Mysticism : : Experience, Response, and Empowerment / / Jess Hollenback.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Penn State University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
• VerfasserIn: Hollenback, Jess,
• Place / Publishing House: University Park, PA : : Penn State University Press, , [2021]; ©1996
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Series: Hermeneutics: Studies in the History of Religions
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (656 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Preface and Acknowledgments --; Introduction --; PART I Mystical Experience: Its Principal Features and Accompaniments --; Book One: The Nature of Mystical Experience --; 1. The Mystical Experience: A Preliminary Reconnaissance --; 2. Distinctive Features of the Mystical Experience --; 3. The Nature of Mystical Illumination --; 4. The Fundamental Contextuality of Mystical Experience --; 5. Recollection and Mystical Experience --; 6. Mystical Experience and Schizophrenic Experience --; 7. What Is Mystical Experience? --; Book Two: Psychological and Parapsychological Aspects of Mystical Experience --; 8. The Phenomenon of Ex-stasis and Its Variations --; 9. Enthymesis: The Ex-static Recollective Empowerment of the Mind, Will, and Imagination --; 10. Is Empowerment Unusual? --; 11. Recollection, Empowerment, and the Genesis of Paranormal Phenomena --; 12. The "Active" Approach for Inducing Paranormal Manifestations After Recollective Quiet --; 13. The "Passive" Approach for Inducing Paranormal Manifestations After Recollective Quiet --; 14. Empowerment in the Writings of the Mystics --; 15. Why Paranormal Phenomena Are Not of Marginal Significance for Understanding Mysticism --; PART II. HOW TRADITION SHAPES BOTH THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE AND THE MYSTIC'S RESPONSES TO IT --; Book Three: Mysticism Among the Oglala Lakota: The Visions of Black Elk --; 16. The Historical Setting of Black Elk's Life --; 17. Black Elk's Great Vision --; 18. Three Major Characteristics of Black Elk's Great Vision --; 19. Principal Characteristics of Lakota Power --; 20. Black Elk's Criteria of Discernment --; 21. Black Elk's Response to His Great Vision --; 22. Black Elk's Dog Vision --; 23. Black Elk and the Ghost Dance --; 24. Black Elk's Conversion to Christianity --; Book Four: The Mysticism of Saint Teresa of Avila --; 25. Why Study Saint Teresa? --; 26. A Biographical Sketch of Saint Teresa of Avila --; 27. Saint Teresa's Recollective Technique --; 28. Distinctive Features of Saint Teresa's Prayer States --; 29. Medieval Influences on Saint Teresa's Mysticism --; 30. Saint Teresa's Criteria of Discernment --; 31. The Contextuality of the Most Elevated States of Spiritual Perfection and Mystical Awareness --; Conclusion --; Selected Bibliography --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9780271072685; 9783110745269
• DOI: 10.1515/9780271072685?locatt=mode:legacy
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Jess Hollenback.

This sweeping study of mysticism by Jess Hollenback considers the writings and experiences of a broad range of traditional religious mystics, including Teresa of Avila, Black Elk, and Gopi Krishna. It also makes use of a new category of sources that more traditional scholars have almost entirely ignored, namely, the autobiographies and writings of contemporary clairvoyants, mediums, and out-of-body travelers. This study contributes to the current debate about the contextuality of mysticism by presenting evidence that not only are the mystic's interpretations of and responses to experiences culturally and historically conditioned, but historical context and cultural environment decisively shape both the perceptual and affective content of the mystic's experience as well.Hollenback also explores the linkage between the mystic's practice of recollection and the onset of other unusual or supernormal manifestations such as photisms, the ability to see auras, telepathic sensitivity, clairvoyance, and out-of-body experiences. He demonstrates that these extraordinary phenomena can actually deepen our understanding of mysticism in unexpected ways.A unique feature of this book is its in-depth analysis of ";empowerment,"; an important phenomenon ignored by most scholars of mysticism. Empowerment is a peculiar enhancement of the imagination, thoughts, and desires that frequently accompanies mystical states of consciousness. Hollenback shows its cross-cultural persistence, its role in constructing the perceptual and existential environments within which the mystic dwells, and its linkage to the fundamental contextuality of mystical experience.