The Mystical Life

The author, a professor of philosophy at the University of Valence, France, here summarizes the results of the numerous scientific studies of mysticism during recent years, indicates the definite conclusions which have been reached and considers those problems of mysticism which still remain obscure. Mystical experience is traced and described from primitive people to present manifestations and the author shows that the experiences of mystics, illustrated by numerous examples, are not a series of extraordinary accidents, but rather a mode of life or detachment from life. Readers interested in psychology and psychiatry, ministers, teachers, and students will find the book invaluable as a clear and just explanation of “what is generally regarded as the highest form of religious individualism.”