Exploring the Question: "What is a Mystical Experience?"
By Sandy Stahlman
Defining Mysticism:
* William James: "The Varieties of Religious Experience" and "A Suggestion about Mysticism"
* Arthur Deikman: "Deautomatization and the Mystic Experience" and "Bimodal Consciousness and the Mystic Experience"
* Andrew Greeley: "Ecstasy - A Way of Knowing"
* Abraham Maslow: "Religious Aspects of Peak-Experiences"
* Kenneth Wapnick: "Mysticism and Schizophrenia"
* David Lukoff: "The Diagnosis of Mystical Experience With Psychotic Features"
* Robert Ornstein: "The Psychology of Consciousness"
* Ralph Hood: "The Construction and Preliminary Validation of a Measure of Mystical Experience"
Mysticism, Mental Health, and Literature:
* Schizophrenia & Mysticism (Bibliographic Essay)
* Annie Dillard: Mysticism of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Essay)
(Written with the assistance of Th. Emil Homerin, Professor and Chair,
University of Rochester Department of Religion and Classics.)
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Commentary on William James' "The Varieties of Religious Experience" & "A Suggestion about Mysticism"
~Sandra Stahlman
In these lectures, James attempts to define mystical states of consciousness as "real" experiences, that is to say a valid topic of investigation and study, and to show them as available to most people. He begins with the crucial point of definition; without a clear idea of what is being discussed, misunderstandings are bound to occur. Many things can be referred to as mystical, but James uses the term "mystical states of consciousness" to encompass a spectrum of experiences, from the non-religious to the most religiously profound.
Beginning with the "simplest" sort of mystical experience, James notes the strong sense of significance and knowledge associated with the experience, it's "noetic" quality. It is one of four qualities that James uses to define mystical states of consciousness. "Ineffable" is another characteristic which marks an experience as mystical; the experience defies expression. Due to its subjective nature, the experience is much like state of feeling. James asserts that these two qualities "entitle any state to be called mystical." However, there are other qualities usually associated with the experience. He explains that the experiences are generally transient. Fading quickly, it is hard to recall the quality of the experience in memory; they remain just out of reach. But, some memory content always remains, and this can be used to "modify the inner life of the subject between the time of their recurrence." When having a mystical experience, however, individuals do not seem to actively process the information. Instead, it is a passive experience - James' fourth characteristic mark. Even though many people actively study and/or practice techniques to produce mystical states of consciousness, once occurring the experience seems to happen without their will.
Later, James goes on to suggest that these experiences occur as our "field of consciousness" increases. One can assert these "simple" experiences connote a slight widening of this field, whereas the more profound experiences come when consciousness expands to include items usually filtered, hidden, or just out of reach. Such could include memories and sensations. As awareness increases to include more external and internal information, a sense of self, a boundary between self and environment, expands, and seems to dissipate. The experience is one of unity with information formerly defined as non-self. This expansion of the self, often referred to as loss of self, may not be beneficial for someone who does not have a "strong" sense of self to begin with. To these people, a mystical experience can be frightening and confusing, to say the least. James calls this a "diabolical mysticism;" half of mysticism, he explains, is not religious mysticism, but cases where "mystical ideas" are seen as symptoms of insanity. He refers to these as "lower mysticisms," springing forth from the same psychological mechanisms as the classic, religious sort. However, the messages and emotions are experienced as negative.
James points out the importance of keeping the definition of mystical states of consciousness value-neutral. All mystical experience, he explains, whether experiences as positive or negative, deserves recognition as available states of consciousness. He does not debate whether they are a superior form of consciousness; instead he suggests that, like our rational states, mystical states encompass both truth and deception, pleasure and pain.
bibliography
James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. Penguin Books: Canada.
James, William. "A Suggestion about Mysticism." Understanding Mysticism. Image Books: Garden City, 1980.
This article has been indexed by StudyWeb.Com
Written by Sandy Stahlman, 1992, at the University of Rochester
Commentary on Deikman's Essays "Deautomatization and the Mystic Experience" and"Bimodal Consciousness and the Mystic Experience"
~Sandra Stahlman
Deikman supplies an explanation of the process of the mystical experience in psychological terms. Proceeding on the assumption that meditation and renunciation are the primary techniques for producing such an experience, he describes how the phrase "mystical experience" covers a spectrum of experiences. Deikman categorizes accounts of these experiences as either untrained-sensate, trained-sensate, or trained-transcendent.
He explains that untrained-sensate refers to phenomena that occur in individuals who do not actively practice meditation or other exercises used to produce a religious experience. These phenomena are usually described by the individuals as an extension of their "normal" psychological processes. The experiences occur most frequently in natural settings and/or under the influence of drugs.
Deikman believes that, phenomenologically, the trained and untrained sensate states are indistinguishable. What makes the trained-sensate category distinct is that trained individuals tend to have experiences which conform to their learned religious cosmology; a prior knowledge and/or expectation of the experience directs its interpretation.
The final category, trained-transcendent, describes experiences that go beyond sensation and "normal" psychological processes; they transcend emotion and affect. Deikman describes these experiences as transient and passive. Characteristic is a sense of the unity of all things; multiplicity disappears as the individual undergoes a process of "ego-loss". These experiences usually occur only with a long, dedicated process of training.
In addition to a characteristic sense of unity, the experience carries with it an intense feeling of reality, even though no tangible evidence of realness is available. Deikman cites clinical examples of experiences which seem real yet carry no evidence of reality. He asserts that the feeling of realness is distinct from the object of sensation; this feeling can be reduced or intensified regardless of the stability of the sense object. This same principal applies as well to the unusual sensations which accompany mystical experience. In such instances it is the mode of perception which has changed, not the external stimuli themselves. Deikman refers to this process as "perceptual expansion;" awareness includes stimuli which are usually filtered or repressed, such as our own electrochemical processes. As such information-limiting processes are deautomatized, boundaries of self expand to include a wide source of knowledge previously withheld from conscious awareness.
Although necessary to be able to discriminate, filter, analyze, describe - to engage the environment actively, it is equally important to be able to be receptive to information we would "normally" disregard. In the receptive mode we are able to see the greater picture, to reconcile difference, to be creative. There is an idea in our culture that the rational mind is preferred, even to the point of exclusivity, over the intuitive/non-rational mind. Deikman points out that our brain was designed to have both complimentary modes, and he believes that when both work together the results are a more healthy being.
bibliography
Deikman, A. "Deautomatization and the Mystic Experience." Understanding Mysticism. Image Books: Garden City, 1980.
Deikman, A. "Bimodal Consciousness and the Mystic Experience." Understanding Mysticism. Image Books: Garden City, 1980.
Written by Sandy Stahlman, 1992, at the University of Rochester
Commentary on Andrew Greeley's "Ecstasy - A Way of Knowing"
~Sandra Stahlman
Andrew Greeley presents the notion that the mystical (or "ecstatic") experience is a natural form of knowledge. Analogous to the creative process, the cognition experienced with a mystical experience is non-discursive; Greeley explains it as a deeper level of "knowing," when the "preconscious" is permitted into awareness (p.52-54). Thus, the ecstatic experience is similar to the creative experience in that they are both types of cognition that are of a different level of consciousness than our "normal" experience of cognition. Greeley's research supports the assumption that the mystical experience is a universal, natural one. His preliminary findings show that a substantial percent of the United States population have experienced a mystical states; he notes that reported experiences range from mild to intense, rare to frequent. Greeley includes experiences of ecstasy induced by drugs. He explains that there is "...no reason to deny that drugs can trigger the operation of a person's capacities for the..." mystical form of knowledge (p.13). Greeley defines the experience as "something like Maslow's peak-experience, that is, a feeling of intense unity with the universe and of one's peace within that unity"(p.12) He stresses that mystics describe the experience as more of an experience of cognition than of feeling; the mystic comes to know something previously unknown.
Greeley writes of the relationship between schizophrenia and the ecstatic experience. He notes that until the past few decades, the ecstatic experience was often assumed to be a form of schizophrenic episode. However, Greeley asserts that although mystics may sometimes appear badly disoriented, one should not equate the mystical experience with schizophrenia. He explains that the ecstatic experience is not something totally different from ordinary consciousness, but that it falls at one end of a spectrum which can be described as a continuum of nondiscursive insight into the nature of the real. (p.81) Similarly, as Greeley defines it, schizophrenia also falls upon this continuum; but, it is a level of cognition different from both ordinary and ecstatic experiences. Although a person with a badly integrated personality may be pushed "over the edge into schizophrenia" because the "clarity of vision" of a mystical knowledge is too much to handle, it still does not follow that "mysticism and schizophrenia are one and the same" (p.81-82).
