Literary Relevance of Mysticism

Ayushi Sona

and Shibani Basu Dubey

Barkatullah University, Bhopal, India

Bhopal School of Social Sciences, Bhopal, India

Keywords: Mysticism, Transcendentalism, Metaphysics.

Abstract: Mysticism is a term so irresponsibly applied in English Literature that it has become the first duty of those

who use it to explain what they mean by it. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1911), after defining a mystic as

“one who believes in spiritual apprehension of truths beyond the understanding” adds, “Whence mysticism.”

Whatever maybe the precise force of the remarks in the brackets, it is unquestionably true that mysticism is

often used in a semi- contemptuous way to vaguely denote any kind of occultism or spiritualism or any

especially curious or fantastic views about God and the universe. My paper aims towards justifying the

relevance of mysticism in Literary works throughout the centuries with special focus on the old English

Literature.

1 INTRODUCTION

Symbolism has been an extremely crucial aspect of

mysticism and holds immense importance in the light

of its impact on Literature. The necessity of

symbolism is an integral part of the belief in unity.

The real essence of symbolism relies on the fact that

all things in nature have something in common. For

example, human love can be perceived in the similar

light as that of divine love because despite working in

another plane, it is governed by similar laws thus

giving rise to similar results. RL Nettleship describes

the nature of symbolism in mysticism in one of his

papers where he states that the true nature of

mysticism is a consciousness that everything which

we experience is only an element that is, it is capable

of being symbolic or more than its original state of

being. It means that symbolism enables us to catch the

reflection of the truth which we are otherwise unable

to apprehend in any other way. Symbolism and

Mysticism have always harmoniously coexisted in

Literature for ages, playing significant role in

languages and cultures. The impact of symbols can

reveal hidden truths about life and make it easier for

the people to understand one another. Mysticism has

been an integral part of Literature through ancient

scriptures, medieval texts, and modern pieces. The

relationship between Mysticism and Literature has

been accepted in a spiritual context for a very long

time. Literary symbolism plays a crucial role in

context of religious spirituality. Ideally a symbol is

something that stands for, resembles, or suggests

another object, quality, or idea.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Among the English writers and poets, William

Wordsworth and William Blake are the only ones

who have been able to fulfil and justify the concept of

Mysticism in their works. The reason why literary

works provide us with a better understanding of

mysticism in comparison to philosophical works like

those of Plato, Kant and Descartes is because the

greatest essence of Mysticism is to believe that

everything we see and perceive is symbolic of

something greater and moreover it was the old

English poets and writers who were capable of

clothing their most profound thoughts and highest

aspirations in poetic form. On one hand, where the

philosophers approached the concept of mysticism in

a direct and straightforward manner, it was the poets

whose indirect yet symbolic take on Mysticism

touches us more profoundly than the direct lesson of

a moral treatise. And more so because the

philosophical take appeals principally to our reason

whereas, the poet invokes feelings of transcendental

bliss. Moreover, poetry focuses on finding

resemblances and universality of thought. Therefore,

we deem the literary take on the philosophy of

Sona, A. and Basu Dubey, S.

Literary Relevance of Mysticism.

DOI: 10.5220/0012533200003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 967-970

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

967

Mysticism more valuable in comparison to their

philosophical counterpart. Mysticism is the innate

tendency of the human spirit towards the complete

harmony with the transcendental order, whatever be

that theological formula under which that order is

understood.This tendency, in great mystics, gradually

captures the whole field of consciousness. It

dominates their life, and in their experience called the

“mystic union” attains its end. I believe this process

to represent the true line of development of the

highest form of human consciousness.”- (Underhill,

15).The poets could better uphold and enhance the

aspects of mysticism because they could explain

Mysticism to the readers by writing about their

personal experiences which drove them to the said

state of mind. This is exactly what distinguishes a

poet from a philosopher, a theologian, and the man of

science because he bases his belief not on logic,

revelation, reason or demonstrated facts but on his

feelings and his intuitive inner knowledge. The

mystical though has its initial literary roots in the

East. The great Eastern religions like Hinduism,

Buddhism and Confucianism paved way for the

earliest tenets of Mysticism. It was taught by the

Upanishads that the soul or the spiritual

consciousness is the only source of true knowledge.

“The ancient Hindu scriptures and literary work

deemed the soul as the “seer” or the “knower” and

considers it as a great eye in the centre of an

individual’s being through which he can gaze

outwards and look upon reality. They believe that the

soul is capable of this because in essence it is one with

the universal soul. The apparent separation between

the body and soul is an illusion brought on by matter.

