In this doctoral thesis, The Spirituality and Mysticism of Nature in the Early Franciscan Tradition, I have begun with an attempt to clarify the notions of spirituality and mysticism. The former, was seen as an approach to God embodied in outlook, practice and lifestyle, and the latter, mysticism, was defined as a felt awareness and knowledge of the presence of God. My hypothesis is that nature played a very important part in both the spirituality and mysticism of Saint Francis of Assisi, and in the spirituality of the movement he founded. In a systematic attempt to investigate my theme, I began with a study of the chief places associated with Francis. They present a kind of mirror of his soul and reveal, I believe, a good deal about his outlook and way of living. They tend to be remote and solitary places, often high in the mountains or near water, often desolate and harsh and usually beautiful, and what was later to become known as `romantic'. I turned then to the world of nature, beginning with the celestial bodies, sun, moon and the stars, and the elements of the sub-lunar world. The world of living things, fruits and flowers, animals, wild beasts and tame, fish and birds was examined. Nearly all the evidence here came from that collection of Franciscan stories and anecdotes which forms one of the great treasuries of stories in world literature. The fourth chapter was devoted to the poetry of Francis, above all to the Praises of God and The Canticle of the Creatures. After examining the circumstances of its composition, I took the stanzas one by one and examined them in the light of what they reveal of Francis spirituality and mysticism. The purpose of chapter five was to gather the fruits of my research and evaluate the hypothesis I proposed. I concluded that Francis, incorporated nature into his spirituality and mysticism in a very original way. I hold that Francis was a great nature mystic, and that his nature spirituality is still full of vigor and potential for the future. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / (D.Th. (Christian Spirituality))

Quelles sont les caractéristiques d’une théologie issue de la mystique ? Telle est la question à laquelle nous tenterons de répondre à partir d’un cas particulier, celui des Showings de Julian de Norwich (XIVe-XVe s.). La version longue de cet opus nous permet d’observer un phénomène d’amplification et d’élaboration qui touche les domaines de l’anthropologie, de la christologie et de la théologie trinitaire. Puisant dans l’expérience vive, le propos théologique de Julian est traversé des affects liés à ce vécu. Julian parle de Dieu en ne cessant de parler à Dieu et en établissant avec ses « semblables dans le Christ » une communauté émotionnelle et noétique. Mais une expérience mystique ne donne pas forcément lieu à une théologie mystique au sens où l’entendent le Pseudo-Denys et Jean Gerson. C’est plutôt à une théologie prophétique et visionnaire que nous avons à faire, qui assume pleinement son caractère partiel, situé. Nous nous trouvons ici à un tournant de l’histoire de la théologie et de la spiritualité qui voit l’émergence de deux domaines séparés, celui de la théologie scolastique ou universitaire et celui de la spiritualité, là où la patristique témoignait d’une profonde unité. Les différentes méthodologies mises en œuvre dans cette recherche sont au service d’une étude qui se situe tout à la fois dans le champ de la théologie et de l’histoire de la spiritualité. / What are the main characteristics of a theology stemming from a mystic experience ? This thesis attempts to answer this question by examining an individual case, that of The Showings of Julian of Norwich (C14th- C15th). The Long Text of this opus enables us to observe a development in the fields of anthropology, Christology and Trinitarian theology. Firmly rooted in her experience of life, Julian’s theological discourse is interwoven with the emotions drawn from that experience. Julian speaks about God in speaking to God and in establishing with her « fellow Christians » an emotional and noetic community. But a mystical experience does not automatically give birth to a mystical theology as understood by Pseudo-Dionysius and Jean Gerson. We are rather in the presence of a prophetical and visionary theology that is fully conscious of its partial, limited, and contextualised nature. We find ourselves at a turning-point in the history of theology and spirituality, which sees the emergence of two separate fields that of scholastic theology and that of spirituality, where previously patristic theology bore witness to a profound unity. The different methodologies used in this research are in the service of a study within two distinct fields : those of theology and the history of spirituality.