Greeley does not seem to sufficiently support this assumption, nor does he explain where upon the continuum the schizophrenic experience falls in relationship to the mystical experience. This is not indicative of the whole essay, however; his definition of the mystical experience is argued at length. This bias seems to stem from his religious faith. During his discussion of mysticism and how it relates to schizophrenia, Greeley notes that the underlying message of the mystics' accounts is that "love" is at the core of the universe (pg.79). It appears he distinguishes the "negative" experience of schizophrenia from this "positive" love. Although he may be correct in his assumption that the two experiences are different, the negative/positive distinction does not sufficiently explain the difference. Greeley never explains how cognition during a schizophrenic episode differs from that of a mystical experience. He does note that the schizophrenic, unlike the mystic, cannot control "either his breakaway or his reentry" from normal consciousness (p.47); but this distinction, as well, does not explain the difference in cognition that would place it at a different level on the spectrum of non-discursive cognition.
bibliography
Greeley, Andrew M. Ecstasy A Way of Knowing. A Spectrum Book: Englewood Cliffs, 1974.
Written by Sandy Stahlman, 1992, at the University of Rochester
Commentary on Abraham Maslow's "Religious Aspects of Peak-Experiences"
~Sandra Stahlman
Maslow states that the transcendent experiences occur universally, and they can be characterized as being of a theistic, supernatural, or non-theistic content. Very important with Maslow is the idea that the experience is as unique as the person experiencing it. Regardless of content, and how the experience is interpreted and used, Maslow points out that there are certain characteristics which are constant to what he has termed "peak-experiences," a term which encompasses the spectrum of mystical states of consciousness. Maslow prefers the term "peak-experience" because he wishes to secularize the experience, feeling it is necessary to define the experience as one that is natural and available without an organized religious context. However, this is not to say that religious context is unimportant. He comprehends the need for a framework of values with which to interpret and understand the experience. However, Maslow believes that since the peak-experience can be stimulated by non-religious settings and activities, the framework by which we interpret our experience must encompass everyday life - beyond the realm of "religion." Then, Maslow says, "Religion becomes...a state of mind achievable in almost any activity of life, if this activity is raised to a suitable level of perfection." (p.170)
In the field of psychology, particularly around the time Maslow was starting his study, the prevalent idea was that since the inner mind was not tangible, it could not be objectively studied. Maslow hoped to provide a framework which could be used, both personally and scientifically, to explore peak-experiences. With a common language of terms ("peak-experience"), the frequency of occurrence and variation of the experience can be measured and examined. Individuals can use Maslow's terms to relate their subjective experience and compare it to the subjective experiences of others. In this manner, Maslow feels mystical experience will become incorporated into our everyday language, part of our culture.
Maslow presents a list of characteristics -- formerly assigned only to religious contexts -- to encompass all varieties of peak-experience, whatever the context. He describes how the experience tends to be unifying, noetic, and ego-transcending; it gives a sense of purpose to the individual, a sense of integration. He feels that peak-experiences can be therapeutic, as they tend to increase free will, self-determination, creativity, and empathy. Maslow believes that we should study and cultivate peak-experience, so that we can teach those in our culture to those who "have never had them or who repress or suppress them" (p.179), providing them a route to achieve personal growth, integration, and fulfillment.
bibliography
Maslow, Abraham. "Religious Aspects of Peak-Experiences." Personality and Religion. Harper & Row: New York, 1970.
Written by Sandy Stahlman, 1992, at the University of Rochester
Commentary on Kenneth Wapnick's "Mysticism and Schizophrenia"
~Sandra Stahlman
In his article "Mysticism and Schizophrenia," Kenneth Wapnick discusses the similarities and differences of the mystical and the schizophrenic experiences. He discusses each type of experience within the framework of Underhill's "five-stages"; as examples, the personal accounts of a mystic and a schizophrenic are examined to clarify the underlying processes. Wapnick concludes that both schizophrenics and mystics follow basically the same developmental path, but differ in preparation for that process.
Wapnick explains that mystics tend to follow a very structured, common process, culminating with the mystical experience. He gives us an outline of this process created by Underhill in 1961. The mystic moves from an "awakening of self" (pg.323) to the purgation of attachments to the social world and the self, resulting in an experience of "a state of pure consciousness, in which the individual experiences nothing"(pg.324). Wapnick has added a final "step" to Underhill's outline; most mystics happily and successfully reintegrate into the world of social attachments. Wapnick points out that it is attachment to the social world that mystics renounce through their process, not the social world itself.
Wapnick presents an account of St. Teresa's mystical experiences as an example of the process. After the lifelong, arduous, painful task of abandoning attachment, Teresa experienced "the complete cessation of external involvement and the experience of 'Union with God'"(pg328). Wapnick makes particular note that the hardest "stage" to experience came just before experiencing "union;" void of ties with the social world, Teresa felt great fear and panic of being all alone, lost.
In comparison is the schizophrenic experience, which initially follows Underhill's outline. However, difference emerges when preparation is considered. Mystical experience usually occurs after long years of dedicated effort. Mystics train their "muscles" gradually, so to speak, to withstand the rush of experience from the "inner world" (pg.334). In other words, the mystic, in conscious control, prepares for the experience ahead. On the other hand, the schizophrenic is lacking that preparation; "he is overwhelmed, with no means of dealing with his experience and no conviction that he will survive it"(pg.335). The schizophrenic has no control over the experience of the inner world. In addition, Wapnick explains that while schizophrenics are later able to reintegrate into society, they are not able to carry over the "lesson" of the experience. Their "inner potential" is usually left undeveloped.
bibliography
Wapnick, Kenneth. "Mysticism and Schizophrenia." Understanding Mysticism. Image Books: Garden City, 1980.
Written by Sandy Stahlman, 1992, at the University of Rochester
Commentary on David Lukoff's "The Diagnosis of Mystical Experience With Psychotic Features"
~Sandra Stahlman
In the article "The Diagnosis of Mystical Experience with Psychotic Features," (1985) David Lukoff criticizes the DSM-III-R, a diagnostic system used nationwide by psychiatrists. Specifically, he proposes a change in the classification of psychotic episodes; he has designed - within the system's guidelines - a new diagnostic category. MEPF for short, a Mystical Experience With Psychotic Features would be a distinct category within the DSM-III-R. Lukoff argues that the current version of the DSM does not distinguish psychotic episodes which have a positive outcome. Lukoff explains that these episodes are brief, come on quickly, and often result in "improvements in the individual's functioning" (p.157); Lukoff believes they should be categorized and treated differently from psychotic episodes which "indicate a mental disorder" (p.157).
Lukoff proceeds under the assumption that there are mystical experiences, psychotic episodes, mystical experiences with psychotic features and psychotic disorders with mystical features. He briefly defines all his terms, noting that what will be necessary is the ability to discriminate the two. Lukoff explains that the MEPF would describe "the presence of the psychotic state during an essentially religious experience" (p.166). Three criteria for the MEPF are: overlap with mystical experience, positive outcome likely, and low-risk - an "exclusionary criterion" to be implemented "only if the danger seems immediate and severe" (p.171). Five categories define the overlap with mystical experience: ecstatic mood, sense of newly-gained knowledge, perceptual alterations, delusions (if present) have themes related to mythology, and finally, no conceptual disorganization is apparent. In addition, two of the following must be present to fulfill the positive outcome likely criteria: good pre-episode functioning, acute onset of symptoms during 3 months or less, stressful precipitants to the episode, and a positive attitude towards the experience. If these criteria are met, MEPF would be the diagnostic category to use. It would be assumed that the experience will be relatively brief, and beneficial (assist growth). The treatment would differ from the other psychoses, where persistent conceptual disorganization and successful reintegration into society is unlikely.
Lukoff presents an example case study. In addition, he supplies references to scales and tests which may be used to make a diagnosis of MEPF. For example, he suggests a scale and interview created by N. Andreasen (1979) which can help determine if conceptual disorganization is present; because, Lukoff notes, that bizarre speech does not always indicate disorganization. Also included is an excellent bibliography on the topic at hand.
bibliography
Andreasen, N. (1979) The clinical assessment of thought, language, and conceptual disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 1325-1330.
