Mysticismsocialtransformation.Pdf

~ntroduction JANET K. RUFFING, R.S.M. Mysticism is, at the present time, a topic of great interest in both the popu- lar and scholarly worlds. The study of mysticism is now a specialized academic field either within the "field encompassing field of spirituality" (Schneiders 1986,274) or more traditionally within the study of religion, as an element in the religious life and belief of many cultures. Bernard McGinn divides recent scholarship into two periods beginning with the middle of the twentieth century. He characterizes the themes and is- sues in research and publication in the first of these periods, from 1950 to 1975, as debates and contributions from philosophical and comparativist perspectives-theological attempts to heal the split between theology and spirituality, and "the creation of a new genre-the history of Christian mysticism" (1998b, 13). McGinn identifies three additional major concerns in the subsequent period of the last two decades: "(1) the retrieval of mystical traditions; (2) debates about the constitution of mysticism; and (3) the role of mysticism in post-modernity" (13). Explicit attention to gender is important for feminist scholars in all three of these concerns, but not generally for others in the field, who seem to remain largely indifferent to questions of both gender and power in their theories and definitions (Bruneau 1998; Jantzen 1995; Erickson 1993). The breadth and intensity of the interest in mysticism during the last half of the twentieth century have given rise to many different interpretations of mysticism and many conflicting theories about it. These interpretations define mysticism as a subjective and mainly affective phenomenon, a particular form of discourse, an element of lived religion, a source for doing theology, the experience of a certain type of knowing, the experience of a kind of intersubjec- tivity, and a set of texts from a variety of traditions requiring a complex hermeneutics. Within the field, the relationship between mysticism and social transfor- 2 JANET K. RUFFING, R.S.M. mation has received relatively little exploration. This lacuna in the scholarship contributors develop specific aspects of this topic in relation to the various tra- is rooted in a modern construction of mysticism in both philosophy and psy- ditions and periods of their specialized interests. chology that often fails to account for the social and religious contexts and in- Within the current scholarship, the comparativist and philosophical per- stitutions that influence historical mystics and within which mystics live and spectives have tended to interact with one another. The term mysticism was act and communicate. The increasing privatization of religion in general dur- first extrapolated from Christian contexts, then defined by philosophers and ing the modern period has tended to separate mysticism, ofien referred to his- scholars in comparative religious studies, and applied to broadly analogous torically as the contemplative or inner life, from the worldly life of politics, phenomena in other religious traditions. The initial positions established by commerce, academics, and public life. Even within religion itself, mysticism William James, W. T. Stace, and others were largely "essentialist" ones, based and theology have since at least the fourteenth century become increasingly on a conviction that there is in mysticism an "inner unity, common core or es- alienated from one another. These splits have obscured the real relationships sential sameness" across religious traditions and historical periods (McGinn between contemplation and action, theory and practice, and mysticism and 1998b, 15). ethical behavior. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, these views were forcefully challenged Conceptual categories for linking the struggle for social justice, social by Steven Katz and others who argued for a "contructivist" position empha- transformation, and various liberation movements to explicitly religious prac- sizing the relationship between particular religious contexts, the composition tices and convictions as well as to various mystical teachings and experiences of mystical texts, and the mystical experiences of persons within a given reli- were developed in social and political thought throughout the modern pe- gious or mystical tradition. This conceptual perspective argues that the histor- riod, especially in political attitudes and philosophies supporting the ideal of ical, social, religious, and theological influences within religious experience democracy. Meanwhile, theologies of the "apostolic life," beginning in the are decisive, but it makes impossible the identification of any common core or late medieval period, have explicitly linked a personal love of Christ with love set offamily resemblances as a starting point for comparative studies. It makes of one's neighbor concretized in acts of service and even in systematic efforts the term qlsticism in the titles of the boolcs edited by Katz at best equivocal, to alleviate the suffering of the poor and oppressed. But without sociological at worst meaningless. categories, desires for the transformation of society usually appear as A more sophisticated counterreaction then ensued "in favor of a philo- prophetic proclamation in the cause of "reform" or "renewal" rather than as sophical-phenomenological inner unity of mystical experience/conscious- intentional or directed social change. Finally, Marxist social analysis began to ness" (McGinn 1998b, 15). Although thls approach does recognize the need alter the way the relation between theory and practice was conceived, pro- for dealing with a wide variety of cross-cultural expressio~lsof mysticism, as moting the ideal of a more dynamic and dialectical relationship. well as for a more careful study of particular mystical texts and their historically These political and economic frames of reference have not figured situated character, there remain some problems with it in its usual expression. strongly in the field of religion when religion is conceived of as a private rather If mysticism is reduced to a psychological experience, those elements of than as a public sphere of action or when mysticism is defined primarily as a mystical practices and texts that by definition are not central to the experience psychological phenomenon or as an altered state of consciousi~esswithout ref- itself remain displaced or neglected in the study. Furthermore, this approach erence to any larger or encompassing reality or to an Ultimate Other that dis- tends to downplay such nonpsychological factors as the interpersonal bonds closes itself through mystical experience and requires some type of action in of loyalty and service that connect mystics with their wider religious commu- response. When this subjective pole alone is emphasized, the concrete claims nities or to ignore traditional criteria for determining the validity of mystical of human and nonhunlan "others" for sufficiency of the conditions for life re- experiences, such as the religious and ethical practices required of everyone quired by justice and compassion map slip from active and shared concern. within a given tradition or the qualities and implications of action subsequent This volume represents a modest exploration of this relatively neglected to the mystical experiences-that is, their "fruits." theme within the larger context of the current interpretations and theories of The scholarlp work assuming either of these positions therefore raises crit- mysticism. As such, it does not resolve any of these current debates, nor does ical questions about whether the category of mysticism is a coherent one or it present a unified theoretical approach to its major theme. It does, however, whether it refers to phenomena that are so different from one another as to bring many of the available perspectives into dialogue with one another as the constitute a category mistake. 4 JANET K. RUFFING, R.S.M. Typologies and Definitions apophatic mysticism also originates in Pseudo-Dionysius and was hsed with distinct theological approaches. The elite theological tradition has preferred A second problem related to defining mysticism at the present time relates to to emphasize apophatic forms characterized by negation, silence, nothing- currently available typologies of mystical teaching or experience. On what ness, an absence of content, or an "unknowing" with heightened affective ex- basis are these typologies developed? Even more importantly, do they credibly periences. Many women and some men, on the other hand, have favored and account for the stunning differences apparent in the great variety of mystical even rejoiced in lcataphatic forms, involving images, sensory impressions, vi- texts that have been retrieved and translated from different religious and eso- sions, voices-a mysticism mediated through the senses, through symbols, teric traditions? through concrete objects, and through human relationships. Some have Within Christianity alone, for instance, certain mysticisms emphasize the taught that one may begin with kataphatic practices and experiences, and then intellect, others emphasize the heart, and still others emphasize dedicated ac- mature or develop into more apophatic ones. tion in the world. The mystical path to God through knowing is often largely However, as predictors, these categories are highly problematic. They are speculative and theological in its emphasis. The encounter between the divine sometimes mixed in the life stories

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