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The Mystical Struggle: a Psychological Analysis The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis The Theory of Positive Disintegration by Kazimierz Dabrowski. The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis Nixon, Laurence. The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, 1990. Laurence Nixon Religion Department Dawson College E-Mail 1 E-Mail 2 Abstract This thesis is a psychological analysis of the internal conflicts experienced by many religious mystics at the beginning of their mystical life. I refer to the conflicts, and the response of the mystic to these conflicts, as an experience of mystical struggle. The study begins with an examination of descriptions of mystical struggle found in scholarly accounts, manuals of mystical instruction and in the personal documents of mystics themselves. Subsequently I critique the psychological interpretations of mystical struggle found in William James and Evelyn Underhill. In order to provide what I believe is a more adequate interpretation, I compare the mystical struggle to the relevant stages in the personality development theory of Kazimierz Dabrowski. I also present a model of five factors that appear to be predispositional of a mystical struggle. These factors are: (1) a temperament characterized by emotional sensitivity and a heightened capacity for imaginative involvement; (2) stress or loss; (3) emotional support or encouragement; (4) religious training and modeling; and (5) access to a mystical institution (e.g., convent or ashram). TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I: Introduction TOP Back to Main Page Brief Overview Glossary Order DVD Bibliography http://www.positivedisintegration.com/NixonThesis.htm[27/01/2009 1:56:57 PM] The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis Purpose Method Definitions of a mystic The definition of a mystic employed in this study Previous studies of mystical experience The mystical path The mystical struggle The mystical life without the mystical struggle Chapter II: The phenomenology of the mystical struggle Scholarly descriptions of an experience of mystical struggle Descriptions in personal documents Manuals and inspirational literature Descriptive definition of the experience of a mystical struggle Conclusion Chapter III: William James on the divided self The healthy-minded and the sick-souled The divided self Temperamental basis of the divided self A teleological explanation of the divided self The function of asceticism http://www.positivedisintegration.com/NixonThesis.htm[27/01/2009 1:56:57 PM] The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis Limitations of James' analysis Chapter IV: Evelyn Underhill on the purification of the self The mystic way The purification of the self Underhill's psychological explanation of the mystical struggle Underhill's theory: A final word Chapter V: Kazimierz Dabrowski's theory of personality disintegration Dabrowski's model of personality development Temperamental traits that promote development The role of positive environmental conditions Developmental dynamisms Asceticism and meditation Evaluation of Dabrowski's theory Limitations to Dabrowski's explanation of causes of development Chapter VI: Application of the theory of positive disintegration to mystical struggle The goal of mysticism and secondary integration A Dabrowskian view of the mystical struggle Advantages of positive disintegration theory for the study of mysticism http://www.positivedisintegration.com/NixonThesis.htm[27/01/2009 1:56:57 PM] The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis Analysis of Teresa of Avila in terms of positive disintegration theory Analysis of Satomi Myodo in terms of Dabrowski's stage model Limitation of James, Underhill and Dabrowski Chapter VII: Factors predispositional of a mystical struggle Studies of mystics, creatives and the mentally ill James, Underhill and Dabrowski Models of factors predispositional of the mystical life Spangler's study of mystics and schizophrenics Chapter VIII: Temperamental and early environmental factors Major factors in the lives of mystics, creatives and the mentally ill The temperamental factor Insecurity due to loss Emotional support and encouragement Family training and modelling Chapter IX: Institutional support Institutional support The practice of meditation Summary of predispositional factors http://www.positivedisintegration.com/NixonThesis.htm[27/01/2009 1:56:57 PM] The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis Chapter X: The mystical quest as a transformation of disordered grieving Bereavement in the lives of mystics Thérèse of Lisieux Paramahansa Yogananda Teresa of Avila Satomi Myoto Meditation as a means of transforming disordered mourning Summary Chapter XII: Conclusion Notes Bibliography CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Purpose The purpose of this study is to make a contribution to the psychological study of mysticism. More specifically it is to make a contribution: (1) to the psychological study of an early stage in the mystical career of some mystics, which I refer to as the mystical struggle; and (2) to the effort to determine the factors that predispose some individuals to enter into that struggle. This is not a theological investigation, nor even a phenomenological one. Nor do I present here a general theory of mysticism. My purpose is a more modest one - to provide no more than a psychological interpretation of the mystical struggle and to identify some of the factors that appear to be predispositional of that struggle. http://www.positivedisintegration.com/NixonThesis.htm[27/01/2009 1:56:57 PM] The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis I make no claim to a complete explanation of the phenomenon under investigation, much less is it my intention to reduce mysticism as a whole, or even the mystical struggle in particular, to psychological theory. Clearly there are alternative approaches. Historical and sociological forces play an important role as predisposing factors, and hence mysticism is more in evidence at some times (and in some places) than at others. Regarding the truth claims of statements made by the mystics themselves, my position is one of methodological agnosticism. It is not my intent to engage, either overtly or covertly, in either an apology for or a critique of the ultimate worth of the mystical life. I do feel that the lives of many mystics indicate a process of personality development of a kind not usually undertaken by the average person. But any evaluation beyond that is outside of the scope of the present study. For the purposes of this study I do not distinguish between theistic and non-theistic mysticism, nor do I distinguish between celibate and non-celibate mystics, although I recognize that these differences may well affect the nature of mystical development in one way or another. In addition I do not attempt to generalize about the character of the mystical process for all mystics. Rather I focus only on those who describe the early stages of their mystical life as a kind of struggle in which they sought to reduce their internal conflict through ascetical and meditative practices. For many mystics, commitment to the mystical life takes place within the context of what William James calls the "divided self" and Evelyn Underhill the "oscillation of the self." I refer to both the psychological context and the commitment as the mystical struggle, and the first task I undertake, in Chapter Two, is to articulate the dimensions of this phenomenon as described by scholars of mysticism and as found in the personal documents and mystical manuals of a number of mystics from various religious traditions and at various periods in world history. At the end of the chapter I formulate a descriptive definition of the mystical struggle. My second task (in Chapters Three, Four, Five and Six) is to interpret the mystical struggle in psychological terms. The most widely recognized efforts in this direction are to be found in William James' Varieties of religious experience (considered in Chapter Three) and Evelyn Underhill's Mysticism (discussed in Chapter Four). The terms that James and Underhill use for the psychological state which is prerequisite for the mystical life, are, as noted above, the "divided self" and the "oscillation of the self." The overall psychological model implicit in both of their analyses is one of personality development, but their formulations require further elaboration, and therefore in Chapters Five and Six I supplement their descriptions and explanations with a theory of personality development, specifically Kazimierz Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration. My concern is to show that the divided self of James and the oscillating self of Underhill are similar to Dabrowski's description of a type of personality disintegration prerequisite for reintegration of personality at a more mature level of functioning. Given Dabrowski's more elaborate account of the process of disintegration in personality development, the use of his theory can make a contribution to a more detailed understanding of the psychological basis of the mystical life. In spite of its value as a descriptive model, Dabrowski's explanation suffers from a defect found in the studies of both James and Underhill. All three tend to explain the psychological condition, on which http://www.positivedisintegration.com/NixonThesis.htm[27/01/2009 1:56:57 PM] The mystical struggle: A psychological analysis the mystical struggle is based, solely in terms of temperament, which for Underhill and Dabrowski at least is genetically-determined. The role
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