[Buddha-l] RE: Article of possible interest--correction

[L.S. Cousins]

Joy,

>Do you (or those Theravada teachers) know Henri Delacroix's Les 
>grands mystiques chrétiens?

Most Theravada teachers would not be familiar with Delacroix. I used 
to teach a term on Christian mysticism as part of a course on 
Comparative Mysticism; so I have certainly at least glanced at it. 
But it would be a long while ago.

>Old stuff no doubt, but sometimes it's good to be reminded of it. 
>Henri Delacroix, was a student of Henri Bergson and a disciple of 
>William James. In Les grands mystiques chrétiens, Delacroix studies 
>"primary sources", i.e. autobiographic material written by the great 
>Christian mystics themselves.

  We have to remember that many of them were writing at times when 
unorthodox ideas were often punished with death, if you didn't keep 
quiet.

We have to remember that belief in multiple lives was common (if not 
normative) among intellectuals at the time of the rise of 
Christianity. I suspect that it was not unusual among early 
Christians, but a considerable effort was made to prohibit the idea 
at a later date.

>  Generally speaking, his explanation for the mystical experiences is 
>that the mystics in questions work in a general framework, which is 
>the belief system of their religion. Their mind, subconscious, is 
>continuously impregnated through meditation, prayer, ascetism and 
>other imagery. At one point, when their mind is passive, not active, 
>it all bubbles (back) up spontaneously mixed in with other 
>subconscious material. I am not saying that there is no kamma, and 
>past lives etc. (but don't tempt me ;-)), but have you considered 
>the possibility of something along the lines of Delacroix's theory?

I don't know that I believe in the 'subconscious' but it is clear 
that a process of this sort can occur. Indeed, that is obvious from 
dreams. But I would think of the meditative process as cleansing the 
mind from this kind of distorting tendency.

Actually, this is not different from ordinary memory. We know that 
people can (unintentionally) construct false memories of their past, 
but I would not take that as proving that people cannot have correct 
memories of their childhood.

Lance Cousins