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-12-08T11:27:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Beatriz Ferrara Carunchio.pdf: 1789587 bytes, checksum: 02b52956206c5ee3ff100f009b1ee306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-12-08T11:27:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Beatriz Ferrara Carunchio.pdf: 1789587 bytes, checksum: 02b52956206c5ee3ff100f009b1ee306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-11-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Fundação São Paulo - FUNDASP / Near-Death Experience (NDE) is a mystical experience that happens during or near of clinical death. During NDE, one experiences phenomena as out of body experience, meetings with supernatural agents, travels through a transcendent reality or even seeing what is happening around the body. The aim of this study is to verify if there is any correlation between mystical experience and NDE. We suggest that there is correlation, and maybe this is the responsible for initiate changes in perception and meaning one sees in life. About the method, we used two scales: Hood‟s Mysticism Scale (M Scale) and Greyson‟s NDE Scale. We had 350 valid answers (N=350). 14% had experienced NDE, 13% had already been in risk of death, but hadn‟t experienced NDE, and 73% had never been in risk of death. The statistical analysis was made with SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). Factor 3 had statistical significance (p=0,01) for both the groups that had been in risk of death. According to correlational analysis, the higher scores in Greyson‟s NDE Scale, the bigger scores in Factor 3 of Hood‟s M Scale. We concluded that there is correlation between NDE and introvertive mysticism / Experiência de Quase Morte (EQM) é uma experiência mística que ocorre durante ou próximo da morte clínica. Durante a EQM, a pessoa vivencia fenômenos como experiência fora do corpo, encontro com seres sobrenaturais, visita a uma realidade transcendente ou, ainda, observação da cena em que o corpo está. O objetivo desta tese é verificar se há correlação entre experiência mística e EQM. A hipótese é que há correlação, o que desencadearia mudanças na percepção e atribuição de sentido para a vida. O método foi aplicação das escalas: Escala M de Misticismo de Hood e a Escala de EQM de Greyson. Obtivemos 350 respostas válidas (N=350), sendo que 14% teve EQM, 13% correu risco de morte, sem EQM, e 73% nunca correu risco de morte iminente. Na análise estatística com o SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) constatou-se significância estatística no Fator 3 – misticismo de introversão da Escala M entre os grupos que teve EQM e que correu risco de morte, mas não teve EQM (p=0,01). De acordo com a análise de correlações, quanto maior o resultado na Escala de EQM de Greyson, maior também a pontuação no Fator 3. Concluímos que há correlação entre EQM e experiência mística de introversão

In this doctoral thesis, The Spirituality and Mysticism of Nature in the Early Franciscan Tradition, I have begun with an attempt to clarify the notions of spirituality and mysticism. The former, was seen as an approach to God embodied in outlook, practice and lifestyle, and the latter, mysticism, was defined as a felt awareness and knowledge of the presence of God. My hypothesis is that nature played a very important part in both the spirituality and mysticism of Saint Francis of Assisi, and in the spirituality of the movement he founded. In a systematic attempt to investigate my theme, I began with a study of the chief places associated with Francis. They present a kind of mirror of his soul and reveal, I believe, a good deal about his outlook and way of living. They tend to be remote and solitary places, often high in the mountains or near water, often desolate and harsh and usually beautiful, and what was later to become known as `romantic'. I turned then to the world of nature, beginning with the celestial bodies, sun, moon and the stars, and the elements of the sub-lunar world. The world of living things, fruits and flowers, animals, wild beasts and tame, fish and birds was examined. Nearly all the evidence here came from that collection of Franciscan stories and anecdotes which forms one of the great treasuries of stories in world literature. The fourth chapter was devoted to the poetry of Francis, above all to the Praises of God and The Canticle of the Creatures. After examining the circumstances of its composition, I took the stanzas one by one and examined them in the light of what they reveal of Francis spirituality and mysticism. The purpose of chapter five was to gather the fruits of my research and evaluate the hypothesis I proposed. I concluded that Francis, incorporated nature into his spirituality and mysticism in a very original way. I hold that Francis was a great nature mystic, and that his nature spirituality is still full of vigor and potential for the future. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / (D.Th. (Christian Spirituality))

