Mysticism and the Problems of Mystical Literature Author(s): Raymond Nelson Source: Rocky Mountain Review of Language and

Literature, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Winter, 1976), pp. 1-26 Published by: Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1347655 . Accessed: 19/04/2011 07:12
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and of Mysticism the Problems

Mystical Literature
RAYMOND NELSON

is In both its philosophicaland artistic reference,"mysticism" an rationalists term.Usedirresponsibly, has served it notoriously abused as a pejorativesynonym for superstition,for vague or irrational to It thought,for dreaminess. has been adoptedby journalists identify Theosophyand other bastardcults of even less integrity,and has too often becomepopularlyassociated with some of its less edifying sideeffects:magic,unspeakable sexualpractices, the sensational and asceticism of those Hindu gentlemenwho maketheir living by sleepingon nails.The SirhanSirhans Charles and Mansons this worldhavebeen of called "mystics." such associations have given a conUnfortunately, to the word, and left it with a faint auraof shame,as if one notation or who professed defendedmysticism were admittinghimself a holdoverfroma pre-scientific age. Even in its spiritualapplication, is mysticism only vaguelydefined, andin its vagueness otherconcerns individual an lumpedwith whatever to it. Alice Meynell and the anthologistIrene Hunter,1 may bring for instance,apparently On equateit with devotionalstatement. the otherhand,rigidlypiouslaymen,and clericswho shouldknow better, identifiedit with a dislikefor ecclesiastical have frequently authorityas a kind of spiritualanarchy-and mystics, consequently, have a
Raymond Nelson is an associate professor of English at the University of Virginia. He is completing a criticalbiographyof Van Wyck Brooks. 1 Alice Meynell, "Mystical Lyric," in Prose and Poetry (London, 1947), pp. 322-39. Irene Hunter, ed., AmericanMysticalVerse (New York, 1925). ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW

long record of trouble with their institutionalsuperiors.Christian have traditionally treatedmysticism the highestform of as theologians and religious"science" have actedas if it were a universally accepted But the extensivelist of definitionsthat Dean Inge appends concept. to his ChristianMysticismtestifiesto a confusioneven in orthodox on ranks.2 one explicitpoint,moreover, which Western(Christian The and Moslem) studentsof mysticaltheologymust agree-that genuine mysticismis of necessityan infused experienceof "the Other"(i.e. a by God)-is considered severeimpedimentto spiritual progress the Taoism and most of the atheisticmysticsof Asia. At least in classical Buddhistsystems,thereis no personalGod who can be distinguished from the things of His creation. In these disciplinesthe mystic that all things share recognizesessentiallythat there is no "Other," one life. of As if the contradictions partisanquarrelingwere not enough, of they are further complicatedby popularizers mysticism,notably AldousHuxley, who insistthat all mysticalexperience(and by extension, all religiousexperience)is identical.In order to accommodate of to their "perennial philosophies" the greatlyvariedmanifestations theirdefinitions thesesynthesists haveoftenslackened worldmysticism, Theirwritings can qualifyas mystical. until verynearlyany experience of rely far too much on the logicalextension ideas.Nor has the danger been in lacking a firmly orthodoxmodel of the mysticalexperience his in WilliamJames, a classicstudy,extended limitedto popularizers. definitionof mysticismto even alcoholicand narcoticintoxicationdiscussion "the drunken of just as Huxley would after him. James's and is consciousness" typicallyhis in its courage democratic hospitality, but his error(and any seriousmysticwould insistit is error)probably on of Much resultsfrom a too greatemphasis the passivity mysticism.3 of of this waywardness usage is due, of course,to the natureitself of to which is not accessible language,and which mysticalexperience,
W. R. Inge, ChristianMysticism (London, 1899), pp. 325-348.
3 The Varieties of Religious Experience (New York, 1922), pp. 381-82. James perhaps confuses trance with mystical experiencehere.

