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= Practical_Mysticism =
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Introduction
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'Practical Mysticism' is a book by Anglo-Catholic writer and pacifist
Evelyn Underhill and first published in 1915. In this book Underhill
sets out her belief that spiritual life is part of human nature and as
such is available to every human being. Underhill's practical
mysticism is secular rather than religious, since "it is a natural
human activity."
In the following paragraph, Underhill defines the meaning of the
phrase "Practical Mysticism":
Therefore it is to a practical mysticism that the practical man is
here invited: to a training of his latent faculties, a bracing and
brightening of his languid consciousness, an emancipation from the
fetters of appearance, a turning of his attention to new levels of the
world. Thus he may become aware of the universe that the spiritual
artist is always trying to disclose to the race. This amount of
mystical perception---this 'ordinary contemplation', as the specialist
call it,---is possible to all men: without it, they are not wholly
alive. It is a natural human activity
Underhill's book was written at the outbreak of World War I, at a time
of "struggle and endurance, practical sacrifices, difficult and long
continuous effort" when, she believed, practical mysticism was the
activity needed most.
External links
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*Full text of Evelyn Underhill's Practical Mysticism at Wikisource
*
*
License
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practical_Mysticism
