I attempt to dispel the misconception that all of mysticism advocates seclusion from and apathy towards the concerns of the social world. To this end, I offer a phenomenological analysis of key aspects of two particular mystical ways of life, one propounded by Meister Eckhart and the medieval Christian mystics whom he inspired and the other advocated by Dogen Zenji and the Soto school of Zen Buddhism which he founded. In contrast to the relativism of Steven Katz' 'constructivism', I demonstrate …
Read moreI attempt to dispel the misconception that all of mysticism advocates seclusion from and apathy towards the concerns of the social world. To this end, I offer a phenomenological analysis of key aspects of two particular mystical ways of life, one propounded by Meister Eckhart and the medieval Christian mystics whom he inspired and the other advocated by Dogen Zenji and the Soto school of Zen Buddhism which he founded. In contrast to the relativism of Steven Katz' 'constructivism', I demonstrate that these ways of life, each of which was purported to be the pinnacle of spiritual achievement, are fundamentally similar and thus can be meaningfully placed under the same general class, which I refer to as engaged unitive mystical being. Both involve the maintenance of an attitude of nonattachment, a continuous awareness of the Divine as a pervasive unity encompassing all things, a loss of a sense of oneself as a separate individual, a general mood of serenity, sympathetic connection with the feelings of others, and virtues of humility, respect, and compassion. I then turn to offering phenomenological analyses of the perception of unity, the attitude of nonattachment, and the sense selflessness which are consistent with the continuous maintenance of these characteristics. Next, I offer an account of the moral aspects of engaged unitive mystical being, which suggests that the virtues of humility, respect, and compassion can be viewed as generalizations of ordinary prudential considerations causally owing to the enlightened mystic's attitude of nonattachment and perception of unity. Finally, I demonstrate that this account can serve as an effective response to common objections that mysticism is essentially amoral. In particular, I challenge the conclusions decreeing a gulf between mysticism and morality offered by Arthur Danto and William Wainwright