Mystics in society: Theorizing mystical consciousness

Hakemuksen tiivistelmä

This research project unpacks the paradox of mystics, who are both fundamentally private and yet irreducibly public. Mysticism – the indescribable sense of transcendent union with ultimate reality – has been prevalent in all religious traditions in the past and, surprisingly to many, is more popular than ever today. Mystics have not only been core elements in and across religions, they have produced lasting art and poetry, demonstrated communal and healthy living, criticized institutions, and engaged in charity, care, and ecological preservation. Equally, there are negative aspects like promotion of irrationalism or entrenched biases. Yet, caught in definitional impasses, social sciences have largely ignored mystics, and so overlooked a very significant social actor. This project builds a theory to describe the social embeddedness of mystics, addressing both how they are rooted in society and how they transform society. Building on new methodological insights, the project focuses on mystical consciousness, a key aspect of the altered state mystics claim. It uses that entry to study mystics’ symbolic language (form of talk), community (form of living), and social action (form of being), as well as the negative or dark sides of mystical practices. The team collects qualitative data about 12 historical and six contemporary mystics in Christianity, Islam and non-denominational, indigenous traditions across 16 countries. This ambitious data collection effort, following a practice tracing approach, will result in a first-time database of socially embedded mystics that will be used ambitiously to present a bold theory on the sociology of mysticism. The four-year project will recruit two researchers to work with the PI at the Tampere research group on Religion and Society, and result in a dozen scientific articles, conference presentations, a co-authored book, a major international conference, and a popular report and exhibition, besides electronic communications.