Thus, as per the Hindu scriptures the matter is an

obstruction and a deception. Therefore, the Eastern

Mysticism despises, rejects, and subdues all that is

material and solely focuses on realising spiritual

consciousness.” (Donald,14) The Similar kind of

thought prevailed in Ancient Greek and Egyptian

civilizations as well before the onslaught of Christian

Age. Majority of Plato’s thoughts are mystical in their

essence. He believed that the mystic school of thought

which acts as a driving force of the philosophical

mind can do the same for the spiritual mindset.

Known as the “Element of Attraction,” it states that it

is the love for things which drives an individual to

hold them close and cherish them. He stated in his

mystical works that familiarity and kinship are the

basis of affection and attraction. Therefore, one’s

desire for wisdom, love or beauty is nothing but the

soul’s yearning to attach itself to what calls out to it.

This concept of attraction and affection is the leading

source of inspiration for the two greatest dialogues in

the history of Greek philosophy and Literature

namely, The Symposium and The Phaedrus. In The

Symposium, Socrates phrases the words of the

stranger priestess Diotima, to lay down the path for

the soul to travel and wrote down the steps which

need to be followed to attain the union with the

divine. Since, only by denouncing the beauty of form

and body can we appreciate and embrace the beauty

of mind and spirit and as a result the beauty of God

himself. He who under the influence of true love

rising upward from these begins to see that beauty, is

not far from the end. And the true order of going or

being led by another to the things of love, is to use the

beauties of earth as steps along which he mounts

upwards for the sake of that other beauty, going from

one to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from

fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to

fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the

notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the

essence of beauty is. This is that life above all others

which man should live, in the contemplation of

beauty absolute.” (Julian,4). This is the very passage

whose music and essence have echoed throughout the

works of literature, especially in the poems of

Spenser, Shelley, and Keats. Although, it is the works

of Plato which act as the primary source of Mystical

thought throughout Europe, it was originally his

disciple Plotinus, a Neo-Platonist who is known as the

“Father of European Mysticism.” Plotinus was an

Egyptian by birth who lived and studied under

Ammonius Sakkas in Alexandria at a time when it

was the centre of the intellectual world, seething with

speculation and schools, teachers, and philosophies of

all kinds, Platonic and Oriental, Egyptian and

Christian. Later, from the age of forty, he taught in

Rome, where he was surrounded by many eager

adherents. He drew the form of his thought both from

Plato and from Hermetic philosophy, but its real

inspiration was his own experiences. Plotinus

combined, in unusual measure, the intellect of the

metaphysician with the temperament of the great

psychic, so that he was able to analyse with the most

precise dialectic, experiences. The works of Plotinus

had a major impact on the Christian Mysticism and

his legacy was carried forward by two of his disciples,

St. Augustine and another unknown scholar who was

probably a Syrian Monk who ascribed his works to

Dionysius, The Areopagite. In the twelfth and

thirteenth centuries the mystical tradition was carried

on in France by St Bernard, the Abbot of Clairvaux,

and the Irish Richard of the Abbey of St Victor in

Paris, and in Italy, among many others, by St

Bonaventura, a close student of Dionysius, and the

three of them form the chief direct influences on our

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earliest English mystics. England was majorly

affected by the influx of mystical thoughts and

teachings in Europe during the fourteenth and

fifteenth century. Initially the influence of Mysticism

in the literature of England, France, Germany, Italy,

and Sweden was purely religious and devotional in

nature. “But the fourteenth century England,

witnessed a rise of a group of writers and poets who

wrote about the great power and beauty of material

life. Through the works of Richard Rolle, Walter

Hilton, Julian of Norwich, and the author of the Cloud

of Unknowing, we have a body of writings dealing

with the inner life, and the steps of purification,

contemplation, and ecstatic union which throb with

life and devotional fervour.” (Philip,6) From the time

of Julian of Norwich, who was still alive in 1413, we

find practically no literature of a mystical type until

we come to Spenser's Hymns (1596), and these

embody a Platonism that reached them largely

through the intellect, and not a mystic experience. It

would seem at first sight as if these hymns, or at any

rate the two later ones in honour of Heavenly Love

and of Heavenly Beauty, should rank as some of the

finest mystical verse in English. Yet this is not the

case. They are saturated with the spirit of Plato, and

they express in musical form the lofty ideas of the

Symposium and the Phaedrus: that beauty, more

nearly than any other earthly thing, resembles its

heavenly prototype, and that therefore the sight of it

kindles love, which is the excitement and rapture

aroused in the soul by the remembrance of that divine

beauty which once it knew. And Spenser, following

Plato, traces the stages of ascent traversed by the

lover of beauty, until he is caught up into union with

God Himself. Yet, notwithstanding their melody and

their Platonic doctrine, the note of the real mystic is

wanting in the Hymns, the note of him who writes of

these things because he knows them. A common

definition of mysticism is having a personal

encounter with God or the uncreated. This experience

is typically extrasensory and is frequently referred to

as the sixth sense. It is an experience of unity with the

cosmos. Religious experiences frequently contain

mysticism, yet it is not only present in religion. There

is mysticism in nature, music, and the arts as well.

