The Mystic Way

Mysticism And Human Life:
The Instinct For Transcendence, The Quest Of A Thoroughfare, The Finding Of The Thoroughfare, The Mystic Way, The Christian Mystic

MYSTICISM AND CHRISTOLOGY:
The Synoptic Record, The Baptism And Temptation, The Illuminated Life, The Way Of Sorrow, The Deified Life

ST. PAUL AND THE MYSTIC WAY:
The Growth Of The New Man, The Laws Of The New Life

THE JOHANNINE MYSTIC:
A Gospel Of Experience, The Logos-Life in Voice and Vision, The Mystic Way in The Fourth Gospel

THE MYSTIC LIFE IN THE EARLY CHURCH:
The Age of Enthusiasm, Alexandria And The Art Of Contemplation, The Monastic Ideal, A Mystic Of The Desert

THE WITNESS OF THE LITURGY:
The Outer Mystery, The Inner Mystery

It is the object of this book to trace out that type of life, that peculiar quality of consciousness, which is called " mystical," from its earliest appearance within Christianity; to estimate, so far as is possible, the true character and origin of the Christian mystic, and define the qualities which differentiate him from those other mystics who have been evolved along other lines of spiritual development, Oriental, Neoplatonic, or Mahomedan. It is now acknowledged by many psychologists ¿ amongst whom Leuba and Delacroix are of special importance, since their conclusions are entirely free from theological bias ¿ that the Christian mystic does possess such differentiating characters; and represents, so far as the psychical nature of man is concerned, a genuine species apart. Leuba, indeed, does not hesitate to call him " one of the most amazing and profound variations of which the human race has yet been witness." This being so, his origin and real significance have surely a special importance for those interested in the spiritual evolution of humanity.

We are still too often told that Christian mysticism is no integral part of Christianity: sometimes, even, that it represents an opposition to the primitive Christian ideal. Sometimes we are asked to believe that it originated from Neoplatonic influence; that Pagan blood runs in its veins, and that its genealogy goes back to Plotinus. Far from this being the case, all the doctrines and all the experiences characteristic of genuine Christian mysticism can be found in the New Testament; and I believe that its emergence as a definite type of spiritual life coincides with the emergence of Christianity itself, in the person of its Founder.

The examination of Christian origins from the psychological point of view suggests that Christianity began as a mystical movement of the purest kind; that its Founder and those who succeeded Him possessed the characteristically mystical consciousness, and passed through the normal stages of mystical growth. Hence its nature is best understood by comparison with those lesser mystical movements in which life has again and again asserted her unconquerable instinct for transcendence; and the heroic personalities through whom the Christian vision of reality was first expressed, are most likely to yield up the secret of their "more abundant life" when studied by the help of those psychological principles which have been deduced from the general investigation of the mystical type.

Dettagli