It only appears as new due to the secular and hegemonic outlook of science and its obsession with evidence-based approaches, not to mention the discipline’s tumultuous encounters with religion in the past.
📌 3 Key Takeaways
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Objective & Hypothesis:The idea of a psychology of mysticism is thought provoking, but it is often carried out by reducing spiritual realities to the level of the psyche and the psychological order, which radically compromises the scope of this endeavor.
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Key Findings & Data:It needs to be clearly stated that the bringing together of mysticism with psychology is not a novel initiative; this integration is, in fact, embodied in the original understanding of a “science of the soul” that has existed since time immemorial across the various traditional cultures of the world.
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Conclusion & Impact:It only appears as new due to the secular and hegemonic outlook of science and its obsession with evidence-based approaches, not to mention the discipline’s tumultuous encounters with religion in the past.
🔬Design:Book Review
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Mysticism · Spirituality · Religion
Abstract
The idea of a psychology of mysticism is thought provoking, but it is often carried out by reducing spiritual realities to the level of the psyche and the psychological order, which radically compromises the scope of this endeavor. It needs to be clearly stated that the bringing together of mysticism with psychology is not a novel initiative; this integration is, in fact, embodied in the original understanding of a “science of the soul” that has existed since time immemorial across the various traditional cultures of the world. It only appears as new due to the secular and hegemonic outlook of science and its obsession with evidence-based approaches, not to mention the discipline’s tumultuous encounters with religion in the past.
Sotillos, S. B. (2026). Modern Psychology and Mystical Experience. Spiritual Psychology and Counseling, Volume: 11 Issue: 2. https://doi.org/10.37898/spiritualpc.1922758
Bendeck Sotillos, S. (2021). On the science of the soul: A conversation with Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 53(2), 191–209.
Bendeck Sotillos, S. (2022, January/March). A wisdom that transcends all times and places: An introduction to the perennial philosophy. The Mountain Path, 59(1), 29–46.
Boutroux, É. (1902). La psychologie du mysticisme. Bulletin de l’Institut Psychologique.