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has as many valid manifestations there are true mystics.Because as of its enigmaticquality,any full definitionof the term must be developed out of detailed study of particularindividualsand particular At a practice. present,it will be enoughto establish broad,suggestive definition of both mysticismand mystical literaturewhich can be of modifiedor expanded an examination specific texts. by In its largest sense, mysticismis a way of life, art, and worship basedupon an intuitiveknowledgeof mystery-the "mystery" the of natureof the universe, God, or "Reality." or This knowledgeis gained, without exception,by a direct experienceof the supernatural which eludes the rational faculty-is, in fact, opposed to it-and which, It is although "sensed," supersensory.4 is importantto emphasizethe for primacyof experience the mystic,and to insistupon its authority. is not faith, nor is it basedon faith. Manyof the Mysticalknowledge greatestmysticshave been infidelsof one kind or another,and even the most orthodox,in their moment of transfiguration, leave faith behindthem-as they do ritual,or any of the trappings institutional of is religion.Their experience distinctlynot social;neitherits risksnor can be shared with the human community.As intimate and joys secretas the sexualact to which it is so often compared, is, in the it words of Plotinus,"the flight of the Alone to the Alone," striking the voyageof the nakedsoul to its Loverin the starklight of Eternity. of Because its loneliness, both exhilarating frighteningsenseof its and isolation,it containswithin itself its own absoluteauthority,and is not subjectto contradiction any institutional rationalistic on or terms. Students mysticism of thatwhile mystics geniuses are agree generally in applyingit, the substance the mysticalexperience the common of is his propertyof all men. The argumentthat each of us discovers true self in his occasional flashesof exaltedintuitionis, afterall, a familiar one; it is the argumentof Zen Buddhismas well as that of Ralph Waldo Emerson.Dean Inge, in one of the most important studiesof identifies basicimpulsein decidedly its terms: mysticism, unexceptional
4The supersensory quality of mysticism is definitive for some commentators. See, for instance, Rufus Jones, Some Exponents of Mystical Religion (New York, 1930), p. 15. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW

has "mysticism its origin in that which is the raw materialof all of and religion,and perhaps all philosophy artas well, namely,the dim of consciousness the beyond,which is part of our natureas human Most of us-the unenlightened-consider that "dim conscibeings."5 ousness" and it foreign,regardit with suspicion, subordinate to reason and "commonsense."The mystic,however,shapesthe effortsof his entirelife and the qualityof each momentof consciousness it, and to markis his utterdevotionto his unnamable his distinguishing experience. The greatAmericantheologianJonathan for instance, Edwards, is distinctlya mystic personality, and recordsmuch mysticalexperia ence; but like most men he cannotbe classified true mysticbecause his final authorities reasonand Scripture. are Similarly,most of us the as experience "beyond" a vaguelysharedidentity,a participation in a benevolenceor ebullienceof nature-a passing mood. But the mystic, if he realizes the full potential of his discipline,enjoys a of directperception the Unity we only guessat; he experiences, again, a wholeness,an identityof physicaland spiritual, human and divine, which confronts and objective him with the eternalreality subjective of beneath changingandillusory the appearance things. His experience union is the mystic'sjustification, the insisof and the tenceon Unity is perhaps most easilyrecognized commonelement of mysticism.6 Mysticswho attemptto describetheir experienceinevitablyclaim that it is of "theAll," or "the One";and the "Unitive life State," lived as a consciously organicpartof the patternestablished is by the supernatural, the final goal of mystic discipline.'Whatever of the particular relationship the individualsoul to the "One"may be, the mysticseesclearlythe identityof all createdand uncreated things, the natureof Being, from which all things are born and into which of they return,and the harmonious interdependence the naturaland worlds.An emphasison harmony,both as doctrineand supernatural
5Inge, p. 5. 6See Inge, p. 28; James, p. 408; Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, 13th ed. (London, 1957), pp. 26, 87; R. C. Zaehner,MysticismSacredand Profane (Oxford, 1957), p. 144.
7See Evelyn Underhill's discussion of the "Unitive State," Mysticism, pp. 413-443.