十六世紀西班牙神秘主義學家德蘭阿烏馬達‧賽伯達（Teresa de Ahumada y Cepeda）於1622年被封為聖女大德蘭（St. Teresa of Ávila）或稱耶穌的聖大德蘭（Saint Teresa of Jesus）。一生以事奉天主為畢生奮鬥目標，她從靜觀祈禱裡領晤天主的恩寵，是一位神秘體驗的神秘主義者。大德蘭用33年的時間專注於內心默想祈禱和與天主在靈性上的結合，進而改革加爾默羅會，開創了一個嶄新的、更默觀的生活方式，而遍佈天主教世界。《七寶樓台》是大德蘭在天主的臨在經驗下完成的著作，其著作沒有深奧抽象的思辨理論，而主要是對神祕體驗現象的直觀性與隱喻性描述。基於這種神祕體驗與靈性生活的倡導，大德蘭也因此常被視為基督宗教神秘主義者的代表人物之一。 本論文主要透過對於大德蘭的基督宗教神祕主義思想背景，以及《七寶樓台》解讀的理論基礎，基督宗教的靈修理論以及宗教詮釋的相關理論。對靈魂提升的過程和神學的語言進行深入的省思，探討德蘭思想的底層。這個討論工作，所運用的方法主要是根據呂格爾等詮釋學家對文本世界的詮釋理論，以發掘文本的深層涵義。本論文的主要目的，企圖導引出宗教神學世界長期以來的信仰、語言和理性的討論，並藉由當代幾位具有代表性的神學與宗教學家的學說，闡明大德蘭的思想風貌，以及神秘體驗的精神本質。並且將大德蘭開創的思想潮流與宗教現象，帶進我們現代文化視野的詮釋空間之中，呈顯此一經典文本《七寶樓台》的重要價值與跨時代性。 關鍵詞：大德蘭、七寶樓台、神祕主義、神祕體驗、靈修、宗教現象、詮釋學、呂格爾 / Sixteen century Spanish mystic- Teresa de Ahumada y Cepeda was canonized St. Teresa of Jesus by Gregory XV in 1622. She prayed for God in all her life and received His grace by contemplative prayer. She is also a practical mysticism. St. Teresa spent 33 years to pray for God, and concentrated on meditation piety to be with Him in spirit. By reforming Carmelo, the new meditative way of profound lives which created by her, gradually spread around the entire Catholic world. She wrote, Interior Castle, when God came to her in pray. The book is full of metaphor in book without any abstractive theories. Teresa became one of the representatives in Spanish mysticism due to her concentration on inner life and mystical experience. I will investigate the Christian Mysticism background of Teresa, the interpretation of Interior Castle, meditation piety of Christian, and related theories of religion hermeneutics such as Paul Ricoeur’s. By reflecting on the explanation of soul ascent and theological language, the thought of Teresa would be exposed. My purpose here is to introduce some significant arguments about faith, language and reason of Christianity by several theorists. I should focus on essentials of Teresa’s thought and mystical experience, the trend of spiritual movement and religion phenomenon initiated by Teresa. From a modern cultural perspective, the value and meaning of Interior Castle, should be reveal by this work. Key words: St. Teresa, Interior Castle, mysticism, mystical experience, meditation

Cette réflexion découle d’un constat simple, mais qui à la fois invoque la réévaluation en profondeur de notre lien à la pensée, au sens et au langage. L’expérience de l’inconnaissable, de tout ce qui n’est pas là, devant nous, demande de se détourner du langage conventionnel, logique et rationnel, afin de pouvoir l’exprimer. Les écrits mystiques, dans leur mise en forme langagière d’un contact direct avec Dieu, constituent un espace foisonnant et exemplaire, afin de réfléchir la pensée. Celle-ci est traversée de toutes parts d’un besoin pressant de dire l’ineffable, par l’entremise d’une inscription langagière qui déroge du sens convenu du monde, des liens communicationnels ordinaires. Cette manière particulière de dire est structurée par la métaphore, cette suspension de la pensée qui appelle à la recréer, à sortir de leur endormissement le sens et la langue cristallisée du quotidien. Ce mémoire se propose donc de penser les modes de l’expression et de concrétisation de l’expérience de l’ineffable, en se penchant sur ce que la métaphore, dans son inscription, permet de connaître, ailleurs que dans le langage discursif. En premier lieu, il s’agira de présenter les modalités générales de l’expérience mystique et ses différentes manières de s’inscrire au sein de l’existence. Je me pencherai plus précisément sur le propre de son inscription métaphorique dans le langage. En deuxième lieu, je voudrai réfléchir théoriquement et pratiquement la métaphore, par-delà le titre réducteur d’ornement ostentatoire que le langage logique lui fait vêtir, niant sa possibilité singulière de propulser la pensée et de créer une connaissance nouvelle. En troisième et dernier lieu, il s’agira d’exemplifier l’inscription métaphorique de l’expérience mystique, à travers deux figures mystiques singulières, soit Simone Weil (1909-1943) et Al-Hallâj (858-922), chez qui la constatation de l’absence matérielle de Dieu invite plutôt à se détacher de sa construction langagière imaginaire, et à l’aimer, dans toute son absence. Cela, en dépouillant le langage, métaphore imitant le