PRISM - Program in the study of mysticism

Studying mysticism: research into transcendence, union, and transformation of consciousness 

Critical realism

The starting point is the observation that definitions of mysticism have become a hotbed of contest and critiques over the past half a century or so. Critical approaches have severely challenged the academic field of comparative mysticism. These are important challenges emerging from critical reflections on how history has been told and by whom, and we need to factor in early modern biases of a-historical romanticism in accounts describing mystics. However, as many now point out, this critique doesn’t help explain the still-notable similarities among people of many religious traditions as well as the tremendous popular uptake of “mysticism.” Goals like inspired action in Kabbalah, Imago Dei in Christian monasticism, fana’ (ego dissolution) in Sufism, and Nirvana in the Buddhist Path might all have various socio-cultural inflections. Yet, they all denote some similar features that must be accounted for. Transcendence and intimacy, as the human rapport with Divine Otherness, have been and remain a staple of human civilizations. Rather than foreclose the matter, PRISM actively fosters the definitional debate to yield further insight into the philosophical and terminological issues at stake when we compare mysticisms.

One productive way forward is to follow mysticism as a conceptual cluster of concepts bearing a “family resemblance” (ala Wittgenstein). That is, not all forms of praxis that we may recognize as “mysticism” must showcase fully all the features we specify in one. The presence of cognate concepts and practices is enough to clump and compare “mysticisms.” 

This approach could be termed critical realist, which posits ontological realism coupled with epistemological diversity. In critical realist terms, PRISM starts with the understanding that there is a truth but no one way to get at it nor, indeed, might it be possible to uncover all aspects of the truth. CR threads a middle path between extreme realism on one hand and extreme relativism on the other. In practice, this means that multiple disciplines, methodologies and theories can, cumulatively, be used to develop an empirically grounded theory that gets emergently closer to the truth, in this case of mysticisms.

The strategy thus adopts a “polythetic,” fuzzy approach to mysticism that does not require a single essence in all instances of mysticism.

Towards consciousness

To circumscribe the “ideal type” we are interested in probing, a good start is the phenomenological approach of William James in his seminal Gifford Lectures of 1901-02, “The Varieties of Religious Experience.” James considers mysticism to be an experience of oneness that is (i) ineffable, i.e., not fully describable; (ii) noetic, i.e., conveying some information beyond just “sensations” or “feelings;” (iii) passive in the sense that the mystic is “seized” by a higher force; and (Iv) transient, so that it is always fleeting, although often repeatable. 

“Experience” is both central and unavoidable to mysticism, but also philosophically problematic and not always the keystone of mysticism that James suggested. Indeed, mystics themselves have tended to downplay their peak experiences and focused rather on the knowledge they gained or actions they undertake. Some have thus proposed “consciousness” as a better entry into the study of mysticism. On those lines, a handier definition of mysticism that avoids the philosophical pitfalls in James’s approach and moves past merely a focus on peak experiences, is by the contemporary master of scholarship on Western mysticism, Bernard McGinn, for whom mysticism is “the preparation for, the consciousness of, and the reaction to what can be described as the immediate or direct [and transformative] presence of God [or the Divine].”

Mystical consciousness – a felt, rather than known, co-presence – contextualizes mysticism and so “allows us to see the mystical element of religion as a process, a form of life, and not merely as a matter of raw experience”. 

This definitional grid allows us to circumscribe the boundaries of what we are interested in probing in terms of new spiritual knowledge. Such a post-critique approach recognizes, on one hand, the reality of the phenomenon that we need to study. On the other, it also questions the culturally rooted, linguistic categories by which an experience becomes “mystical.” In other words, the features that constitute “mysticism” are (hypothetically) universal to all human societies in history. These include, among others, transcendence, a certain (altered) type of consciousness, ineffable cosmic knowledge characterized by immediacy/ feeling/ tasting, and passivity or the sense of being taken over. Yet, the type of mysticism is variable: how that is experienced by an individual, what it takes to get there, and what means to the culture in which the mystic is embedded, etc.

PRISM’s approach to mysticism

PRISM seeks to concentrate on features of transcendence (connoting ineffability, or the not-fully-describable nature of mystical experience and awareness), union with or presence of ultimate reality (dissolving subject-object divisions), and mystical transformation of consciousness (indicating the presence of contemplative practices in and affecting the world). 

Based on the team’s research and consultative process, PRISM follows a two-pronged approach to mysticism. First, it recognizes the reality that mysticism is a real phenomenon, and the program intends to probe mystical accounts, lives, thoughts, and works. Second, it takes seriously the recent critiques and so seeks to place mysticism in its cultural, historicized contexts and investigate how mysticism may make sense, how mystical consciousness relates to society and institutions, and how others perceive or rely on mystics. Multiple disciplinary approaches are encouraged to follow both tracks, allowing us to get fuller accounts of what mystics can tell us about spiritual reality.