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of metaphor,is anotherimportantcharacteristic mysticism,as is the to relatedattitude thatseeksto destroy barriers, rip awaythe "Veil"and "realize,"to borrow from Dean Inge once again, "in thought and feeling, the immanenceof the temporalin the eternal,and of the eternal in the temporal."8The mystical perceptionof Unity and from the unity and here, which variesunspeakably Realitydescribed throughour feeble sensoryequipment,is made, realitywe experience mysticsand scholars nearlyunanimously agree,througha "newsense" which apparently a true "sense," true vehicle of perception, a is but which transcends familiarfive senses,and breaksdown the barriers the between them. "I heard flowers that sounded,"says the French in visionarySaint-Martin, a famous passage;"And saw notes that 1 This "sense"is shone." frequentlydescribedas a culminationof the worldlyfive. One other experience consistent so that it must be considered part of a basic definitionof mysticismis the change occurringin what is perceived the "self." as Althoughthe new imageof self varieswidely to the variouscosmologiesin which it finds reference,all according mystics appear to agree that supernatural unity is approached by In "selflessness." many Orientalreligions,and some of the inculcating "natural" is mystical systems,the notion of selflessness based on a simpledisbeliefin an ego, an "I"that existsin time and to which experiencecan be related.Our feeling that there is an identitywhich remainsconstant,by which I am somehowthe "same"person that ten yearsago I was, is brandedan illusionwe have createdto protect our consciousness The belief againstthe anarchyof raw experience. that we can never again be the same "self"we are at each moment, that we "cannotstep twice in the same stream," common enough is to need no elaboration here. Mystics,however,characteristically take it literallyand act it out, ratherthan let it remain"philosophy."
8Inge, p. 5. 'I take this term from the insistence on the sensory qualities of conversion in Jonathan Edwards'"PersonalNarrative,"and from Underhill, p. 242. 10Quoted in Underhill, p. 7. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW

The non-existent"I" of the disciplinesdiscussedabove is nearly matched by the infinitesimal"I" of theistic mysticisms.Selflessness for insistence humility on becomes, thosewho haveGod,a characteristic and the worthlessness the individual beforethe Deity.Although of soul in Christianmysticismthe individualidentity is presumably never the adept is requiredto abnegatehis will completely entirely lost, in orderto get beyondthe limitsof his own consciousness the Reality to for which he aches.In this, as in the atheisticsystems,the denial of for selffreesthe individual the infusionof theuniversal Christian "Self." and mysticshave actuallyfelt this processas a "deification," havebeen bold enough to describeit so.1' Non-theisticmystics,who have no Divine Personby Whom to nametheirtransformed identity,generally describethe infusionratheras the entranceof the universalinto the For individual.'2 those without God, the individualis now felt to be the "Self" to that is the "All."It is important noticeherethatalthough the idea of ego, the "I,"is lost,the idea of individuality not. The self is createsa point of referencefor each experience and developsa continuumin time; freedomfromthatselfreleases individual the fromthe of spiritual(or psychological) pressures the pastand future.However, an individualconsciousness exists in, and experiences, still each moof ment.The awareness one'sindividual andthe recognition body,also, of the verbalconvention which humanbeingscommunicate by among are themselves quite as acuteamong mysticsas among the unenlightened; the conventionis simply no longer mistakenfor reality.The differences, finally, between theisticand atheisticmysticismsare imbut portant, still a distinctpattern emerges which mysticsexperience by a loss or denial of identitythat leads to a tremendous expansionof and an identification with that universalSelf which consciousness, is pure Being. The mysticexperience, of then, is a directindividual perception the cosmic"All"in which the essential of thingsis experienced, and unity
1See Underhill, pp. 415-43.
12See the discussion by Anagrika Govinda in Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism (New

York, 1960) pp. 129-31.

