On Mysticism: The Experience of Ecstasy

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'A significant and courageous invitation to think again about the kinds of thinking that matter; the kinds of thinking that keep us awake' Rowan WilliamsMysticism has been called 'experience at its most intense form', and here philosopher Simon Critchley asks: wouldn't you like to taste this intensity Wouldn't you like to be lifted up and out of yourselfMysticism is not a question of religious belief but of felt experience and daily practice. It is a way of freeing yourself of your standard habits, fancies and imagining so as to see what is there and stand with what is there ecstatically. It is the achievement of a fluid openness between thought and existence.This is a book about Julian of Norwich and medieval mystics that also ranges through the work of Anne Carson, Annie Dillard and T.S. Eliot. It looks at Nick Cave and German krautrock and shows how music can be secular worship. It opens the door to mysticism not as something unworldly and unimaginable, but as a way of life.

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'Why mysticism Evelyn Underhill, a fascinating and slightly forgotten figure, who did so much to popularize mysticism in the early 20th Century, defines it as 'experience in its most intense form'. My offer to the reader in this book is simple: wouldn't you like to have a taste of this intensity Wouldn't you like to be lifted up and out of yourself into a sheer feeling of aliveness, both your life and those of the creatures that surround you If so, it might be well worthwhile trying to learn what is meant by mysticism and how it can shift, elevate and deepen the sense of our lives.' - Simon Critchley

Author Bio

Simon Critchley has written over twenty books, including studies of Greek tragedy, David Bowie, football, suicide, Shakespeare, how philosophers die, and a novella. He is the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York and a Director of the Onassis Foundation. As co-editor of The Stone at The New York Times, Critchley showed that philosophy plays a vital role in the public realm.