Henry Suso (c. 1295-1366) and Richard Rolle (c. 1300-1349) were two of the most popular authors in late-medieval England and Germany: their Latin works survive in hundreds of manuscripts owned by both lay and religious readers across Europe. Authority and exemplarity are central to their works, both writers present themselves as eponymous characters in their works, creating "pseudo-autobiographies" which offer their author-characters to the reader as ideal exemplars for imitation. Also central to their authorial strategy is their attention to feminine aspects of both divinity and audience; both imagine themselves as brides of Christ even as they pledge their devotion to Wisdom, a (female) combination of the Old Testament Goddess and Christ incarnate. The imagery of courtly love is employed both as an enticement for readers and as a natural extension of their internalization of the allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs; their claims to bear the name of Jesus on their heart lead to iconographic crossover in representations of Rolle in English manuscripts. Music and aurality are repeatedly employed as a fundamental aspect of their descriptions of mystical experience. Suso was read widely in late-medieval England, both in Latin and in English translation; as his popularity grew, so too did his influence on English literature and theology. The chapters of the Horologium Sapientiae on the Eucharist and the art of dying well proved especially popular. Two Carthusians, Nicholas Love and the author of the Speculum Devotorum, for instance, both drew on Suso's treatment of the Eucharist in reinforcing orthodox beliefs surrounding the sacrament of the altar – yet a recently-discovered independent translation of the same text is found in a manuscript otherwise containing Lollard tracts. Suso's liturgy in honor of Eternal Wisdom proved his most popular and enduring contribution to English literature: it entered Sarum Use Books of Hours by the end of the fifteenth century and was printed in English translation towards the end of the sixteenth.

This thesis contrasts the Plotinean attitude towards transcendence at the cosmological level with that of certain Kabbalistic authors of the 13th-17th century. Special emphasis is placed on the different approaches taken by each of the two sides to addressing the origin of otherness. Following a brief introduction to the notion of the question of transcendence, the first major part (chapter II) is dedicated to an exploration of the Plotinean conception of metaphysical "descent" from the One to subsequent hypostases. The second major part (chapter III) focuses on Kabbalistic conceptions of the descent from the indefinite infinite to the finite (limited) realm. Finally, I attempt to illustrate the questions and concerns common to each of the two cosmologies. In so doing, I make use of semiotic concepts to clarify the contrast between the two models.

Meister Eckhart exhibits an unprecedented confidence in the transcendental way of thought in medieval philosophy. Eckhart, unlike his predecessors, identifies being as such (ens commune) and God, allowing the most primary determinations metaphysics – ‘being,’ ‘one,’ ‘true,’ ‘good,’ – to function as both metaphysical and theological first principles. Eckhart placed them at the head of his projected Tripartite Opus, a vast work of quaestiones and commentaries whose intelligibility, he insists, requires the prior foundation of a supposed series of a thousand axioms. The table of contents remains, the opus propositionum does not. This thesis argues that what enables Eckhart to pursue the direct application of the transcendentals to the divine also makes it unrealizable. His determination of unity is twofold: as (i) indivisibility, and the standard transcendental conception of unity as a negation of the given positive content of being (ens); as (ii) indistinction, comprehending both the negation of otherness which produces the indivisible and the otherness that is negated. There is an inherent tension between Peripatetic metaphysics and Procline henology. Consequently, the Good is devalued when the Procline One appears within the transcendental perspective. Metaphysics, theology and, a fortiori for Eckhart, ethics, take no consideration of Goodness. I show how this tension gives rise to Eckhart’s association of the divine essence with the Neoplatonic One, while the Peripatetic One and the transcendental “true” function as the explanans of the Trinitarian intellectual self-return. This, in turn, gives rise to the constitutive function of the imago dei, and every imago as such, within that self-relation. Ultimately, this produces a standpoint wherein every essence, only as idea, contains the divine uniform infinity.

No description available.

The 'New Age' encompasses many spiritualities, philosophies and alternative religions, such as Spiritualism, Wicca, Paganism and Theosophy, to name a few. Its cultural and ancestral threads, prior to the emergence of the contemporary New Age Movement in the early 1970s, is acknowledged by examining some prominent groups and individuals throughout history. Many comments on the New Age Movement, in the 1970s, 80s and 90s were dismissive. Through a survey done in 2007 amongst New Agers, for this thesis, those early judgements are examined to determine their relationship to the New Zealand experience. There was found to be divergence from international analysis where New Agers' age was concerned, their presumed connection to the 1960s counterculture, the assumptions that the New Age Movement is exclusively white, that science is a necessary part of belief and that New Age beliefs exist in opposition to cummunity needs. The focus is on the New Agers' within community, not their separation from it, for separation is a claim some overseas academics promoted as proof that the New Age is anti-community because of its individualism in belief seeking. Through this thesis the New Zealand New Ager is placed in relationship to the global New Age Movement by an academic who is 'of' the movement, not an academic 'outside looking in'. The experience of belief is looked at through the survey participants' eyes with the aim of claiming those experiences as 'mysticism'. This is approached by examining their 'contact' with the Divine/Godhead,through descriptions of altered/abstract realities. Any exclusivity the major religions have on mysticism is essentially 'removed' and given to the community as a concept attainable by those outside 'religion'; for example, the New Age Movement. The New Ager is seen both in the everydaty reality helping to create community, and although it is impossible to prove/examine coherantly, possibly in an altered/abstract reality/realities.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

