MYSTICISM AND LOGIC 9 



seems, in utter loneliness, to bring forth, out of its own 

 depths, the mad dance of fantastic phantoms which have 

 hitherto appeared as independently real and living. 

 This is the negative side of the mystic's initiation : the 

 doubt concerning common knowledge, preparing the way 

 for the reception of what seems a higher wisdom. Many 

 men to whom this negative experience is familiar do not 

 pass beyond it, but for the mystic it is merely the gateway 

 to an ampler world. 



The mystic insight begins with the sense of a mystery 

 unveiled, of a hidden wisdom now suddenly become 

 certain beyond the possibility of a doubt. The sense of 

 certainty and revelation comes earlier than any definite 

 belief. The definite beliefs at which mystics arrive are 

 the result of reflection upon the inarticulate experience 

 gained in the moment of insight. Often, beliefs which 

 have no real connection with this moment become subse- 

 quently attracted into the central nucleus ; thus in addi- 

 tion to the convictions which all mystics share, we find, 

 in many of them, other convictions of a more local and 

 temporary character, which no doubt become amalga- 

 mated with what was essentially mystical in virtue of 

 their subjective certainty. We may ignore such inessential 

 accretions, and confine ourselves to the beliefs which all 

 mystics share. 



The first and most direct outcome of the moment of 

 illumination is belief in the possibility of a way of know- 

 ledge which may be called revelation or insight or in- 

 tuition, as contrasted with sense, reason, and analysis, 

 which are regarded as blind guides leading to the morass 

 of illusion. Closely connected with this belief is the 

 conception of a Reality behind the world of appearance 

 and utterly different from it. This Reality is regarded 

 with an admiration often amounting to worship ; it is 



