The Mystic Experience: A Descriptive and Comparative Analysis

186 Pages·2004·2.584 MB·English

by  Jordan Paper

121846-Paper
“This is a necessary book, clear, direct, cautious, and cogent … All will be challenged by its
insights, bedevilled by its conclusions.” — University of Toronto Quarterly

The Mystic Experience
The SUNY series in Religious Studies
edited by Harold Coward
The Mystic Experience
A Descriptive and Comparative Analysis
J P
ORDAN APER
S t a t e U n i ve r s i t y o f N e w Yo r k P r e s s
Published by
State University of New York Press,Albany
© 2004 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Paper,Jordan D.
The mystic experience:a descriptive and comparative analysis / Jordan Paper.
p.cm.— (SUNY series in religious studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-6249-7 (hc :alk.paper)—ISBN 0-7914-6250-1 (pbk :alk.paper)
1. Mysticism. I. Title.
BL625.P365 2004
204'.22—dc22
2003068695
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the grandfather after whom I am named and,accordingly,never
met,and whom,I have been told,I resemble more than just physically.
—Yeshua ben Yosef (Jordan Paper)
v

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
An Event 1
General Characteristics of the “Event” 3
A Name for the Experience 5
The Mystic Experience in Cultural Context 6
A Caution to Readers 9
Chapter 2: Phenomenology (Descriptive Analysis) of the
Mystic Experience 11
Naive Reports 11
Reports by “Professional”Mystics 23
Conclusions 28
Chapter 3: The Varieties of Ecstatic Experience 31
Human Nature and Ecstatic Experiences 33
Functional Ecstasies 36
Visions,Lucid Dreams,and Problem-Solving
Dreams 36
Shamanism 38
Mediumism 41
Prophecy 45
vii
viii Contents
Nonfunctional Ecstasies 46
Unitive Experiences 46
Pure Consciousness 48
The Mystic Experience 50
Chapter 4: Previous Studies 53
Philosophical Analyses 54
Psychological Analyses 57
Sociological Analyses 61
Anthropological Analyses 61
Combined Approaches:Anthropology and
Psychology 64
Biological Analyses 64
Near-Death Experience Studies 70
Comparative Religion Studies 72
Chapter 5: Ethnohermeneutics I: Non-West 75
Shamanistic and Mediumistic Traditions 75
South Asia 80
The Upanishads 80
Hinduism 83
Buddhism 84
Chinese Religion 89
Chapter 6: Ethnohermeneutics II: West 103
Plotinus 103
Judaism 105
Christianity 113
Catholicism 113
Orthodoxy 120
Islam 124
Modern “Secular”Mysticism 129
Cosmic Consciousness 131
Absolute Consciousness 133