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DISKUS Vol. 7 (2006)
http://www.basr.ac.uk/diskus/diskus7/bocking.htm

MYSTICISM: NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY?

ABSTRACT

Brian Bocking
Department of the Study of Religions
SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies)
University of London, UK

Email: bb@soas.ac.uk

ABSTRACT

Robert Sharf argues that if a religious or mystical experience conveys any meaning at all, that meaning derives from shared public discourse, not from the experience as such. Sharf’s argument is, or should be, unsettling for anyone who naively thinks that religious beliefs are grounded in religious experiences. In this paper I examine Sharf’s arguments and suggest another way of approaching the notion of mystical or religious experience within the study of religions. Distinguishing between mystical experience and mystical teachings can help to explain how ‘experience’ can retain a meaningful place in mysticism.

Article