Lukoff, David (1985) The Diagnosis of Mystical Experience With Psychotic Features. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 17, 155-181.
for an update, read Dr. Lukoff's article:
From Spiritual Emergency to Spiritual Problem: The Transpersonal Roots of the New DSM-IV Category
Commentary on Robert E. Ornstein's "The Psychology of Consciousness"
~Sandra Stahlman
Robert Ornstein presents a "textbook" (p.vii) on human consciousness. Ornstein argues that although we have amassed an enormous body of knowledge and a mastery of the external world, we have neglected exploring the internal world. The Psychology of Human Consciousness (1977) is his attempt to redefine the scope of the sciences to include a study of all modes of human consciousness. Many of Ornstein's assertions run contrary to the current theories today. However, Ornstein points out a recent recognition that "...these modes operate biologically as well as mentally and culturally. With a recognition of the biological basis of ...consciousness, we may be able to redress the imbalance in science and psychology."(p.39) Contrary to the popular notion that something so subjective as consciousness cannot be studied empirically, Ornstein manages to present his material with a substantial body of scientifically valid research.
Ornstein discusses "reality" and what is considered "normal" consciousness. This consciousness can be shown (through sensory experimentation, for example) to be a constructed reality; in order to create a stable, manageable environment, a sensory-filtering system develops from childhood and continually shaped by subsequent situations. What is experienced as reality, Ornstein explains, is actually only a representation. What becomes clear is this: if "normal" consciousness is created, then this consciousness may be altered simply by changing the manner of its construction.
Ornstein presents a chronicle of the many varied definitions of consciousness throughout history. He stresses the tendency to describe two polar facets of consciousness, commonly known as the intuitive/irrational mode and the verbal/rational mode. Ornstein argues that the intuitional mode is often overlooked in current Western science, as well as in education, society and psychology. Heavy reliance on the rational mode of consciousness has lead to a denial of our "inner" life, as well as a tendency towards automatization of somatic systems, and habitual filtering/reduction of sensory input. Ornstein argues, that if our cultural definition of consciousness could be expanded to integrate intuitional modes of being, individuals could learn to "switch-off" automatized processes with ease, and operate direct control over the psyche/soma systems as well as over the environment. Individuals would then have access to knowledge beyond the intellectual sort. Ornstein supplies many examples of knowledge that are often ignored in our culture - insight from dreams, body temperature patterns, chemical reactions on a cellular level, etc. Ornstein asserts that we are equipped with the "tools" to access both the realms of rationality and intuition. He suggests we follow a lesson found cross-culturally: the most effective mode of operation is one that synthesizes the two ways of engaging the world. Ornstein's text catalogs both historical and current methods aimed at to restructuring consciousness, including his own suggestions on self-regulation.
What I found to be most striking and bold was Ornstein's discussion of the evolutionary usefulness of the analytical mode of consciousness; how our rational mode of consciousness was a tool, ensuring our mastery over the environment and our continued biological survival. However, he argues, because cultural evolution proceeds faster than organismic evolution, our current cultural needs have changed. This strict dependence on the rational mode is no longer useful and, in fact, can be damaging. Ornstein gives, as example, the current environmental problem facing us; a sense of the earth as a total system would foster a feeling of respect for all natural life and an understanding of individual impact on the environment and the future. This most often accompanies non-rational consciousness. Ornstein hopes for a redefinition of "reality" to include all modes of consciousness. His text offers strong evidence to support his conclusions.
bibliography
Ornstein, Robert E. The Psychology of Consciousness. Harcourt Brace Joavonovich, Inc.: New York, 1977.
Written by Sandy Stahlman, 1992, at the University of Rochester
An Examination of Hood's 1975 Publication "The Construction and Preliminary Validation of a Measure of Mystical Experience"
~Sandra Stahlman
Ralph W. Hood, Jr. has generated a measure of reported mystical experience. Based upon the characteristic categories conceptualized by Stace, Hood has generated a thirty-two item scale as "an instrument for persons interested in the investigation of mystical experience, especially within a religious context"(Hood,pg.39).
Hood reports that, from factor analysis, results support Stace's notion that mystical experiences are best thought of as "forming a single continuum with all criteria related via a pattern of 'family resemblences'"(Hood,p34) He explains that a religious interpretation of the experience is possible, but not necessary. Indeed, this religious element of the experience is one of seven characteristics of the mystical experiences created by Stace. Stace writes that the experience need not meet all seven categories. Borderline cases exist where some and not others are fulfilled. He presents this as one of the two fundamental assumptions upon which he based his concepts on. The other is that the experience is a universal experience, differences arising from individual cultural interpretation. Hood's Mysticism Scale is designed to measure the reported mystical experience of a wide variety of populations and help distinguish experience from interpretation.
Similarly, the categories the scale was generated from were created by Stace in 1960 to distinguish the "core" mystical experience. First Stace differentiates between "introvertive" and "extrovertive" mystical experiences, the extrovertive being "...on a lower level than the introvertive type...a partly realized tendency to unity which the introvertive kind completely realizes"(Stace,pg.132) Next, examining the reports of mystics, he generates two lists of common "core" characteristics, one for each type - introvertive or extrovertive. It is from these categories Hood generates his scale items.
Hood writes that he has chosen Stace as his reference because of the "cold, dispassionate logic" used by Stace in creating the operational categories. However, Stace overlooks an important realm of experience in his discussion. His fourth category describes "the characteristic emotional tone of blessedness and peace." It seems necessary to note that reports of experiences, meeting criteria of mystical experience, may also carry a "negative" emotional tone; this should be taken into account in the measure of mystical experience.
bibliography
Hood, Jr, Ralph W. "The Construction and Preliminary Validation of a Measure of Reported Mystical Experience." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 1975: Vol 14, p29-41.
Stace, W.T. Mysticism and Philosophy. J.B. Lippincott Company: Philadelphia, 1960.
The Relationship Between Schizophrenia & Mysticism
| A Bibliographic Essay
Sandra Stahlman, June 1992 |
The nature of schizophrenia, and other forms of psychosis, is still under debate and a significant issue is the relationship between psychosis and the mystical, or religious, experience. Throughout history this question has been addressed by scholars from all fields of inquiry. Currently, psychologists are looking at the similarities and differences between the experiences, hoping to shed light on the nature, process, and treatment of psychosis. I was curious to see what has been discovered.
The information available on mystical experience and psychotic episodes seems limitless. This paper will focus on the current psychological perspective which examines mystical and psychotic experiences as a natural, universal phenomena. This is not a new idea; however, specific to recent research is its objective, systematic nature. Looking to define both in value-neutral, experiential terms, psychologists are scrutinizing the biological, psychological, and behavioral correlates of the two experiences, combining information from ongoing measurement and personal interviews and the body of knowledge available from philosophy and the study of religion.
In order to discover the relationship between mystical experience and psychosis, analysis must first be directed at defining each individually. Therefore I present not only a review of the current psychological research regarding this relationship, but also a look at theories addressing the questions "what is a mystical experience?" and "what is psychosis?"
DEFINING MYSTICISM
One topic scholars agree on is the need for a formal definition of mystical experience; they intend to determine the characteristics common to all descriptions of mystical experience, and have this be a "working definition" for present research. In this manner, studies can be related simply and without confusion of terms. Authors of the material I reviewed began discussion with their definition of mystical experience; the following characteristics emerged repeatedly as each author attempts to define mystical experience: experience of unity, intense affective experience, time/space distortion, noetic quality, ineffability, and a sense of holiness or sacredness. In addition, the authors generally included the concept of universality in their definitions. There are aspects of the definition which scholars are not able to agree on; however, the recent development of tools of measurement (e.g. scales, questionnaires) may be able to provide information to help answer such questions.
During the early 1900's, William James wrote about the idea of a spectrum - or continuum - of mystical states of consciousness ranging from the non-religious to the most religiously profound (James, 1985). Beginning with the "simplest" sort of mystical experience, James notes the strong sense of significance and knowledge associated with the experience, its "noetic" quality. It is one of four qualities that James uses to define mystical states of consciousness. "Ineffable" is another characteristic which marks an experience as mystical; the experience defies expression. Due to its subjective nature, the experience is much like states of feeling. James asserts that these two qualities "entitle any state to be called mystical" (p.302). However, there are other qualities usually associated with the experience. He explains that the experiences are generally transient. Fading quickly, it is hard to recall the quality of the experience in memory; they remain just out of reach. But, some memory content always remains, and this can be used to "modify the inner life of the subject between the time of their recurrence" (p.303). When having a mystical experience, however, individuals do not seem to actively process the information. Instead it is a passive experience - James' fourth characteristic mark. Even though people actively study and/or practice techniques to produce mystical states of consciousness, once occurring, the experience seems to happen without their will.
Later, James goes on to suggest that these experiences occur as our "field of consciousness" increases (James, 1980). One can assert these "simple" experiences connote a slight widening of this field, whereas the more profound experiences come when consciousness expands to include items usually filtered, hidden, or just out of reach. Such could include memories and sensations. As awareness increases to include more external and internal information, a sense of self, a boundary between self and environment, expands, seems to dissipate. The experience is one of unity with information formerly defined as non-self. This expansion of the self, often referred to as loss of self, may not be beneficial for someone who does not have a "strong" sense of self to begin with. To these people, a mystical experience can be frightening and confusing, to say the least.
