PDF Politics and Ideology in the Age of the Civil War by Eric Foner in History

Description

Are mystical experiences primarily formed by the mystic's cultural background and concepts; as modern day "constructivists" maintain; or do mystics in some way transcend language; belief; and culturally conditioned expectations? Do mystical experiences differ in the different religious traditions; as "pluralists" contend; or are they identical across cultures? Twelve contributors here attempt to answer these questions through close examination of a particular form of mystical experience; "Pure Consciousness"--the experience of being awake but devoid of intentional content for consciousness. The contributors analyze pure consciousness and other mystical experiences from historical Hindu; Buddhist; Christian; and Jewish sources; as well as from modern mystics. They demonstrate that pure consciousness poses serious conceptual problems for a contructivist understanding of mysticism. Revealing the inconsistencies and inadequacies of current models; they make significant strides towards developing new models for the phenomenon of mysticism; breaking new ground for our understanding of mysticism and of human experience in general.