The Innate Capacity Mysticism, Psychology, and Philosophy

This is a sequel to Forman's well-received collection, The Problems ofPure Consciousness (OUP 1990). The essays in this previous volume argued thatsome mystical experiences do not seem to be formed or shaped by the languagesystem--a thesis that stands in sharp contrast to the constructivist school,which holds that all mysticism is the product of a cultural and linguisticprocess. In The Innate Capacity, the same scholars put forward a hypothesisabout the formative causes of these "pure consciousness" experiences. All thecontributors agree that mysticism is the result of an innate human capacity,rather than a learned, socially conditioned constructive process. This innatecapacity is understood in several ways. Many conceive it as an expression of ourconsciousness, awareness itself. Some hold that consciousness should beunderstood as a built-in connecting link to the greater world, and that amystical experience is an experience of that inherent connectedness. Anotherthesis that appears frequently is that mystics realize this innate capacitythrough a process of letting go of the ego and the conceptual system. Thecontributors look at mystical experience as it is manifested in a variety ofreligious and cultural settings, including Hindu Yoga, Buddhism, Sufism, andmedieval Christianty. Taken together, the essays constitute an importantcontribution to the ongoing debate about the nature of mystical experience andits relation to the social and cultural context in which it appears.