The New Mysticism (eBook)

THE STATE OF MYSTICISM TODAY1    Clapping With Two Hands In Search of a Separate Reality • The Miraculous and India's Enigmas • Experiencing the Non-Ordinary • Clapping With Two Hands2    A Brief History Of Western MysticismThe Five Qualities of Technical Mysticism • Historical Waves of Mysticism • Two Waves of Christian Mysticism • The Occult Philosophy • The Impact of Eastern Mysticism • Victorian Spiritualism • A Confused Intertwining3    The Problem With MysticismThe Dalai Lama Stirs Angry Scientists • Jumping the Fence vs Religious Orthodoxy • The Impact of Cartesian Dualism • Ken Wilber on Modernity • The Problem With the Problem With Mysticism4    Contemporary ConfusionsChemicals Gurgling, Synapses Flashing • No One is Counting • The Varieties of Mystical Experiences • Opening Up Mysticism • Clumping, Not Dancing TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO MYSTICISM5    The Symbolic Language of AlchemyThree Strands of Technical Mystical • The Need for Symbolic Languages  • The Rise of Esotericism • The Uses of Mystic Initiation • Alchemy as a Mystic Quest • The Hermetic Corpus • As Above, So Below • The Chemical Wedding • The Spread of Alchemy • The Demise of Esoteric Languages6    Self-Transformative AsceticismMystical Incubation • Shamanic Origins of Askèsis • Askèsis Among the Desert Mystics • How Original Sin Changed Ascetic Practices • The Fall of the Whip7    The Metaphysics of the OccultOur Need for Meta-Explanations • Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Meta-Explanations • Sankhya as Bottom-Up Meta-Explanation • Tantra as Occult Askèsis • Iamblichus and the Neoplatonic Milieu • Iamblichus on Theurgy • The Allure of the Occult • The Victorian Occult Revival8    Magic and its DissentersBeing Transported by the Magical • Magic is a Changing Commodity • Acknowledging Cognitive Dissonance    THE SCOPE OF NEW MYSTICISM9    Bursting Reality's BoundariesThe Anomalous and New Mysticism • The Nature of Agreed Reality • When Agreed Reality is Punctured • Psychic Insight • Dreaming the Future • Not Dying, Flying • Challenging Agreed Reality10    The Paranormal as OutlierPhantasms of the Living • The Pain of Doing Nothing • The Ganz-feld Experiments • Remote Viewing • Going Out-of-Body • Meeting Mescalito • The New Mystics • It's All in the Mind • Metanoia as Gateway11    Talking to GhostsHooves in the Darkness • Ghosts of the Tsunami • Talking to the Deceased • Acknowledging the Extra-Living12    Spooky Stuff at a DistanceSpooking Agreed Reality • When the Spooky is Rejected • Scientism vs the Scientific Method • The Medium Delivers the Message    THE MUSIC OF TWO HANDS13    Requirements for Future ProgressThree Problems for Naturalism • Embracing the Anomalous • The New Mystical Approach • Advancing the New Mysticism • The Music of Two Hands