A treatment of thinking about the "mystical way" in spirituality. Drawing on academic research, Melvyn Matthews looks for a balanced view of the spiritual life which is open to everyone, not just a contemplative elite or those who have had particularly extraordinary experiences or visions of God. The study is based on the Bible, as well as on popular figures such as Thomas Merton and Teresa of Avila.

A book of contemplations. Edited from the British Museum M.S. Harl. 674 with an introduction by Evelyn Underhill. "The little family of mystical treatises which is known to students as 'the Cloud of Unknowing group, ' deserves more attention that it has hitherto received from English lovers of mysticism: for it represents the first expression in our own tongue of that great mystic tradition of the Christian neo-platonists which gathered up, remade, and 'salted with Christ's salt' all that was best in the spiritual wisdom of the ancient world."

The Spiritual Canticle is one of St John's greatest works. Using the simple metaphor of the spouse and the bride, he sketches a series of dialogues between God and the soul, rihc in natural imagery. The fragrant vineyards, fruitful valleys and green hills, flocks of sheep and clear streams all speak of the Object of mystical love. The imahes of the basic Spiritual Canticle are so beautiful and its music so captivating that many who first heard it begged St John to write a commentary, together with its profound reflections on the relations of the soul to God, has become one of the world's richest sources of meditation. The commentary and the sublime poetry that inspired them form what is presented here as the complete Spiritual Canticle.

St. John of the Cross is one of the greatest mystics of the West. He lived in the 16th century in Spain, was monk, reformer, and best known for "Dark Night of the Soul" and his deep friendship with St. Teresa of Avila. St. John is considered one of the most important poets of the Spanish language.

A Psychological Study of the Mysticism of George Fox.

This is a necessary and helpful companion in understanding the obscure writings of Jacob Boehme.

Responding to our modern disillusionment with any claims to absolute truth regarding morality or reality, this book offers a conceptual approach for discussing absolutes without denying either the relevance of divergent religious and philosophical teachings or the evidence supporting postmodern and poststructuralist critiques. Case studies of mysticism within Advaita-Vedānta Hinduism, Mādhyamika Buddhism, and Nicene Christianity demonstrate the value of this approach and offer many fresh insights into the metaphysical presuppositions of these religions as well as into the nature and value of mystical experience. Like Douglas Hofstadter's Gōdel, Escher, Bach, this book finds ultimate reality to be rationally graspable only as an eternal fugue of pattern and paradox. Yet it does not so much counter other philosophical views as provide a conceptual tool for understanding and classifying incommensurable views.

"Mystics have groped for words in which to account for the supreme reality of this experience... All this is said in classic and unforgettable pages by The Cloud of Unknowing, the work of an anonymous fourteenth-century English writer. . . Johnston [provides] the first extended and coherent theological treatment .... a most welcome and valuable contribution."-Thomas Merton

Preface; The Introduction; The Second Death; The Sealed Book; The Seven Seals; The Seven Trumpets; The Glassy Sea; The Two Witnesses; The Dragon and the Two Beasts, or Evil in Three Worlds; The Two Cities; The Apocalyptic Element in the Gospels; The Mystical Significance of Apocalyptic Numbers; The Paraousia; Historic Christianity and the Mystical Sense; History of Mysticism.

'Nothing is more striking in the literature of contemplation, and of high aesthetic experience, than an experienced reality, a joy and richness, which can never be conveyed save by allusion.' Offering a unique introduction to the wide-ranging thought of one of the foremost writers on mysticism, this innovative collection of essays brings together some of Evelyn Underhill's most enduringly valuable work. The volume exemplifies the variety of issues Underhill considered in depth, from the mystical life to the ordination of women, and from the nature of prayer and the power of contemplation to social reform and education. As relevant and challenging today as it was in Underhill's time, this delightfully clear and accessible book will offer valuable advice and true inspiration to all those seeking insight into spirituality in our complex modern world.

The practice of Centering Prayer, which Father Thomas Keating presents in his book Open Mind, Open Heart, is the beginning of a process of spiritual growth. In Invitacion a Amar, Keating outlines and explains the actual stages of this process. In the course of numerous workshops and retreats, Keating is asked many questions regarding contemplative practice. How will it affect my life? Where does it lead us spiritually? What obstacles will I encounter along the way? Why is it necessary? How does it work?

Contents: Brain Building and Soul Growth; Man, Mind, and Divine Healing; Psychic and Spiritual Phenomena; Science, Reason, and Religion; Man's Fall, Christ's Atonement; How Man May Become In-Christed; Law, Faith, Prayer, Miracles; Service and the Christian Clinic; Christ and Civic Problems.

