Wiliam James lecture 16+17

 



William James Lecture 16 and 17: Mysticism 

This lecture James is talking about mysticism. Mysticism is at the heart of religion; it shows what the person believes to be real and present.  This is James' first point, mysticism is centered around personal experience James says, so that is where our look at mysticism begins. These are the four “marks” that make something mystical. One: Ineffability- it is something that is experienced by a person and is something that is hard to talk about. Two: Noetic quality- knowing something great, like a great “illumination or revelation” (411) Three: Transiency- the experience must last from half an hour to two hours. Four: Passivity- A sense that your body is not your own. Like writing or trance. All these states are different enough from other states that you can link them together and call them a different group. The mystical group. James says that we must remember that “Phenomena are best understood when placed within their series, studied in their germ and in their overripe decay” (412). If we want to reach conclusions about the mystical experience, we must first classify the experience. Sights, sounds, single words, odors, all can throw you into a trance-like state of mysticism. We can all remember being moved at certain lines in poems when we were young, says James. I remember sitting in my aunt's living room memorizing sonnet XVIII “rough winds do shake the darling buds of May”. Mysticism also shows us the “sudden and immediate presence of God” (426). James writes that nature as well as yoga can also help us achieve those mystical states. (James) I wonder how God was understood before language? Can we ever truly know?


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