In his earlier writings, James refers to "diabolic" mysticism (p.337). Half of mysticism, he explains, is not a religious mysticism, but cases where "mystical ideas" are seen as symptoms of insanity. He refers to these as "lower mysticisms," springing forth from the same psychological mechanisms as the classic, religious sort. However, the messages and emotions are experienced as negative. This idea does not combine well with his proposed spectrum of mystical states of consciousness, where simple experiences are also referred to as non-religious, but are not accompanied by negative affect. James reconciles the difference, and concludes that the definition of mystical states must be value-neutral. All mystical experience, he writes, whether experienced as positive or negative, deserves recognition as available states of consciousness. He ends debate over which is a superior form of consciousness; instead he suggests that, like our rational states, mystical states encompass both truth and deception, pleasure and pain.
In the essay "Religious Aspects of Peak-Experiences" (1970), Abraham Maslow uses the term "peak-experiences" to encompass the spectrum of mystical states of consciousness. He wishes to secularize the experience because he feels the phrase "mystical" has taken on purely religious connotations. To define peak-experiences, Maslow presents a list of characteristics which encompass all varieties of peak-experience. He describes how the experience tends to be unifying, noetic, ego-transcending; it gives a sense of purpose to the individual, a sense of integration.
Addressing the concepts "unifying" and "ego-transcending" seems vital because the sorts of phrases turn up again and again in literature on mysticism. F.C. Happold (1975) writes "unless the idea of non-duality can be grasped the range of mystical experience is incomprehensible" (p.71). "Duality" describes the manner in which we usually perceive our self in relation to the environment. A division of "self" and "other" occurs. "Ego" can be used to refer to that self which we are aware of. What happens during a mystical experience has been described as transcending this ego, or going through a process of temporary "ego-loss." As multiplicity ceases, the experience is of a mode of consciousness often referred to as "the One."
The notion of the One is integrated into many cultures; religious traditions and ceremonies often focus on the culmination of this experience of transcendence. As the experience closes, it is subsequently interpreted by the individual's personal ideology. It follows that if this ideology is religious, the experience will be interpreted as such. Conversely, if the individual does not hold any religious ideology, the experience will be interpreted with non-religious connotations. But, why did the experience come under a religious framework in the first place. What about the mystical experience is religious? Andrew Greeley (1974) expresses with great emotion that the underlying message of the mystics' accounts is that "love" is at the core of the universe (p.79). Accompanying the mystical experience is often extreme joy, or exultation. Mystics often describe feeling so wonderful, that they later conclude it was the working of a higher force. Sometimes the experience is so emotionally overwhelming that it completely alters the individual's lifestyle.
However, throughout history, there are accounts of mystical experiences which are accompanied by strong negative emotions - the diabolic mysticism James wrote of. Later James concludes that both positive and negative forces must exist in the mystical realm. These negative forces were commonly assumed to be demons, or the devil. This is how they were interpreted. Could it be then, that insanity is the current interpretation of "negative" mystical experiences? It would be difficult for a mystic to integrate into a society which held no such role. Are some of the insane actually mystics? As I will describe in detail later, there are now diagnostic questionnaires which doctors can use to determine if an experience is, by definition, mystical.
Kenneth Wapnick (1980) explains that mystics tend to follow a very structured, common process, culminating with the mystical experience. He refers to an outline of this process created by Underhill in 1961, in which the mystic moves from "an awakening of self" (p.323) to the purgation of attachments to the social world and the self, resulting in an experience of "a state of pure consciousness, in which the individual experiences nothing" (p.324). Wapnick has added a final "step" to Underhill's outline; most mystics happily and successfully reintegrate into the world of social attachments. Wapnick points out that it is attachment to the social world that trained mystics renounce through their process, not the social world itself. Many individuals devote their lives to cultivating a mystical experience; methods of meditation, ritual, and dance - for example - are used to induce transcendence.
For other individuals, the experience occurs spontaneously, in seemingly any situation, with religious or non-religious connotations. Andrew Greeley, a priest and author, is one of many scholars who have conducted a "census" survey to determine what portion of the US population report having had a mystical experience. His preliminary finding show that a substantial percent have had the experience. He notes that they range from mild to intense, rare to frequent. Greeley defines the experience as "something like Maslow's peak-experience, that is, a feeling of intense unity with the universe and of one's place within that unity" (p.12). He stresses that mystics describe the experience as more of an experience of cognition than of feeling; the mystic comes to know something previously unknown.
Raymond Prince (1979) discusses four other population surveys regarding mystical experience. All four discovered that 20-40% of those surveyed report a mystical or religious experience. Some respondents did not know the concept of mystical experience, yet fulfilled requirements. Findings show that the experience is more common when the individual is in good mental health. Scholars maintain that these percentages, along with cross-cultural evidence, warrant considering mystical experience a universally occurring natural phenomenon.
Universality of the mystical experience is addressed Robert Ornstein (1977). He explains that all individuals have access to knowledge beyond the intellectual sort, knowledge that is often ignored in our culture. Ornstein supplies many example of this knowledge - creative wisdom and insight from dreams, body temperature patterns, chemical reactions on a cellular level, and he postulates there are many forms of information we are as yet oblivious to. He asserts that we are equipped with the "tools" to access both the realms of rationality and intuition. Ornstein presents a chronicle of the definition of consciousness throughout history. He stresses the dialectic of theories, which tend to describe two polar facets of consciousness, the rational and intuitive modes of operation. He suggests we follow a lesson found cross-culturally: the most effective mode of operation appears to be one that synthesizes the two ways of engaging the world.
Deikman's essays (1980) describe the process of "deautomatization," in which "active" information-limiting processes which filter and analyze give way to a "receptive" mode. Deikman refers to this process as "perceptual expansion;" awareness includes stimuli which are usually filtered or repressed, such as our own electrochemical processes. As such information-limiting processes are deautomatized, boundaries of self expand to include a wide source of knowledge previously withheld from conscious awareness - information we (our unconscious processes) would "normally" filter from awareness. In the receptive mode we are able to see the greater picture, as systems to discriminate and categorize are reduced to a minimum. We are able to reconcile difference, as paradox is tolerable. We are open to creative knowledge. Deikman applies this principal to the unusual sensations which accompany the mystical experience. In such instances, he stresses, it is the mode of perception which has changed, not the external stimuli themselves. Consider the experience of time. Perceptually, a minute can seem fleeting, or appear to drag incessantly; but, "normal" clock time would be identical in both cases.
Robert Ornstein's discussion of "reality" and what is considered "normal" consciousness raises an important issue, especially as it relates to mental health. He explains that normal reality is a consciousness which can be shown (through sensory experimentation, for example) to be a constructed reality; in order to create a stable, manageable environment, a sensory-filtering system develops from childhood and continually shaped by subsequent situations. What is experienced as reality, Ornstein explains, is actually only a representation. If "normal" consciousness is created, he concludes, then this consciousness may be altered simply by changing the manner of it construction. The mystical experience can be seen as a transcendence of normal consciousness and reintegration; the knowledge gained from the experience offers beneficial growth-potential.
Ornstein's point-of-view exemplifies the style, or manner, in which the subject of mysticism has come to be studied. By describing the experience using neutral, bio-psychological terms, scholars such as Ornstein and the others I have referred to enable mystical experience to be studied as a universal - and not necessarily religious - experience of consciousness. This is essential to an accurate examination of the similarities and differences between mystical experience and psychosis.
DEFINING PSYCHOSIS
David Lukoff (1985) speaks of the criteria which must be met to acquire the label "psychotic." He writes:
"The phenomenology (imagery, cognitions) of the psychotic condition shares many characteristics with dream experiences (Hall,1977), hallucinogenic drug trips (Kleinman et al,1977), spiritual awakenings (Assigioli, 1981), near death experiences (Grof & Grof,1980) and shamanic experiences (Halifax, 1979). The fantastic or bizarre content of reported experiences is not sufficient indication that a person is psychotic" (p.162).
What does indicate psychosis? Lukoff explains that doctors must decide whether or not the patient's cognitions are "understandable." Psychotics are individuals whose inner workings are not comprehensible. In addition, doctors look to see if the patient is able to function in everyday life; do they possess common sense? "Psychosis is considered a disruption to the normal functioning of consciousness," explains Lukoff.
R.D. Laing (1967) criticizes this method of diagnosis. In his book, The Politics of Experience, Laing points out that the decision is wholly subjective on the part of the doctor. He fears that physicians do not actively attempt to understand patients' communications, and meanings and connections are missed - although they do exist from the perspective of the patient. Laing supports the opinion that you cannot possibly understand the inner mind of an individual if you do not know his or her background.