PRISM aims at a multi-disciplinary portfolio of projects and program core activities. To strategically focus efforts, PRISM will concentrate on the social sciences and humanities at this stage. This emphasis arises out of expert consultations, where a clear gap has been indicated in this domain. To further concentrate impact, PRISM will focus in this timeframe on mysticisms in and between five major religious traditions – Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – whose adherents account for over 75% of the world’s population. Given increasing flexibility in modern religious “affiliation,” PRISM seeks to map mystical elements reaching out from – and often in institutional tension with – the five traditions, i.e., de-racinating, de-territorializing, and dis-embedding accounts, as well as new spiritualities.

A rubric to investigate mystical consciousness

The program will work on a new, interdisciplinary thematic rubric  to cut across existing divisions. These four themes (Experience, Methods, Interfaith, Culture: EMIC), complement disciplines and are intended as overlapping categories of research questions rather than exclusive boxes:

Experience: What changes in consciousness of mystical experiences?

At the core of mysticism is some form of experience/ feeling/ consciousness. What are examples of ecstasy and other altered states in religious traditions, and how are they similar or different? How has “imagination” been conceived of? What are the different forms by which religious traditions have engendered or encouraged altered states of consciousness? Does mystical practice entail psychological transformation? What aspects of ecstasy are objectively measurable and which aren’t? Does mystical ecstasy in episodic experience carry through into and beyond contemplative practice? How does mysticism connect with traditional and modern/ hybrid use of psychedelics, including sacred plants, in Western, Indigenous, and non-Western cultures? Are isolated, drug-induced experiences similar to traditional use in mystical practices and how?

Methods: How should mysticism be studied?

What are some metrics by which mystical dimensions of religions have been assessed and contrasted, i.e., what holds together “types” of mysticism in the tradition? Is the category of “mysticism” analytically reduced to other categories and, if so, what? How should mysticism be taught? Should mystical language be investigated like other religious language? How can incomprehensibility be comprehended? Is there a symbolic language of mysticism and, if so, what does that look like? What kinds of arts have mystics expressed themselves in and where? How has recent theorization of material, aspects of religion factored into the study of mysticism? How has the study of the “mystical” forced social sciences to innovate or collaborate with natural sciences or theology? What is the relation of mysticism to theology in the history of religions? Did modern/ Western categorization of “mysticism” affect research and even mystical experiences, and how?

Interfaith: What is the inter-tradition aspect of mysticism?

Are mystical experiences or practices inherently unitive or can they be divisive and exclusive? Can the study of mysticism lead to understanding the esoteric or symbolic aspects of inter-faith engagement? How has engagement of mysticisms and mystics in other traditions affected the development of one tradition? Are there intra-tradition differences in mystical paths? What changes and what stays the same across a tradition? Are contemporary mystics “more” interfaith than their historical counterparts and how? How do mystics view the sciences and the science-religion boundary? Which scientists are also mystics?

Culture: To what extent is mysticism culturally embedded?

To what extent are mystical experiences culturally embedded and interpreted vs. having an a-cultural “common core?” What are mystical chains of transmission and how have they adapted in modern times? How have modern technologies affected mystical transmission, praxis, and approach? How does AI affect mystics and the notion of divine union? Do linguistic and other types of communities impact the nature and description of mystical experiences and how? Has recent commercialization, mediatization, and tourism affected mystical practices and circles? Do pro-social benefits like charity and healing typically correlate with those who have had experiences they classify as mystical? How can we relate mysticism to social benefits? Do mystics contribute to human flourishing, including ecological action, and in what way? Can the historical role of women in religion be contextualized in mysticism? Are there gender differences in mystical experiences or interpretations? How have women’s interpretations of mystical experience been placed in the study of religions? What role do different cultures expect mystics to play (monastic, critical, pedagogical, etc.)? How do mystical practices, contexts, and sites engage broader communities? Are pilgrimages “sites” of mystical transformation and do saints’ resting places have an ontological presence today? When do religious rites and rituals enable mystics and when do they limit them? What social structures have enabled or constrained mystical experiences and transmissions over time? How does the authoritative structure of religious institutions handle the event of mystical experience? How have mystics dealt with religious institutions?

Downloads

The conceptual foundation is captured in the following documents for download.

• A draft white paper outlines the post-critique approach to the study of mysticism;
• Five background papers addressing the state of the art on mysticism in Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are compiled into a background volume;
• A thematic literature review of modern, social scientific studies on mysticism has been published in a special issue of open-access journal, Religions: De-mystifying mysticism; and
• A special issue in Religions comprises a number of case studies illustrative of some of the innovations opened by PRISM: Mysticism Reloaded-Innovative approaches, methods and theories to study mysticism.