This study addresses the issue of William Butler Yeats' use of Upanishad philosophy in his poetry. Although many analyses of Yeats' art vis-a-vis Eastern religion exist, none offer the thesis that the poet transformed certain religious concepts for his own purpose, thereby removing those concepts from the purview of Eastern religion. Quite the contrary, many of the analyses argue a parallel between Yeats' poetry and the religious concepts.In Chapter 1 this study gives a brief overview of the problem and proposes the thesis that instead of paralleling Eastern religious concepts, Yeats transformed those concepts; such transformations result in ideas which run counter to the yogic goal as expounded in the Upanishads.Chapter 2 summarizes yogic sources which help elucidate the concepts of Upanishad thought. Also Chapter 2 introduces various the critical analyses which present inaccurate conclusions regarding Yeats' use of Eastern religion.Chapter 3 explains certain Eastern religious concepts such concepts as karma and reincarnation and asserts that the goal of the discipline of yoga is self-realization.Chapter 4 discusses the poems of Yeats' canon which have been analyzed critically in terms of Eastern religious concepts and have erroneously been considered to parallel certain Eastern concepts. This chapter argues that Yeats' transformations resulted in an art which is chiefly based on the physical level of being, whereas the goal of yogic discipline places its chief emphasis on the spiritual level of being. Also it is argued that Yeats cultivated imagination, whereas the Eastern religious devotee cultivates intuition.Chapter 5 details the critical analyses which have erroneously argued the Yeatsian parallel to Eastern religion, showing how these critics have sometimes failed to understand concepts adequately and thus have misapplied them to Yeats' art.Chapter 6 contrasts Yeats' poetry with that of Rabindranath Tagore. Yeats failed to realize Tagore's motivation when Tagore referred to God. Yeats claimed that all reference to Cod was vague and that he disliked Tagore's mysticism. This lack of understanding on Yeats' part, I suggest, further supports the thesis that Yeats' use of Eastern religion constitutes transformations which do not reflect Upanishad philosophy but instead reflect a Yeatsian version of those concepts--a version which many critics have not clearly elucidated. / Department of English

The present study establishes a more full and accurate understanding of the importance of mysticism in the art and life of Emily Dickinson, and shows that because of the physiological changes endured by the mystic and the unique relationship between mysticism and madness, what might be read literally as madness (psychosis) in Dickinson's poems should be seen as a metaphor for the dark counterpoint of the mystical cycle.Chapter One establishes a necessary background on mysticism and discusses the effects of mystical experience on the mind and body of the mystic. As the mystic undergoes spiritual purification, she will be changed physiologically because the central nervous system has to be cultured and strengthened to withstand the changes created by the transcendental level of consciousness.Chapter Two chronologically documents Dickinson's mystical achievement, using her letters as the primary source and Evelyn Underhill's five stages of mystical development as the base of measurement. Dickinson achieved the first mystic life-Awakening, Purgation, and Illumination. Hints of the Dark Night of the Soul may be seen in her later years, but there does not appear to be firm evidence that it was ever fully established. Oscillating between states of pain and pleasure throughout her life, she did not achieve the perfect serenity, peace, and certitude that characterizes Union. Chapter Three examines the symbiotic relationship between mysticism and madness, to show that they share a common source and the end result depends on the preparedness of the individual. Chapter Four examines selected poems, written from 1859-65, from the perspective that Dickinson is a mystic describing mystical experience rather than a psychotic describing insanity. Chapter Four, as does Chapter Three, refers to the interpretation of Dickinson's poetry made by the Freudian psychiatrist, Dr. John Cody, because his interpretation has made the strongest argument for literal madness in Dickinson's work. Chapter Three shows the insufficiency of the argument to explain Dickinson, other mystics, and two of the parallel cases Cody used to support his thesis; Chapter Four demonstrates the same insufficiency when applied to Dickinson's poems of madness, terror, and despair. Chapter Five briefly examines the relationship between Dickinson, the mystic, and Dickinson, the poet. / Department of English

In this work, you get drawn into a different and distant world than the one we are usedto. You get to know what shamanism is, in a basic and understandable way, easy to lookupon for a newcomer to this gigantic subject. The world of raging spirits and meddlingshamans with the belief of three worlds where spirits roam will be compared toreligions that we might know better, with big focus on the Aesir Faith. Oden and otherwell-known characters from this belief are in a historical way looked upon and relatedto beliefs, storys and findings.The archaic belief of the humans are intriguing and exciting, and I hope you find outthat yourself, when you dig in to this essay

Excerpt from introduction: This thesis aims to examine Kafka's life and work in relation to what is arguably the crucial factor in his complex historical, cultural, literary and religious background. The particular relevance of his Jewishness is a subject that has occasionally been discussed in the study of Kafka; attention has been drawn to it especially by his Jewish contemporaries and friends, but the issues involved in it have not yet received exhaustive investigation. The main part of my thesis is devoted to the subject of Kafka's interest in Jewish mysticism, notably in its Hasidic form, in the later years of his life. It shows how his search to regain a sense of participation in Jewish tradition, combined with religious impulses deeply inclined towards an esoteric spirituality, led him to practise his art in the light of this interest as a religious pursuit with unmistakably mystical intent. What I hope becomes clear from my work is the course of individual development by which growing concern for his relation to Jewish tradition led Kafka to deeper appreciation of his historical situation, and guided his increasing sense of moral and spiritual commitment to his time, despite (or because of?) the deficiencies he perceived in it, in a 'task' undertaken through the medium of his art. In selecting nine stories from the Landarzt collection for commentary in the final chapter, I have chosen to concentrate on a crucial period in Kafka's literary development that began in 1916/17, when his continuing, earnest assessment of his position as a Jew had an evidence influence upon his choice of narrative subject and technique. The stories have been considered not in the published sequence of the Landarzt collection, but in an order that seems appropriate to discussion of various aspects of their Jewish context. Where possible, my commentaries upon these stories are related to themes previously identified in discussion of the Oktavhefte, which were begun soon after the collection was completed and contain the chief evidence of Kafka's growing mystical pre-occupation.