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which transformsand expandsone's notion of his identity and the entirecast of his way of life. It is characterized an emotionwhich by consistsinseparably terror,strangeness, of and exhilaration, and by a stateof awareness, into the processes of heightenedthroughinsight the universeuntil it is felt as a kind of omniscience(William James's "noetic quality"of mysticism). It is further characterized what by the to Jamescalled"ineffability," qualityof beinginaccessible language, beyond the power of human beings to explain to one another-a nature of quality intrinsic in the intensely private, self-contained mystical experience.As it comes into focus here, the definition is minimal.To fleshit out, and to suggestmore of the excitement the of it will be necessary resortto a familiarexpedient:to give to subject, over a discussionof what mysticismis, in favor of what it is not. This negative way of definition has the respectability scriptural of and permitsa discussion severalcommonmisconceptions of authority, aboutmystictheoryandpractice. the Althoughwe have presupposed validityof atheisticsystems,it is probablystill advisableto insist first that genuine mysticismneed not postulate unionwith a god.The argument necessary is because many of the most influential studiesof mysticism were writtenby Christians at the end of the nineteenthcenturywhen most Asian religionswere still suspect,and the judgmentsof this formidable remain scholarship attitudes. to firmlypartof contemporary According theseearlystudies, be divided into two kinds: the theistic,or mysticisms may generally which insistsupon the distinction betweenthe creatorand "dualistic," the created;and the "monistic," which views the universeas of one substance being, in which thereis no final distinction kind. The or of theistic systemsare, of course,primarilyChristianity and Islam; the monisticway is that of the East and includesthe philosophies the of and of Upanishads of Taoism,Buddhism(with the exception its most debasedmagical forms), and the related"nature" mysticismsof the West, which usually are somewhathelplesslycalled pantheistic, and of which the young William Wordsworthand Ralph Waldo Emerson are typical practitioners. schematization probablyas valid The is
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as any suchhugely generalized can statement be and does serveto distinguish between the basic kinds of mystical vision. However, in of practiceit often becomesconfusedwith a standard judgment.For of course,experience the divine "Other" of Christian defines writers, truth and they tend to lump all monisticsystemstogether,to judge them by their lowest commondenominator-a tendencyexaggerated is the by reactionto the claim that all mysticalexperience essentially to same.13 surelyit is an oversimplification identify all monistic But or with those of Wordsworth, D. H. Lawrence,or even mysticisms the MandukyaUpanishad,and then argue that monistic and, by inferiorbecausethe way are extension,Easternmysticisms essentially these exemplars follow is not so exaltedor completeas that of a St. of the Cross.Perhaps judgmentof one who is neitherbeliever the John but nor partisan mustalwaysremainimpressionistic, when one turnsto the greatestof the Easternmasterswho looked into the Void and like foundtriumph-masters the Zenpatriarch Ummon,and Milarepa, admirable of the poet-saint Tibet-they certainlyappearas spiritually or for as MeisterEckhart, instance, St. Francisof Assisi.Theirwisdom is as convincing,their ethicalvigor as intense,theirTruth as unblemished. That the quality of Easternmysticismsbe recognizedseems to of todaybecause theirrelationship the Existenimportant particularly tial philosophical systemswhich have developedin the West,l4 and the becauseof their influenceon particularly secularmysticisms (myswithin a religiousinstitution)that have ticismsthat are not expressed developedin reactionto the "deathof God" in the nineteenthand twentiethcenturies.
'A good example is Zaehner, Mysticism Sacred and Profane. It was written as a somewhat explosive reaction to Aldous Huxley's contention, in The Doors of Perception, that the visionary experience induced by mescaline is of a piece with the Beatific Vision. Zaehner's book is a brilliant work of Christian theology and apologetics, which is based on the distinction between monistic and dualistic systems-and I have borrowed my use of those terms in large part from him, although he of course makes no claim to originality in their use. His distinctions and descriptions are of great value, but his judgments must be taken with caution. "Compare, for example, the discussion of absence in Sartre's Being and Nothingness and the famous Taoist parableof the emptinessat the hub of a wheel.