A college-level textbook, Abnormal Psychology: Current Perspectives, defines psychosis as a class of psychological disorders in which "reality contact" is "radically impaired" (p.348). The authors explain reality contact as the capacity to perceive, process and respond to stimuli in an adaptive manner. The text explains that psychoses can be classified as biogenic or functional. The biogenic psychoses are those associated with known physical causes. With functional psychoses, on the other hand, no physical cause can be clearly identified; thus, the basis of the psychoses may be "at least partly psychogenic" (p.348).
The functional psychoses are divided into three categories: mood disorders, schizophrenia, and the delusional disorders. Mood disturbances are disorders of affect; schizophrenic and delusional disorders are considered to be disorders of thought (p.384). Disorders of affect and thought are explained in greater detail in S. Epstein's article "Natural Healing Processes of the Mind: Acute Schizophrenic Disorganization" (1979). Epstein describes two common symptoms of impaired cognitive functioning: a loss of integrative capacity and lower perceptual systems. With the loss of integrative capacity, the ability to make inferences about size, distance, depth, and other relational cues break down. Perceptual sensations become distorted as the performance of the lower order functions becomes impaired. Epstein explains that "when there is a partial breakdown of cortical control, the individual tends to experience current situations with a sharpened intensity" (p.318). Such heightened intensity of perceptions can be explained by the lack of organizational capacity. Epstein notes that:
"This, together with a release from inhibition of repressed memories and impulses, confronts the individual with the raw data of new experiences and with unassimilated old experiences that can no longer be ignored, and that can now be experienced uninfluenced by the biasing lenses of the old conceptual system [ego]. The weakened inhibitory control may also foster abreaction. The overall process provides an unusual opportunity for new learning and the assimilation of old learning to occur" (p.318).
However, Epstein cautions, whereas it is evident that acute schizophrenic disorganization can be beneficial, this growth potential is not characteristic of the whole range of psychosis; it is usually limited to psychotic episodes which come on quickly, are precipitated by a stress-inducing event, and last only for a short time ("acute"). The level of everyday functioning before psychosis is also a good indication of the prognosis.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MYSTICISM AND PSYCHOSIS
What does the research I reviewed say about the relationship between mystical experience and psychotic episodes? The majority of scholars come to conclude that mystical experience and psychosis are both examples of naturally available, altered states of consciousness. Investigations explore the "location" of these experiences within the range of altered states of consciousness. Efforts are being concentrated on designing measurements systems to determine the characteristics which distinguish the two experiences.
Peter Buckley (1981) presents findings from an examination of reports of mystical experiences and episodes of acute psychosis. The purpose of his study is to see what is the relationship between the two experiences, as there are many evident similarities. Buckley writes,
"The appearance of a powerful sense of noesis, heightening of perception, feelings of 'communion' with the 'divine', and the exultation may be common to both. The disruption of thought seen in acute psychosis is not a component of the accounts of mystical experience reviewed by the author, and auditory hallucinations are less common than visual hallucinations in the mystical experience" (p.516).
Buckley goes on to suggest that the two experiences are both elements of a "limited repertoire of response within the nervous system for an altered state experience" (p.516) -- similar, but distinct elements.
Delving further into the relationship, Buckley notes that one subtype of schizophrenia is less distinct from mystical experience. He explains that Schizophreniform Psychosis episodes are generally without auditory hallucinations, delusions, or impaired social relations. In addition, the episodes are generally brief, like the mystical experience. Other forms of schizophrenia, in contrast, may last for great lengths of time. Buckley explains that schizophreniform psychoses are believed to be "a variant of the affective disorders" (p.520). He suggests that what acute psychosis and mystical experience share "is simply and ecstatic affective change which imbues perception with an increased intensity" (p.520). Note that the term "acute" describe brief psychotic episodes with a very short onset.
David Lukoff defends a similar position in his article "" when he criticizes the DSM-III-R, a diagnostic system used nationwide by psychiatrists. Specifically he proposes a change in the classification of psychotic episodes; he has designed - within the system's guidelines - a new diagnostic category. MEPF for short, a Mystical Experience With Psychotic Features would be a distinct category within the DSM-III-R. Lukoff argues that the current version of the DSM does not distinguish psychotic episodes which have a positive outcome. Lukoff explains that these episodes are brief, come on quickly (acute), and often result in "improvements in the individual's functioning" (p.157); Lukoff believes they should be categorized and treated differently from psychotic episodes which "indicate mental disorder" (p.157).
Lukoff proceeds under the assumption that there are mystical experiences, psychotic episodes, mystical experiences with psychotic features, and psychotic disorders with mystical features. Lukoff explains that MEPF would describe "the presence of the psychotic state during an essentially religious experience" (p.166). Three criteria for the MEPF are: an overlap with mystical experience, positive outcome likely, and low-risk - an "exclusionary criterion" to be implemented "only if the danger seems immediate and severe" (p.171). Five categories define the overlap with mystical experience: ecstatic mood, sense of newly-gained knowledge, perceptual alterations, delusions (if present) have themes related to mythology, and finally, no conceptual disorganization is apparent. In addition, two of the following must be present to fulfill the positive outcome likely criteria: good pre-episode functioning, acute onset of symptoms during 3 months or less, a stressful precipitant to the episode, and a positive attitude towards the experience. If these criteria are met, MEPF would be the diagnostic category to use. It would be assumed that the experience will be relatively brief, and beneficial (assist growth). The treatment would differ from the other psychoses, where persistent conceptual disorganization and successful reintegration into society is unlikely.
Lukoff presents an example case study. In addition, he supplies references to scales and tests which may be used to make a diagnosis of MEPF. For example, he suggests a scale and interview created by N. Andreasen (1979) which can help determine if conceptual disorganization is present; because, Lukoff notes, that bizarre speech does not always indicate disorganization.
Questionnaires and scales can yield a wealth of information if administered in a precise manner. Hood and Morris (1981) created the Mystical Experience Questionnaire. It was a culmination of "the major component criteria common in empirical studies of mysticism" (p.77). The questionnaire items were derived from the "research of Brown, Spilka, and Cassidy (1978), Greeley (1974), and Hood (1975)" (p.77). Examining these sources, I found that they all were in turn, based upon the research of Stace. In 1960, Stace created categories to distinguish the "core" mystical experience. First Stace differentiates between "introvertive" and "extrovertive" mystical experience, the extrovertive being "on a lower level than the introvertive type...a partly realized tendency to unity which the introvertive kind completely realizes" (Stace,1960,p.132). Next, examining the reports of mystics, he generates two lists of common "core" characteristics, one for each type - introvertive or extrovertive. Characteristics include: unity, noesis, disregard of logic, bliss, sacredness, paradox, and ineffability. The Hood and Morris 1981 questionnaire is based largely upon Stace's conceptualizations.
Michael Siglag administered the Hood and Morris questionnaire to seventy-five schizophrenic adult inpatients. He describes the research in "Schizophrenic and Mystical Experiences: Similarities and Differences" (Siglag, 1987). Participants were chosen from a cross-section of socioeconomic status, ethnic groups and religious orientations (p.2). Among their initial hypothesis was a prediction that one-third of the questioned schizophrenics would respond positively to having had a mystical experience; in addition, those who respond positively will score equal to or greater than "schizophrenic subjects who do not claim mystical experience, on the questionnaire's factors measure experience of unity, affect, time/space distortion, and noesis.
Siglag tells us that 52% of the schizophrenic respondents reported having a mystical experience, "supporting the idea that the schizophrenic population perceive themselves as having mystical experience at least as often as individuals in nonschizophrenic populations" (p.4). In addition they scored significantly above those schizophrenic that did not report a mystical experience as hypothesized. Data analysis lead Siglag to the following conclusions:
"Schizophrenic individuals who claim to have had a mystical experience are similar to other schizophrenic individuals in that they:
1. do not feel any greater control over their experiences than other schizophrenics;
2. do not experience a greater since of coping ability than other schizophrenics;
3. do not experience any more improvement in their relationships than other schizophrenics;
4. experience terror, fear, depression, and a sense of insecurity.
Schizophrenic individuals who claim to have had a mystical experience differ from other schizophrenic individuals in that they:
1. are more likely to have experienced a sense of unity, oneness, or connectedness in the world;
2. report more of a range of affective experiences, and are more likely to have experienced joyful, peaceful states of consciousness;
3. are more likely to report time-space distortions;
4. experience more of a sense of sacredness or holiness;
5. are more likely to see their experiences as valid and meaningful than other schizophrenics" (pp.10-11).
