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"Philosophy, it may be argued, comes from the realm of rationality, whereas mystical experience is rooted in the personal, the subjective, and the inexpressible. The dominant historical view confirms this dichotomy and tells us that in the East and the West the philosopher and the mystic have always been and continue to be diametrically opposed." (Keshavarz, Reading Mystical Lyric)
Why didn't I major in Asian Studies and religion the first time around? Because, man, something about that statement seriously rubs me the wrong way. I mean, in the East, you've got Zen Buddhism, and I don't know how else you can describe Zen except as a mystical philosophy- but it's been a very, very long time since I studied Zen, so it's entirely possible that I am way off the mark here. (It's possibly just that Keshavarz is using a very specific definition of 'mystical experience' in this book, which would exclude the idea of Buddhist enlightenment.) And over in the West I'm sure I could find some Christian mystics who were also engaged in the production of philosophy.
I think I'm missing too much necessary background information to read this book properly- by which I mean I have wikipedia entries for phenomenology, epistemology and hermeneutics open right now, and I still have to read every paragraph twice to glean some kind of meaning from it.
I still can't tell if I missed this or not. I mean, hey, learning shit! That's awesome! But homework still gives me panic attacks, and libraries intimidate me. orz
Why didn't I major in Asian Studies and religion the first time around? Because, man, something about that statement seriously rubs me the wrong way. I mean, in the East, you've got Zen Buddhism, and I don't know how else you can describe Zen except as a mystical philosophy- but it's been a very, very long time since I studied Zen, so it's entirely possible that I am way off the mark here. (It's possibly just that Keshavarz is using a very specific definition of 'mystical experience' in this book, which would exclude the idea of Buddhist enlightenment.) And over in the West I'm sure I could find some Christian mystics who were also engaged in the production of philosophy.
I think I'm missing too much necessary background information to read this book properly- by which I mean I have wikipedia entries for phenomenology, epistemology and hermeneutics open right now, and I still have to read every paragraph twice to glean some kind of meaning from it.
I still can't tell if I missed this or not. I mean, hey, learning shit! That's awesome! But homework still gives me panic attacks, and libraries intimidate me. orz
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