MYSTICISMAND MYSTICALLITERATURE

Justas it doesnot alwaysdemandunionwith a Godhead, mysticism is not alwaysan experience benevolence, is it alwaysof an exalted of nor nature. as havelong understood whatWilliam Mystics well asmagicians callsthe "diabolical the 1 whichshares characteristics James mysticism," and emotionalpower of mysticism, in which optimismis turned but to pessimism,light to obscenedarkness,and love to fear-as if one were witnessingthe universality evil, ratherthan benevolence. of The mystic perceivesthe plenitude,the fullnessof the universe;the "diabolical"mystic perceivesits emptiness.The differenceis illustrated WaltWhitman,the poetof cosmic Americans, by the contemporaneous optimism, and Herman Melville, who never developedhis strong because mysticaltendencies, perhaps visionary experience exposedhim to a frightening"nothing" behindthe appearances nature. of Such contradictory rise desresponses from the mystic'sdeliberate tructionof his personality. When he has managedto be rid of the self which imposes limitations,he is without identity-except that In given him by his perceptions. one sense,loss of identityis simply insanity,and insanityis a dangerof which mysticsareintenselyaware. To be sure,they would agreewith Melville's Ishmael(althoughwithout his mournfultone) that"man's is heaven's but sense"; they insanity are also awarethat the loss of control,the helplessness which the to himself, forces him to cope with terrificinfusionsof mystic exposes or "reality" be broken by them. The risk is one every mystic must chooseto run, and every mystic must submitto insanity(at least in the senseof disagreeing with the realityaccepted one'sneighbors) by for a time.' The "DarkNight of the Soul," paranoiac hallucinathe and stateof despairin the absenceof the supernatural, part of the is tory mysticprocess-a stationthroughwhich each mysticmust passon his It way to "Reality." is the result of releasingsupernatural power in the natural man, and the asceticdisciplinesusually associated with
1James, p. 426. 6The best discussion of madness in mystical literature is contained in an important essay by Wallace Fowlie, "Poet and the Mystic," in Clowns and Angels (New York, 1943), pp. 130-46. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW 9

mysticismare designedto give the individuala means by which to live with this power,a way of keepinghis "insanity" from becoming The of betweenmadness and permanent. ramifications the relationship illuminationare fascinatingbut complicated, and for our purposes the main point to be made from this discussion that mysticismis is monolithicin tone; it uses ominouslanguagenearlyas often as it not doesthe mostexalted poetry. A final negative assertion,possiblythe most important,is that The mysticismis not vague thought,and is not "other-worldly." idea that mysticismis largely concerned with a distantblur is one of the most pervasive,and perhapspersuasive, inhibiting a misconceptions of its worth, but the murkiness that has been generalunderstanding justly dismissedis almost entirelythe productof the occult pseudoof Real mysticisms the modernWest, with their jargonand claptrap. is and as mysticism as clear,precise, concrete the mostrigorously logical materialistic It is savedfrom vagueness being a way of philosophy. by life and action rather than a philosophyor dogma. Mysticismhas becauseit is experience. its impulse All very little use for abstraction what to do ratherthan what to think, and so it must come urges to gripswith the detailsof living and acting.That mysticism a way is of action,of life in this world,is illustrated the lives of someof the in greatCatholicsaints.The "UnitiveLife,"the final stagein the Mystic Way, is lived in a stateof intensecreative work, such as the political of careers Catherine Sienaor IgnatiusLoyola.17 similaremphasis of A on actioninformsthe philosophy the Bhagavad-Gita, of whichdevelops as a responseto the scruplesof its Everyman, Arjuna,againstaction, and which fits the quietisticphilosophyof the Upanishadsto the of demands life in society. The heroicactivities the greatChristian of saints,or of Arjunaand the Krishna,however,exaggerate idea of what mysticismtypicallyis. Visible heroism is misleading because,overwhelmingly,mysticism becomesthe art of day-to-day in its minutestdetail-the abilityto life
"7See Underhill, pp. 429-31; and Victor Crastre, Poesie et Mystique (Neuchatel, 1966), p. 40.