Siglag explains the implications of such findings; if it could be determined which patients were involved in the mystical process as well as the psychosis, therapy could be directed at integration of the "knowledge" acquired - utilizing the growth-potential of the mystical experience.
Bibliography
Andreasen, N. "The Clinical Assessment of Thought, Language and Conceptual Disorders." Archives of General Psychiatry, 36; 1979: 1325-1330. Bootzin, Richard R. and John Ross Acocella. Abnormal Psychology: Current Perspectives (5th edition). Random House: New York, 1988. Brown, G.A, B. Spilka, and S. Cassidy. "The Structure of Mystical Experience and Pre- and Post Experience Lifestyle correlates." Presented at the Convention for the Scientific Study of Religion. Hartford, CT. October 7, 1978. Buckley, Peter. "Mystical Experience and Schizophrenia." Schizophrenia Bulletin, 7; 1981: 516-521. Deikman, A. "Deautomatization and the Mystic Experience." Understanding Mysticism. Image Books: Garden City, 1980 Deikman, A. "Bimodal Consciousness and the Mystic Experience." Understanding Mysticism. Image Books: Garden City, 1980. Epstein, A. "Natural Healing Processes of the Mind: I. Acute Schizophrenic Disorganization." Schizophrenia Bulletin, 5; 1979: 313-320. Greeley, Andrew M. Ecstasy A Way of Knowing. A Spectrum Book: Englewood Cliffs, 1974 Happold, F.C. Mysticism: A Study and Anthology. Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, 1975. Hood, Jr, Ralph W. "The Construction and Preliminary Validation of a Measure of Reported Mystical Experience. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 14; 1975: 29-41. Hood, Jr, Ralph W. and Ronald J. Morris. "Knowledge and Experience Criteria in the Report of Mystical Experience." Review of Religious Research, 23; 1981: 76-85. James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1985. James, William. "A Suggestion about Mysticism." Understanding Mysticism. Image Books: Garden City, 1980. Laing, R.D. The Politics of Experience. Pantheon Books: New York, 1967. Lukoff, David. "The Diagnosis of Mystical Experience With Psychotic Features." Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 17; 1985: 155-181. Maslow, Abraham. "Religious Aspects of peak-experiences." Personality and Religion. Harper & Row: New York, 1970. Ornstein, Robert E. The Psychology of Consciousness. Harcourt Brace Joavonovich, Inc.: New York, 1977. Prince, Raymond. "Religious Experience and Psychosis." Journal of Altered States of Consciousness, 5; 1979: 167-181. Siglag, Michael A. "Schizophrenic and Mystical Experiences: Similarities and Differences." Presented at the 95th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. New York, NY. August 30, 1987. Stace, W.T. Mysticism and Philosophy. J.B. Lippincott Company: Philadelphia, 1960. Wapnick, Kenneth. "Mysticism and Schizophrenia." Understanding Mysticism. Image Books: Garden City, 1980.
*Update*
In 1994, a new diagnostic category (V62.89 "Religious or Spiritual Problem") was added to the 4th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the DSM-IV). Based upon the work of David Lukoff, Robert Turner, and Francis Lu, this new category provides guidance to the psychiatric community in properly diagnosing psychospiritual problems and improving treatment.
A full definition of the diagnostic category, and the history of its proposal, can be obtained from David Lukoff's From Spiritual Emergency to Spiritual Problem: The Transpersonal Roots of the New DSM-IV Category
Additional Links: |
| "...the transformative potential of Kundalini is neither researched nor used by psychology, because its functioning is conventionally reduced to psychosis-like dramatic events (i.e., spiritual emergency). Kundalini itself, as the intentionality of consciousness, is neither discussed, nor discovered, because the outer expressions of the process, such as dramatic spiritual awakening, conceal its developmental essence, leading to the epistemological mistake of giving primacy to secondary events." |
from Via Kundalini: Psychosomatic Excursions in Transpersonal Psychology, by Olga Louchakova & Arielle Warner.
(Written with the assistance of Th. Emil Homerin, Professor and Chair,
University of Rochester Department of Religion and Classics.)
Introduction
Annie Dillard is a modern-day mystic. In her Pulitzer Prize winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie uses stories of her experiences living near Tinker Creek to speak about the human condition, and our relationship with the Divine. She is a highly skilled writer: her prose wraps you up in the event - making you feel like you are there with her. She brings into her discussions knowledge from the whole spectrum of thought - referencing physics, literature, numerous religious traditions, anthropology, medicine and folklore -- just to name a few of her sources. Through her stories, she transports us to the mystical dimension -- her stories invoke an understanding of the mystical that goes beyond words. Somehow, you're reading what seems like just another bird story, and it suddenly turns into much more -- you can just feel the profound implications as she simply relates what she is seeing around her.
Biographical Information
Annie Dillard was born in 1945, and is now forty-nine and living and teaching in Connecticut (for perspective, Tinker Creek was written in 1974, when she was twenty-nine). She has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, it seems. Often she reads over 100 books a year, on just about any topic imaginable. She's been this way from her childhood on.
Annie is the oldest of three daughters, born to affluent parents. Her parents encouraged her to be creative and explore her surroundings. They taught her to have a good sense of humor. Her mother was defiant, a non-conformist, and incredibly energetic. Her father taught her everything from plumbing to economics to the intricacies of the novel On The Road. Annie enjoyed a childhood filled with many good memories - days of piano and dance classes, and rock and bug collecting. But, as is typical with most any childhood, there were also many troubles.
During her high school years, Annie rebelled against her affluent, country club upbringing. She hated everyone, got into trouble in school a lot. Around this time, her academic interests turned to poetry. She read all sorts of poetry, and was particularly interested in Ralph Waldo Emerson. She also wrote a lot of poetry on her own, sometimes using her own style, sometimes trying to imitate her favorite authors. Her interests in wildlife continued as well - with Annie still rereading her longtime favorite book once a year - The Field Book of Ponds & Streams.
Next, Annie went to college at Hollins College, near Roanoke, Virginia and studied English, theology, and creative writing. She married her writing teacher, Richard Dillard (her maiden name is Doak) -- the person she says "taught her everything she knows" {Smith, 7} about writing. In 1968 she graduated with a Masters in English, after creating a 40-page thesis on Thoreau's Walden, which focused on the use of Walden Pond as "the central image and focal point for Thoreau's narrative movement between heaven and earth." {Smith, 7} When you read Tinker Creek it's obvious that Thoreau had an enormous influence on her own style of writing. The next couple of years after graduation, Annie spent painting, and writing, having several poems published.
One thing I should mention now is Annie's religious background. Her family attended Presbyterian church when she was a child. She spent a few summers at a fundamentalist summer camp. During her rebellious teenage years, she quit her church because of the "hypocrisy". But, her priest was able to lure her back the next month with a well-thought-out argument based on the works of CS Lewis. After her college years, Annie became, as she says, "spiritually promiscuous," incorporating the ideas of many religious systems into her own personal religious world-view. Not only are there references to Christ, and the Bible in Tinker Creek, but also to Sufism, Buddhism, the Eskimo's religious system, and Hasidic Jews, just to name a few. She tries to look at every situation from every angle. (Just recently, Annie has converted to the Catholic Church.)
Annie's writing Tinker Creek was indirectly influenced by a near fatal attack of pneumonia which she was stricken with in 1971. After she recovered, Annie decided that she needed to experience life more fully. She spent four seasons living near Tinker Creek, an area surrounded by forests, creeks, mountains, and a myriad of animal life. She spent her time outdoors mostly, walking and camping, just being there with the nature. When she was inside, she mostly read. After living there for about a year, Annie began to write about her experiences there by the creek (challenged to write a book herself because the one she was reading at the moment was particularly bad). She started by writing a journal of her experiences, then transposed it all to notecards when the journal reached 20-plus volumes. It took her about 8 months to turn the notecards into the well-crafted Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Towards the end of the 8 months she was so absorbed that she was spending 15, 16 hours a day writing, cut off from society, not even keeping up with the latest world news, living on coffee and coke. She lost 30 pounds and all of her plants died - she was so absorbed she forgot about everything else.
Annie was timid about presenting her book to the public. She even thought of publishing it under a man's name, because she was worried that a theology book by a woman would not be well-received. But, she was worrying for no reason. The book was incredibly well-received. In 1975 she was awarded the Pulitzer for general non-fiction. The fame that came along with a Pulitzer winning book did not sit well with Annie. She didn't trust it. For example, she was bothered by all of the people who were coming to her wanting poems -- that had rejected her works in the past before she was famous. She moved to an isolated cabin on an island in the Puget Sound, and lived there for a while before moving to Connecticut to teach. In 1982 she was honored with an invitation to take part in a cultural delegation of scholars, traveling with them to China.