The Visible and Invisible Worlds; The Four Kingdoms; Man and the Method of Evolution; Rebirth and the Law of Consequence; Cosmogenesis and Anthropogenesis; Evolution; Stragglers and Newcomers; Our Solar System; Back to the Bible; Occult Analysis of the Bible; Man's Future Development and Initiation; Christ and His Mission; Alchemy, Intuition, The Rosicrucians.

A Treatise on Mystical Theology. This book is a survey of the Kingdom of Prayer in all its length and breadth, in its lowest as well as its most perfect forms. The Interior life is seen to be a process, an orderly evolution, of which we can outline the laws and mark the successive stages.

The Divine Will; Mystical Awakening; Agnostic and the Mystic; Logic of the Supernatural; The Mystical Mood; Going in t the Silence; Invisible Powers; The Fusion of Spirit and Matter His Miraculous Progress; A Prophetic Witness; Lincoln's Simplicity and Clairvoyant Wit; A Prophetic Vision of Hades; Shakespeare and Lincoln; A Prophecy Fulfilled; The Ordinances of Heaven; Lincoln's Face; The Great Debate; Forecasting and Premonitions; Illumination of the Spirit; Tycho Brahe an Lincoln; The Great Books; Veneration and Truth; The Great Puzzle.

It is open to anyone who has the necessary qualifications of aspiration, patience and energy to learn by his individual experience that mystic practice is not hallucination or fraud that the majority of English or American presume.

The year 1200 marked a dynamic turning point in the history of Christian mysticism. New forms of religious life provided the impetus for a new mysticism whose influence continues today. This book documents the spirited dialogue between men and women that made possible the richness of mysticism in the 13th and 14th centuries.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Contents: General Characteristics of Mysticism; Mystical element in the Bible; Christian Platonism and Speculative Mysticism; Practical and Devotional Mysticism; Nature Mysticism and Symbolism; Mystical Theology; Greek Mysteries and Christian Mysticism; Doctrine of Deification; Mystical Interpretation of the Song of Solomon.

This book aims at quickening personal religion by recalling the lessons in the spiritual life which some of the great Masters of Devotion have left to us in their lives and in their writings. Contents: St. Augustine and the "Confessions"; Julian of Norwich and "Revelations of Divine Love"; Thomas A. Kempis and the "Imitation of Christ"; Lorenzo Scupoli and the "Spiritual Combat"; Francis de Sales and the "Devout Life"; William Law and "A Serious Call."

Contents: What is Mysticism; The Mystical Element in the Gospel and Epistles; The Montanists, The Gnostics, and the Alexandrines; Neo-Platonism; The Influence of Neo-Platonism in Christianity; Three Types of Medieval Mysticism; The German Mystics of the Middle Ages; English, Italian, Spanish, and French Mystics; Post Reformation Mysticism in England; Puritan Mystics; Jacob Boehme and William Law; Modern Mysticism; Bibliography, Index.

Though a familiar name, little was known about the English mystic Margery Kempe (c. 1373-c. 1440) for hundreds of years except that she had an association with the great Julian of Norwich. This all changed in 1934 with the discovery of "The Book of Margery Kempe" in a library where it had lain hidden for four hundred years. Finding Margery's own story was important not just because of the light it shed on her life, but it also turned out to be the first known autobiography in the English language. Even more intriguing to the experts of the day, this unique document was written by a woman.
But if anyone had expected to find her anything like her cloistered contemporary, Julian, they were in for something of a surprise. Far from being a typical holy woman, Margery Kempe was married and mother of fourteen children. Moreover, she had been a woman of substance, even running a large brewery for a time. After turning to religion, she traveled thousands of miles around the known world on pilgrimages to distant lands.
Beyond the circumstances of her life, what's most compelling about the text is the inner Margery that emerges. Her account of spiritual awakening, far from being a blissful episode is instead full of conflict and recrimination. What good was this new way of life if it caused her such trouble? Was this really the only way to lead a holy life? Margery remained unsure of the answers. But her patience in her struggle is a wonder to behold, and an example for us today.

Being a Magical and Qabalistic Interpretation of the Drama of Parzival by a Companion of the Holy Grail.

First published in 1965, this book represents a refinement and further development of the core thesis that Henri de Lubac had originally put forward many years earlier in a bold and controversial work in which he first called into question the idea of pure nature.