mouvement de dépossession de soi qu’appelle leur conception unique de l’extase mystique. / This reflection comes from a simple observation, which at the same time demands that we deeply re-evaluate our relation to thought, meaning and language. In order to be expressed, the experience of the unknowable, of everything not there in front of us, requires a diversion from conventional, rational language. Mystical writings, shaping through language direct contact with God, constitute an abundant and exemplary space to reflect upon thought, which is met with a pressing need to express the ineffable through a kind of linguistic inscription capable of departing from the agreed meanings of the world, from ordinary communicational connections. This particular way of saying is structured by the metaphor, this suspension of thought asking to be recreated, so that language and meaning, crystallized in daily life, may awake from their slumber. Thus, this thesis proposes to reflect upon the modes of expression and concretization of the experience of the ineffable, by examining what knowledge the metaphor, in its inscription, allows to be understood outside discursive language. To begin with, the general modalities of the mystical experience, and the different ways in which it inscribes itself in existence, will be presented. I will consider more precisely its characteristic metaphorical inscription in language. I will then reflect theoretically and practically on the metaphor, beyond the reductive title of ostentatious ornament that rational language gives to it, denying its singular possibility to propel thought and create new forms knowledge. Finally, I will exemplify the metaphorical inscription of the mystical experience through two particular mystical figures: Simone Weil (1909-1943) and Al-Hallâj (858-922), for whom the observation of God’s material absence instead implies detachment from their imaginary linguistic construction and invites to love him in all his absence. This, by stripping down language, a metaphor imitating the movement of the dispossession of self, which is called for by their unique conception of mystical ecstasy.

Principe spirituel pour Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (1165-1240) et archétype universel pour Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), le Féminin est au centre de cette recherche où il sera étudié sous l’angle de l’expérience mystique dont il est un médian incontournable. L’accent sera mis surtout sur le rapport entre le Féminin comme principe ou archétype et l’expérience mystique tel qu’ils s’articulent chez nos deux penseurs tant dans leur vécu personnel que sur le plan de leurs élaborations théoriques. Elle consiste, pour éviter tout anachronisme, davantage en un dialogue d’idées qu’une comparaison de la pensée du maitre soufi andalou avec celle du psychanalyste moderne suisse. C’est à ce premier niveau d’analyse, où le Féminin et le Masculin forment une androgynie primordiale, que leurs pensées se rejoignent de manière significative. Les deux penseurs reconnaissant au Féminin en particulier une fonction transcendantale qui s’accomplit à travers une prédisposition à l’établissement d’une relation avec le monde subtil de l’Esprit qui s’enracine soit dans une tradition religieuse donnée, l’islam dans le cas d’Ibn ʿArabī, ou d’une analyse thérapeutique aux allures néanmoins mystiques dans le cas de Jung. L’expérience du Féminin chez nos deux penseurs révèle un rapport différencié quant à la nature et à la forme de l’expérience spirituelle qui est son support d’expression. Leurs conceptions se distinguent aussi sur la question de Dieu (transcendant ou immanent) dont la rencontre est perçue comme la finalité vers laquelle tend la dynamique transformatrice de la personnalité qu’implique ce cheminement initiatique qu’induit la rencontre du Féminin spirituel. Avant de réaliser cette ultime et unificatrice rencontre, il faut d’abord rencontrer et entrer en relation avec ce Féminin comme figure d’une altérité intérieure et extérieure en vue de dépasser le dualisme primaire où les humains sont embourbés tant individuellement que collectivement. C’est sur ce point en particulier que l’étude montre des convergences signifiantes, qui révèlent, d’un côté, le lien transversal qu’il y a entre le soufisme et la psychologie analytique et de l’autre les aspects implicites d‘une psychologie des profondeurs nichant en arrière-plan de la mystique akbarienne. Cette ébauche de dialogue, opérée dans une approche interdisciplinaire, révèle certes des postures épistémologiques très différentes, mais aussi une convergence de vue tacite jusque-là et que la méthode de la phénoménologie herméneutique