Since Tinker Creek, Annie has continued to write. Some of her other works include Ticket for a Prayer Wheel, a book of poetry, and An American Childhood, an autobiography of her early years. Her writing continues to meet with critical acclaim. She has been divorced and has remarried several times, and has a daughter now, born in 1984. The latest information I could find says that her current husband is a man named Robert who wrote "the best biography she had ever read" {Smith, 14} on Thoreau. Annie now works at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, as an adjunct professor of English and a writer-in-residence.
Imagery in Tinker Creek
Now, I'd like to describe some of the symbolism running through Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, with the help of some ideas I found in a book by Linda Smith, which examines Annie's writings. Tinker Creek is a incredibly complex mix of imagery and analogy; although it's also very easy reading, you get the sense that Dillard is speaking about the Divine throughout the whole text, with every story and every detail.
There are many running metaphors which help clue you in on what she means, mystically speaking. I found it helpful to have these symbols as a reference point when I read Tinker Creek. Keep in mind that she hopes to convey to us a sense of the human condition - and our relationship with God - by talking about the natural world. She uses these metaphors so naturally it's hard to tell if she is really constructing it that way on purpose - of if it just turned out that way, as if she was handed a gift of grace.
Imagery related to light and fire - these are used to express God's presence in the material world and the experience of unity or illumination. Annie spends a great deal of time discussing vision, and perception. She tells stories from a book she read about people who surgically gain vision for the first time. Some of these patients described their first impression of the visual world as "a lot of different kinds of brightness." {PTC, 26} or "an extensive field of light, in which everything appeared...in motion." {PTC, 26} Annie describes another young patient's first visit to a garden after her sight was restored: "She is greatly astonished, and can scarcely be persuaded to answer, stands speechless in front of the tree, which she only names on taking hold of it, and then as `the tree with the lights in it." {PTC, 28} Annie searches for this raw, unmediated experience of the Divine. She tells us of her quest to see `the tree with the lights in it.' and how she spends time trying to see things just as patches of color, as the raw, unfiltered data. She writes, "Then one day I was walking along Tinker Creek thinking of nothing at all and I saw the tree with the lights in it. I saw a backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost charged and transfigured, each cell buzzing with flame. I stood on the grass with the lights in it, grass that was wholly fire, utterly focused and utterly dreamed. It was less like seeing than like being for the first time seen, knocked breathless by a powerful glance. The flood of fire abated, but I'm still spending the power. Gradually the lights went out in the cedar, the colors died, the cells unflamed and disappeared. I was still ringing. I had been my whole life a bell, and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck." {PTC, 33} From this passage, we can get a sense of Dillard's use of images of light and fire as both a representation of the natural manifestation of the Divine, and also as more traditional "religious" symbols.
More casually, Annie might toss in a story of bird with a berry in its beak. She writes: "the berry flashed in the sun and glowed like a coal from some forge or cauldron of the Gods." {PTC, 114} Annie spends a great deal of time simply describing the instances of creation around her -- recognizing each as an embodiment of God. Another time she describes how she "watched a chickadee swooping and dangling high in a tulip tree. It seemed astonishingly heated and congealed, as though a giant pair of hands had scooped a skyful of molecules and squeezed it like a snowball to produce this fireball." {PTC, 47}
And, here is a final example where light or fire is used to invoke a sense of God's unity with the material world. In describing a moment of mystical union, Annie says, "I return from the same walk a day later scarcely knowing my name. Litanies hum in my ears...alleluia! I cannot cause the light; the most I can do is try to put myself in the path of it beam. It is possible, in deep space, to sail on a solar wind. Light, be it particle or wave, has force: you rig a giant sail and go..."{PTC, 33}
Annie continues the description of this experience: "The secret of seeing is to sail on solar wind. Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff." {PTC, 33} In this quote you can see her use of the imagery of the wind. Air, wind, the clouds, and the sky - all are used to symbolize the breath of God - God manifest, God's creative power. She speaks of the wind: "A wind like this does my breathing for me; it engenders something quick and kicking in my lungs." {PTC, 52} She tells of a legend where the mares of the Portuguese used "to raise their tails to the wind, and turn them full against it, and so conceive that genital air instead of natural seed: in such sort, they became great withal, and quicken in their time, and bring forth foals as swift as the wind." {PTC, 52} Dillard uses the wind as both a vehicle for the Divine's creative power and as an expression of God incarnate. "Something wholly new rides the wind," Annie tells us, "something fleet and fleeting that I'm likely to miss." {PTC, 53}
The wind is also vehicle to another aspect of God's manifestations that Annie spends a great deal of time discussing - the horrible suffering, the ugly and grotesque side of God's creation. She tells stories of her experiences of the winter winds: "I know that one night I will go to the kitchen for milk and find on the back of the stove a sudden stew I never fixed, bubbling, with a deer leg sticking out." {PTC, 52} These winds, she says, stir up memories like the following: "I used to kill insects with carbon tetrachloride - cleaning fluid vapor - and pin them in cigar boxes, labeled, in neat rows. That was many years ago: I quit one day I opened a cigar box lid and saw a carrion beetle, staked down high between its wing covers, trying to crawl, swimming on its pin. It was dancing with its own shadow, untouching, and had been for days." {PTC, 52} She sees the suffering and pain of the world as a substantial, and utterly puzzling, element of God's creation.
Later, in a chapter titled "The Present", Annie refers to the wind as she tries to relay the experience of sensing God's presence in the here-and-now. She writes: "On the planet the winds are blowing: the polar easterlies, the westerlies, the northeast and southeast trades...Lick a finger, feel the now." {PTC, 97} I found this imagery to be quite vivid; it expressed to me the idea that God is right here, all around me. By wetting your finger, you can feel the real presence of the air (or God) - a presence that is invisible, yet tangible nonetheless if you just look in a different way.
The next major symbol I'd like you to keep in mind is that of the Earth. The rocks and soil and cliffs and craters - these can be seen representing the unchangeable nature of God - God's enormous presence in the material world and role as a stable foundation, and the source from which we spring and will ultimately return.
Mountains, specifically, are referred to as the source of mystical insight - where revelation comes from. After finally experiencing the tree with the lights in it, Annie explains, "I have since only rarely seen the tree with the lights in it. The vision comes and goes, mostly goes, but I live for it, for the moment when the mountains open and a new light roars in spate through the crack, and the mountains slam." {PTC, 34} She talks of the stability and protection given by the Divine: "I don't come to the creek for sky unmediated, but for shelter. My back rests on a steep bank under the sycamore; before me shines the creek ..." {PTC, 89} Annie finds grounding & stability in her experience of the earth. We can also see the continuing images of sky and light in that quote. These images are everywhere! It's important to realize that Annie's not just consciously using these images as literary metaphors - this is actually how she experiences the Divine - through the embodiment of God in nature.
Annie describes trees as seeming more like the earth and soil than like the animals and insects. She describes trees as a mediator between the material and the transcendent -- as a tunnel to the Divine. In a story which stands out in my mind, she describes a tree, poised just so, with radiant, glowing yellow leaves, so striking and moving - yet the tree just was there, utterly unselfconscious, wholly aligned with the Divine.
The last symbol I would like to point out is water. Water, particularly Tinker Creek itself, represents the gift of life - and the abundance of grace. Here is an example: "The sharks I saw roving up and down the coast. If the sharks cease roving, if they still their twist and rest for a moment, they die. They need water pushed into their gills; they need dance." {PTC, 98} The water is the lifeblood of the planet, she writes:"...as a tree blasts into leaf sprouting water hurled up from its roots..."{PTC, 99} Tinker Creek is often used to convey a sense of God's grace, which is present to us even in the hardest of times; Annie writes, "it has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care...So many things have been shown me on these banks, so much light has illuminated me by reflection here where the water comes down, that I can hardly believe that this grace never flags..." Her use of the imagery of water is poetic and conveys not only an image of a natural setting, but also a profound message about the mystical nature of life.
These images run throughout the whole book and have implications far beyond what I was able to touch on here! Again, I would like to stress that not only are these images used as symbols to represent the transcendent characteristics of the Divine, they are, in effect used to convey the actual manifestation of the God in our material world. (That is to say, for example, the wind not only represents God's creative power - it is the Divine expressing itself in the wind.) This aspect of Dillard's mysticism can be described as apophatic, or the Via Positiva; Dillard finds evidence of God in all things. Although we may never truly know the nature of the Divine, Annie recognizes and relates to the outward materializations of God that she finds in her self, other people, animals, and the earth.