According to some (Julian,150), mysticism is the

foundation of all religions. Some claim that

mysticism and religion are distinct. There are

numerous divergent viewpoints on the subject. “One

of the seminal literary achievements of the mystic

poets and writers was the development and

indoctrination of various symbolic frames to present

an account of their experiences. Such as the symbols

of ladder, pilgrimage and bold symbols of earthly

affections, courtly love, and marriage as the

analogues of the divine union. There is a simplicity

and charm to the way the mystic poets present the

accounts of their experiences. Such as the Franciscan

influence stemming from St. Francis of Assisi and his

followers, the Augustinian influence prevalent in The

Cloud of Unknowing, written anonymously. Other

masterpieces include The Scale of Perfection by

Walter Hilton, Revelations of Divine Love by Julian

Norwich, and poems of Richard Rolle.”(McGinn, 50)

The seventeenth century England witnessed a huge

influx of literary works rich in mystical thought. First

came the Quakers, headed by George Fox. This

rediscovery and assertion of the mystical element in

religion gave rise to a great deal of writing, much of

it very interesting to the student of religious thought.

Among the Journals of the early Quakers, and

especially that of George Fox, there are passages

which charm us with their sincerity, quaintness, and

pure flame of enthusiasm, but these works cannot be

ranked as literature. Then we have the little group of

Cambridge Platonists, Henry More, John Smith,

Benjamin Whichcote, and John Norris of Bemerton.

These are all Platonic philosophers, and among their

writings, and especially in those of John Norris, are

many passages of mystical thought clothed in noble

prose. Henry More, who is also a poet, is in character

a typical mystic, serene, buoyant, and so spiritually

happy that, as he told a friend, he was sometimes

"almost mad with pleasure." His poetical faculty is,

however, entirely subordinated to his philosophy, and

the larger portion of his work consists of passages

from the Enneads of Plotinus turned into rather

obscure verse. So that he is not a poet and artist who,

working in the sphere of the imagination, can directly

present to us mystical thoughts and ideas, but rather a

mystic philosopher who has versified some of his

discourses. Currently, also many of the "metaphysical

poets" are mystical in much of their thought. Chief

among these is John Donne, and we may also include

Henry Vaughan, Traherne, Crashaw, and George

Herbert.

3 CONCLUSIONS

Thus, the most recent philosophy throws light on the

most ancient mystic teaching, and both point to the

conclusion that our normal waking consciousness is

but one special type of many other forms of

consciousness, by which we are surrounded, but from

which we are, most of us, physically and psychically

screened. We know that the consciousness of the

individual self was a late development in the race; it

Literary Relevance of Mysticism

969

is at least possible that the attainment of the

consciousness that these individual self-forms part of

a larger Whole, may prove to be yet another step

forward in the evolution of the human spirit. If this be

so, the mystics would appear to be those who, living

with an intensity greater than their fellows, are thus

enabled to catch the first gleams of the realisation of

a greater self. In any case, it would seem certain,

judging from their testimony, that it is possible, by

applying a certain stimulus, to gain knowledge of

another order of consciousness of a rare and vivifying

quality. Those who have attained to this knowledge

all record that it must be felt to be understood, but

that, so far as words are of use, it is ever of the nature

of a reconciliation; of discord blending into harmony,

of difference merging into unity.

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A Benedictine of Stanbrook Abbey. Mediaeval Mystical

Tradition and St. John of the

Cross. London: Burns and Oates, 1954.

Almond, Philip C. Mystical experience, and religious

doctrine: an investigation of the

study of mysticism in world religions. New York: Mouton,

1982.

Bishko, Charles Julian. Studies in Medieval Spanish

Frontier History. London:

Variorum Reprints, 1980.

Bishop, Donald H. Mysticism and the Mystical Experience:

East and West.

Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 1995.

Chittick, William C. The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual

Teachings of Rumi.

Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983.

Collins, Roger. Early Medieval Spain: Unity in Diversity

400-1000, 2nd ed. London, Macmillan Press, 1995.

McGinn, Bernard. The foundations of mysticism. New

York: Crossroad, 1991.

McGinn, Bernard. The growth of mysticism. New York:

Crossroad, 1994.

Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism: The Nature and

Development of Spiritual

Consciousness. Oxford: One world Publications, 1999.

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