retenue pour ce travail de maitrise a éclairé d’un nouveau jour. C’est dans cet esprit qu’elle peut ouvrir de nouvelles pistes de réflexion à nos sociétés contemporaines prises avec une crise de sens et de perte de repères identitaires inquiétante. Le sous-bassement de cette crise est une vision dualiste de la femme et de l’homme, et corollairement d’une division binaire entre nature et culture, au lieu de saisir leur nécessaire et paradoxale complémentarité qui doit se réaliser en premier lieu en chaque être humain. / A spiritual principle for Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (1165-1240) and a universal archetype for Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), the Feminine is at the center of this research, where it will be studied from the perspective of the mystical experience of which it is an inescapable mediator. The emphasis will be on the relationship between the Feminine as a principle or archetype and the mystical experience as articulated by our two thinkers in their personal experience as well as in their theoretical elaborations. It consists, to avoid any anachronism, more of a dialogue of ideas than a comparison of the thought of the Andalusian Sufi master with that of the modern Swiss psychoanalyst. It is at this first level of analysis, where the Feminine and the Masculine form a primordial androgyny that their thoughts meet in a significant way. Both thinkers in fact recognize in the Feminine a transcendental function that is fulfilled through a predisposition to establish a relationship with the subtle world of Spirit that is rooted either in a given religious tradition-Islam in the case of Ibn ʿArabī or of a therapeutic analysis with nonetheless mystical overtones in the case of Jung. The experience of the Feminine in our two thinkers reveals a differentiated relationship as to the nature and form of the spiritual experience that is its medium of expression. Their conceptions also differ on the question of God (transcendent or immanent) whose meeting is perceived as the finality towards which tends the transforming dynamics of the personality that implies this initiatory path that induces the meeting of the spiritual Feminine. Before realizing this ultimate and unifying encounter, one must first meet and relate to this Feminine figure of inner and outer otherness in order to overcome the primary dualism in which humans are mired both individually and collectively. It is on this point in particular that the study shows significant convergences, which reveal, on the one hand, the link between Sufism and analytical psychology; and on the other hand, the "deep psychological" aspects of Akbarian mysticism. This draft dialogue, carried out in an interdisciplinary approach, certainly reveals very different epistemological postures, but also a convergence of views implicit until then and which the method of hermeneutic phenomenology chosen for this master's thesis has shed new light on. It is in this spirit that it can open up new avenues of reflection for our contemporary societies caught up in a disturbing crisis of meaning and loss of identity markers. The underpinning of this crisis is a dualistic vision of woman and man, and consequently of a binary division between nature and culture, instead of grasping their necessary and paradoxical complementarity which must be realized first and foremost in each human being.

Sudden personal transformation (SPT) was defined as a subjectively reported, positive, profound, and lasting personal change that follows a relatively brief and memorable inner experience. Although such change has been described in numerous biographies, works of fiction, and religious and scholarly texts, a consistent definition and systematic program of research is lacking in the psychological literature. Moreover, almost nothing is known about what causes such change from the subjective point of view of individuals who have experienced it first hand. This study used semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis to explore the common beliefs of three participants about the factors that facilitated and the mechanisms that caused their SPT. Findings reveal that all participants reported a life transition, feeling miserable, feeling exhausted, feeling unable to resolve adverse circumstances, reaching a breaking point, and support from others facilitated their individual SPT’s. All participants also indicated that a formalized activity or ceremony as well as a process outside of their conscious control (either a higher power or a deep inner wisdom) produced or caused their SPT’s. Implications for future research and counselling practice are discussed. / Graduate