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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 3 page paper examines the book Mysticism: Holiness East and West by Denise and John Carmody. Bibliography lists 1 source.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVMystic.rtf
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with strong faith. This paper examines the book Mysticism: Holiness East and West. Discussion According to the authors, the book a survey of the way in which mythology
is interwoven with the worlds great faiths, such as Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Eastern religions (Carmody and Carmody, 1996). It also considers mythology in the oral tradition; and what
it means for modern readers (Carmody and Carmody, 1996). The book begins with several examples of mystical experiences, including a young Native American boys vision-quest and his vision of
the animal (a black bear) from which he will take his name; and of a rabbi who, in prayer, leaves his body and has a mystical experience in which it
is revealed to him that God will take care of his congregation (Carmody and Carmody, 1996). These and other examples show how mythology still is very much a part
of peoples lives today. From this introduction, the authors move to consider mythology in various religions and among people who have an oral rather than a written tradition. They
point out that there are so many experiences that can be called "mystical" that its impossible to list them all. However, theories about mysticism tend to fall into two categories:
"essentialist" and "empiricist" (Carmody and Carmody, 1996). "Essentialist theories stress the sameness of the peak experiences that human beings are likely to nominate as instances of mysticism" (Carmody
and Carmody, 1996, p. 6). That is, all people, no matter what their religion, tend to identify the same types of experiences as mystical. Essentialists also tend to
believe there is little difference from culture to culture or from historical period to historical period (Carmody and Carmody, 1996). Finally, those who espouse essentialist theories "often assume or
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