. Strong, Psychology of Prayer (Chicago, 19o09).


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70 THE JOURNAL OF RELIGIONwith likeminded folks. To unite man with man and groupwithgroup n sucha "belovedcommunity"givesus the deepestcommunionwith God.eAndfinally,forsucha personalrealization o be an intuitionof God,and not a mere intense submerged eeling of a rigidAbsolute, we must likewise insist (in accordancewith ourprinciplethat a joyous control is the other necessaryaspectof free mysticism) that the Self which unites with the Othermustactuallyexercisecontrol. Modestlyrecognizing limittoits graspof reality,and generouslyconceding o all others theirright to the truth, it shouldcontinuallyreconstruct ts experi-ence,its contactsandmeanings, n a freshandgrowingworship:so that its sanction, though absolute,may be flexible, social,and practical.2 God will be found,then, not a stereotypedidol, not one morepersonor poweraddedto our cause to helpus win, but the personal-socialharmonizing,without whichour causeis not divine.

' M. P. Follett, TheNewState(New York,1920),chaps. xvi, xvii.2Urban,op.cit.,p. 382.

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