3 20 Science Religion and Reality 



The whole question of spiritual healing is one of extreme diffi- 

 culty, and awaits further medical and psychological investigation. 

 But among its more obvious dangers w^e cannot overlook the danger 

 of intensifying the hysterical or the infantile attitude towards life that 

 many neurotic patients have, and the danger of disappointment and of 

 a set-back to their faith in the case of those who receive no benefit. 



3 Mysticism 



We now come to a consideration of what is probably the most 

 important form of religious experience — namely, mystical experi- 

 ence — to which all other religious feelings seem to lead up. The 

 mystical experience is an experience of apparently direct union with 

 the Divine. It is a form of meditation which leads the soul up to 

 divinity. In this mental state the person may lose the feeling of 

 individuality, and may seem to pass beyond the limitations of space 

 and time. When he endeavours to describe his experience he can 

 only express it in negatives. He can say what the experience is 

 not, but he is quite unable to say what it is. One of the greatest 

 authorities on mysticism is Saint Theresa, and her own experience 

 and general theory are summed up in that important book, " The 

 Interior Castle," in which she describes various stages of union with 

 the Divine. In almost every form of religion in the world we 

 find similar experiences described, although there are individual 

 differences. Leaving aside these differences, we find quite enough 

 identity to convince us that, just as religious feeling itself is a special 

 mental attitude towards life and a sort of knowledge of reality, so 

 here in mysticism we have its central core, the most characteristic 

 way in which our religious knowledge comes to us. If only it 

 were universal, there would be no further trouble about the matter. 

 Unfortunately, so many people protest that they are unable to verify 

 the occurrence of mystical experience in themselves ; this is a 

 serious difficulty in the way of its significance or validity, though 

 not destroying its interest for psychology. 



Before considering this matter further, it would be well to 

 mention certain types of experience that are analogous to the 

 mystical experience, but that otherwise are not regarded as of 

 special religious value or importance. In the first place, thqre is 

 the peculiar feeling of joy, exultation, or rapture that may accom- 

 pany certain sensory experiences. Certain bars of music and 

 phrases of poetry seem to have a quite irrational appeal that cannot 