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notice,in a famousZen story,if an umbrellais placedto the left or The perception that has been heightenedby right of the footwear.'8 of to experience the Absoluteis returned the world and the flesh,and the miraculous seen in the commonplace trivial."How curious! is or how real!/Underfootthe divine soil, overheadthe sun," says Walt Whitman in "Startingfrom Paumanok," and his celebration the of wonderin realityparallels closelythe wordsof the Zen adeptP'ang so how miraculousthis!/I Yun, "How wondrouslysupernatural,/And draw water,and I carryfuel,"1 that if the readerdidn'tknow better, he might assumea directline of influence betweenthem.This attention to everyday is morepronounced Eastern life in than in the mysticisms heavilytheologicalWesternChurch,but it is true of all mysticsthat the texture and moment-to-moment nature of their lives, the very of their walking in the world, is radicallychanged.The way gesture in which mysticisminformsthe immediacyof life is best seen in a famouspassagefrom the ChuangTzu, the greatest literary expression of classicTaoism. (Taoism is a naturemysticismin which the adept seeksto harmonize himselfwith the Tao, or "Way," nature.)Here, of as throughout remarkable this it is the practical detailand the treatise,
ability to answer gracefully to the moment that test true awareness:

His cookwas cuttingup an ox for the rulerWan-Hui. Whenever he appliedhis hand,leanedforward with his shoulders, plantedhis the foot, and employed pressure his knee,in the audible of ripping off of the skin,and slicingoperation the knife,the sounds of wereall in regular cadence. Movements sounds and as proceeded in the dance of "theMulberry Forest" the blended and notesof "theKing Shau." The rulersaid,"Ah! Admirable! That yourart shouldhavebecome so perfect!" finished operation), cook laid downhis his the (Having to "What servant is themethod knife,andreplied theremark, loves your of the Tao,something advance anyart.WhenI firstbegan cut in of to AfterthreeyearsI up an ox, I saw nothingbut the (entire)carcass.
ceasedto see it as a whole. Now I deal with it in a spirit-like manner,
1 The story is included in Paul Reps's edition of the Zen classics, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones (New York, n.d.), p. 34. 19Quoted in Alan W. Watts, The Spirit of Zen (New York, 1960), p. 52. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW

and do not look at it with my eyes. The use of my sensesis discarded, and my spirit acts as it wills. Observingthe naturallines, (my knife) slips through the great crevicesand slides through the great cavities, taking advantageof the facilities thus presented.My art avoids the membranous and ligatures, muchmorethegreatbones. "A good cook changeshis knife every year;-(it may have been injured) in cutting; an ordinarycook changeshis every month;-(it may have been) broken.Now my knife has been in use for nineteen years;it has cut up severalthousandoxen, and yet its edge is as sharp as if it had newly come from the whetstone.There are the interstices of the joints, and the edge of the knife has no (appreciable) thickness;when that which is so thin enters where the intersticeis, how easily it moves along! The blade has more than room enough. Nevertheless,whenever I come to a complicatedjoint, and see that I there will be some difficulty, proceedanxiouslyand with caution,not to wander from the place, and moving my hand allowing my eyes slowly.Then by a very slightmovementof the knife, the partis quickly separated,and drops like (a clod of) earth to the ground. Then standingup with the knife in my hand, I look all around,and in a leisurelymanner,with an air of satisfaction, wipe it clean, and put it in its sheath!"The ruler Wan-Hui said, "Excellent!I have heard the of words of my cook, and learnedfrom them the nourishment (our)
life" [translator'sparentheses].20

