Scholarly Papers and Personal Essays
- Carey, Bill, Bernadette Roberts and the Loss of Self
http://www.firedocs.com/carey/roberts.html
[A brief introduction to the thought of a contemporary contemplative writer.]
- Damiano, Kathryn, Some Thoughts on Silence
http://www.quakerinfo.com/silence.shtml
[An essay that begins: "The culture in which we live does not value silence. Avoiding seduction into this belief is a major challenge. Because of the
predisposition to noise in our society, we become use to having some kind of stimulation going on around us." Part of the School of the Spirit web site that
is affiliated with the Society of Friends.]
- Deikman, Arthur, M.D., 'I' = Awareness
http://www.imprint.co.uk/online/Deikman.html
[A paper from the print edition of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, 3, 4 (1996),
350-56. The Abstract: Introspection reveals that the core of subjectivity — the 'I' — is
identical to awareness. This 'I' should be differentiated from the various aspects of the
physical person and its mental contents which form the 'self'. Most discussions of
consciousness confuse the 'I' and the 'self'. In fact, our experience is fundamentally
dualistic — not the dualism of mind and matter — but that of the 'I' and that which is
observed. The identity of awareness and the 'I' means that we know awareness by being it,
thus solving the problem of the infinite regress of observers. It follows that whatever our
ontology of awareness may be, it must also be the same for 'I'. Please note that Dr. Deikman now has his own web site.]
- Ducey, Michael H.,
Mystics in Society
http://www.thesecularspirit.com/text/70mystic.html
[A thesis for the M.A. from the University of Chicago. Moves from Max Weber to Ignatius of Loyola and back again.]
- Forman, Robert K. C., What
Does Mysticism have to Teach Us About Consciousness?
http://www.imprint.co.uk/Forman.html
[A paper delivered to the conference on Towards a Science of Consciousness 1996 (Tucson II)
in April 1996. Forman is identified with the "essentialist" side of the
essentialist-contextualist debate about mysticism.]
- Mihailescu, Calin, Corpus Epochalis: Mysticism, Body, History
http://www.pum.umontreal.ca/revues/surfaces/vol1/mihaile.html
[A paper published in the electronic journal Surfaces, that deals with "discourse of the body and history in the mystical tradition, especially Pascal.
De Certeau on the history of Mysticism, Deleuze and Guattari on the body."]
- Mills, Joy, The Mystic Vision and Human
Transformationin
http://www.teosofia.com/transformation.html
[A Theosophical perspective by Rudolfo Don.]
- O'Donnell, James J., Augustine's Idea of God
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine/aug-god.html
[One of several excellent studies by O'Donnell that are available online. It is well worth looking at his new home page for links
to his other online publications.]
- Palmquist, Stephen, Kant's Critique of Mysticism: (1) The Critical Dreams
http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/srp/arts/KCM1.html
[An excellent scholarly study by a scholar who has developed a wide-ranging home page as well as a series of
studies and links offered under the heading of Kant on the Web.]
- __________, Kant's Critique of Mysticism: (2) The Critical Mysticism
http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/srp/arts/KCM2.html
[A continuation of the study listed immediately above.]
- Smith, Huston, The Psychology of Religious Experience
http://www.thinking-allowed.com/smith.html
[A transcribed interview with Huston Smith by Jeffrey Mishlove.]
- Stahlman, Sandra, The Relationship Between Schizophrenia & Mysticism: A Bibliographic Essay
http://sandra.stahlman.com/schizo.html
[A literature survey and study, with bibliography, some of it hyperlinked.]
- Thursby, Gene R., Charles T. Tart and Mysticism
http://www.religiousworlds.com/mystic/tart.html
[A brief discussion of Tart's interpretative framework as applied to ineffability.]
- Wilber, Ken, An Integral Theory of Consciousness
http://www.imprint.co.uk/Wilber.htm
[A paper from the print edition of the Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4, 1 (1997), 71-92. Abstract: An extensive data search among various
types of developmental and evolutionary sequences yielded a 'four quadrant' model of
consciousness and its development (the four quadrants being intentional, behavioural, cultural,
and social). Each of these dimensions was found to unfold in a sequence of at least a dozen
major stages or levels. Combining the four quadrants with the dozen or so major levels in
each quadrant yields an integral theory of consciousness that is quite comprehensive in its
nature and scope. This model is used to indicate how a general synthesis and integration of
twelve of the most influential schools of consciousness studies can be effected, and to
highlight some of the most significant areas of future research. The conclusion is that an
'all-quadrant, all-level' approach is the minimum degree of sophistication that we need in
order to secure anything resembling a genuinely integral theory of consciousness.]
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