Mysticism without concepts

Late Medieval Mysticism

both positive and negative; in the medieval world, however, it held a precise meaning, often also referred to as “contemplation” or “the contemplative life.” The mysticism of this period had some merits, but also some serious flaws in both theology and practice. In many respects, the mysticism of the medieval world derived from early Latin mysticism, which in turn evolved from an amalgamation o...

Drugs and Mysticism

The claim has been made that the experience facilitated by psychedelic drugs, such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline, can be similar or identical to the experience described by the mystics of all ages, cultures, and religions. This paper will attempt to examine and explain this possibility. There is a long and continuing history of the religious use of plants that contain psychedelic substances...

Cognition Without Concepts

There is an intellectual unease in our article and in the commentaries on it. Although the article and the commentaries are all about the role of perception in children's concepts, the subtext concerns the validity of our most fundamental assumptions about cognition. All of the articles show the tension. For us, and for Mervis, Johnson, and Scott (1993), the strain is evident in data showing dr...

Mathematics and mysticism.

Is there a world of mathematics above and beyond ordinary reality, as Plato proposed? Or is mathematics a cultural construct? In this short article we speculate on the place of mathematical reality from the perspective of the mystical cosmologies of the ancient traditions of meditation, psychedelics, and divination.

David Ranson , Between the “ Mysticism of Politics ” and the “ Politics of Mysticism ” : Interpreting