Mystical Themes of Tinker Creek
Pain & Suffering
The other side of Dillard's mysticism explores with the unanswerable questions, such as -- why must there be pain and suffering? She wonders why God would create creatures in such great numbers that some must die of famine, or why God would create 10% of the earth's creatures as parasites -- creatures that live only by destroying other life - and she provides lots of examples of the gruesome ways that parasites devour their prey. Dillard feels that we give children the wrong idea in regards to the nature of reality -- and muses that perhaps stuffed teddy bears should come with little stuffed lice, to paint a true picture of the way things are. {PTC, 233} However, at the same time she is cursing God for the creation of parasites, she also understands that "these parasites are companions for life...more life to the universal dance." {PTC, 234} The existence of two such diametrically opposed facets of nature is confusing to her, and she finds herself dwelling on this paradox.
Annie really grapples with the horrors of reality. She realizes that death, pain and struggling must spring from the same source as do all of the wonders she experiences. She faces the issues despite her fears because she feels it is her holy duty to understand every aspect of the Divine that she comes into contact with - even if the process is a painful one. {PTC, 121}
One of the basic themes of the book is what Annie calls the Universal Chomp -- or, the horrors of the food chain. Here is a story she tells about the horrors of the food chain: "When I was in elementary school, one of the teachers brought in a mantis egg case in a Mason jar. I watched the newly hatched mantises emerge and shed their skins; they were spidery and translucent, all over joints. They trailed from the egg case to the base of the Mason jar in a living bridge that looked like Arabic calligraphy, some baffling text form the Koran inscribed down the air by a fine hand. Over a period of several hours, during which time the teacher never summoned the nerve or the sense to release them, they ate each other until only two were left. Tiny legs were still kicking from the mouths of both. The two survivors grappled...in the Mason jar; finally both died of injuries. I felt as though I myself should swallow the corpses...so all that life wouldn't be lost." {PTC, 56} Annie finds it very hard to come to terms with these types of occurrences in the world - the conditions of suffering which cannot be escaped.
She writes, "It is the fixed that horrifies us, the fixed that assails us with the tremendous force of its mindlessness. The fixed is a mason jar, and we can't beat it open." {PTC, 67} Dillard sees that humans, animals, and plants alike are destined to exist as part horrific food chain, where it is "chomp or fast." {PTC, 237} She laments, "It is ridiculous...what happened to manna? Why doesn't everything eat manna? Into what rare air did the manna dissolve that we harry the free live things - each other?" {PTC, 239} She is confused and frightened of a God that would thrust such conditions on its creations. "Evolution loves death more than it loves you or me..." she broods, "are my values so diametrically opposed to those that nature preserves? This is the key point!" Her deliberations continue, "We value the individual supremely and nature not a whit. It looks for the moment as though I might have to reject this creek life unless I want to be utterly brutalized. Is human culture with its values my only real home after all?" {PTC, 176} Her wavering faith in light of the horrors of the world - horrors that spring from that same Divine she adores - is not unusual. On the contrary, she precisely conveys universal questions and doubts about the existence and nature of God.
There is another story in the very beginning of the book that is about the universal chomp . This story is about a frog which she watched being devoured in the creek by a giant water beetle, which bites into its prey under water and literally sucks its insides out. It was so disturbing that it troubled me for days. I'd like to refer back to the metaphors which I previously reviewed for a moment - for the frog's death to happen in the creek seems especially fitting -- Annie wants us to understand that death and the grotesque are an integral part of the gift of life created by God (symbolized by the Creek).
She struggles further with the dilemma, noting that although the suffering of the frog is long over, she still must suffer from the experience over and over as she remembers and thinks about it. She writes: "Our excessive emotions are so patently painful and harmful to us as a species that I can hardly believe that they evolved...(But, some higher animals have emotions that we think are similar to ours: dogs, elephants and sea mammals mourn their dead. Why do that to an otter? What creator could be so cruel?...It would seem that emotions are the curse, not death - emotions that appear to have developed upon a few freaks as a special curse from Malevolence." {PTC, 178} She calls God a "maniac" {PTC, 270} for the seemingly haphazard methods of creation, and for allowing suffering to be part of creation. She distresses, "what if God has the same affectionate disregard for us that we have for barnacles? Or if people are interchangeable?" { PTC, 167} Dillard spends a great deal of time questioning the existence of pain and suffering and the nature of God's benevolence (or lack of...).
She eventually comes to the understanding that both horror and ecstasy are interdependent aspects of God's creation, that you can't have one with out the other, and that, "The new is always present with the old, however hidden." She writes: "I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating too. I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits, but instead am wandering awed about on a splintered wreck I've come to care for, whose gnawed trees breath delicate air, whose bloodied and scarred creatures are my dearest companions, and whose beauty beats and shines not in its imperfections, but overwhelmingly in spite of them..." {PTC, 242} Dillard concludes that our world may not be the "cleanest place," but sparkles in comparison to the alternative ("No Place"). {PTC, 240} Annie feels that (and I agree) it is precisely this vulnerability to the horrors of the world that leaves her open to experience the beauty and wonders of the Divine.
Pursuit of the Divine
In Tinker Creek, Annie explains that there are two ways to stalk the Divine. She writes: "The first is not what you think of as true stalking, but it is the Via negativa, and as fruitful as actual pursuit. When I stalk this way...I put myself in the way of the creature's passage...and wait, emptied...I am Buddha under the bo. Stalking the other way, I forge my own passage seeking the creature. I wander the banks; what I find, I follow...I am Jacob wrestling with the angel." {PTC, 184}
Annie is able to actively seek out a relationship with the Divine by exploring and understanding each and every aspect of nature that she comes across. On the other hand, she also understands that another way to come upon God is to still the mind - "gag the commentator" {Ronda, 484} that holds discussions in her mind, and simply wait, emptied and passive. She writes: "Learning to stalk muskrats took me several years...I had read in several respectable sources that muskrats are so wary they are almost impossible to observe...One hot evening three years ago, I was standing more or less in a bush. I was stock-still, looking deep into Tinker Creek from a spot on the bank opposite the house, watching a group of blue-gills stare and hang motionless near the bottom of a deep, sunlit pool. I was focused for depth. I had long since lost myself, lost the creek, lost everything but still amber depth. All at once, I couldn't see. And then I could: a young muskrat had appeared on top of the water, floating on its back. Its forelegs were folded langorously across the chest; then sun shone on its upturned belly. Its youthfulness and rodent grin...made it an enchanting picture of decadence, dissipation, and summer sloth...But in my surprise at having the light come on so suddenly, and at having my consciousness returned to me all at once and bearing an inverted muskrat, I must have...moved and betrayed myself. The kit...righted itself so that only its head was visible above the water, and swam downstream, away from me." {PTC, 190-1} She relates fleeting moments of mystical illumination - like the one described in the above excerpt - to the pleasures of finding a lucky penny, or more elaborately, to discovering a great pearl. She writes, "...although the pearl may be found, it may not be sought. The literature of illumination reveals this above all: although it comes to those who wait for it, it is always, even to the most practiced and adept, a gift and a total surprise." {PTC, 33} She delights in this game of hide-and-go-seek with the Divine, and waits adoringly for her next encounter.
Conclusion
Annie Dillard grapples with age-old questions with the knowledge and energy of a 20th century thinker. She is not limited to one religious point-of-view, and has at her disposal information from numerous fields of study. Sometimes it's as if she is burdened with the facts; knowing so much, she cannot take anything at face value, but looks from every angle, fitting the pieces to together to form a coherent picture. The nature of God, and of the human condition, does not escape her scrutiny. Annie takes the information she has acquired from her schooling and through reading many books, and mixes that together with the images she finds in nature. The result is Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - a poignant look at the mystical relationship between God and nature, and an attempt to synthesize the duality between suffering and beauty.
Appendices
Bibliography
Dillard, Annie. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Harper's Magazine Press: New York, 1974.
Dillard, Annie. "Writing Back" Harper's, June, 1989, p.28-29.
Hitchcock, Helen H. "Annie Dillard: Mystique of Nature" Communio, Winter 1978, p.388-392.
J.S.T. "Of Many Things" America, Vol. 171 No. 16 (Review of The Annie Dillard Reader)
McIlroy, Gary. "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and the Burden of Science" American Literature, Vol 59, p.71-84.
Ronda, Bruce. "Annie Dillard and the Fire of God" The Christian Century, May 18, 1983, p.483-486.
Smith, Linda. Annie Dillard. Twayne Publishers: New York, 1991.
Essay by Sandra Stahlman, May 1994
Written under the direction of Paul Bernadicou SJ, of the University of San Francisco
as part of his graduate seminar Mysticism: East and the West
Follow this link to learn more about Defining Mysticism
Or, check out the Official Annie Dillard Homepage
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