I quote this long passage because it exemplifies admirably one of the redemptive qualities of mysticism: its ability, by making use of the new powers of attention illumination brings, to transform the most unspectacularor even distastefulact into an expressionof harmony with the eternal,to discoverin even the trivial the full potential of being alive in the world. In emphasizing the splendor of the mundane, this passage also points up another rarely noticed characteristicof the mystic-that 21 he is unexceptional in appearance and behavior. Evelyn Underhill and other commentators have noticed an extreme distaste for eccentricity among mystics. An adept may occasionally attract attention
O The Texts of Taoism, trans. James Legge, 2 vol. (New York, 1962), I, pp. 198-200. z Underhill, p. 59.

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through bizarre behaviorbecauseof the demands of the different to but and, reality whichhe is attuned; he doesso reluctantly, in general, a garishlife-styleand exoticconductare the mark of the charlatan. II The problems distinction qualification of and which besetattempts to discussmysticism becomeeven more difficultin discussing mystical Like Dean Inge, most commentators literature. assertthat the impulse to art in generalis to be identifiedwith the impulseto mysticism, that But definitionbreaksdown they are of the samefamily.22 in practice, and completely.Blake and Wordsworth Whitmanare calledmystical but so are Browning,Tennyson,Shakespeare, RobertLouis and poets, Stevenson. IreneHunter'sAmerican MysticalVerseincludesthe work of such wild-eyed visionariesas William Dean Howells and Oliver Wendell Holmes.The problem,of course,is that a loose definitionof can intuitive mysticism accommodate poetrycelebrating any knowledge -as nearlyall poetrydoes.And the problem not easilysolved.There is are no rigid rules to guide us, and in individualcaseswe are often forced to rely on informed intuition to tell us whether or not we are confronted with mysticalexperience. general,we can say that a In writer is one who characteristically makes the MysticWay, mystical its emotion,and the perceptions the "newsense"the basisof his art of and of the artisticpersonality exploitsin his writing.He need not he writeeverypoemas a mystic,buthis essential with impulsewill grapple and mystical"Reality" find formsand languagewith which to bringit to his audience. The problemof distinguishing mysticalpoet from other poets, a a then, is much the sameas the problemof distinguishing mysticfrom thosewho simplyhave mysticalexperience. as all men are among Just mysticsin their undiscovered intuitions,so all poets are occasionally
2See Underhill, pp. 278-82; Crastre,pp. 12-25; Fowlie, "Poet and the Mystic"; and E. I. Watkins, Poets and Mystics (New York, 1953), pp. 11-20. For a somewhat unusual dissenting opinion, see Raissa Maritain, "Magie, Poessie, et Mystique," in Jacques and Raissa Maritain, Situation de la Poesie (Paris, 1938), pp. 51-72. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW

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mysticalpoets. The true mystic and the true mysticalpoet make of their illuminatedmomentsthe genius and substance their works. of Using this rough rule of thumb,it is properto call Whitman,Blake, and at least the earlierWordsworth to mysticalpoets,but a distortion in includeBrowning,for instance, the category. surelyhas written He poems containingthe mysticalimpulse,but the thrustof his work is ratherthan mystical, only confusioncan resultfrom and psychological insistingon his place in a mysticalcompany.Howells and Holmes don't belong at all, of course.Theirs are devotionalverses,and while it with the mysticalpoetryoften is devotional, shouldnot be identified morefamiliargenre. but necessary,clarificationis that of the Another troublesome, betweenthe visionaryor propheticand the mystical.(I relationship will use the word"prophetic" in its senseof speaking here underdivine over"with cosmicpower, as Tom Paine, and inspiration-"bubbling Walt Whitmanafterhim, would haveit.) Veryoftenthe looseliterary is usage which identifiesthe two categories perfectlyjustified;both vision and prophecyare characteristic ways of expressinga mystic and almostby definition, mostof the great theme.Mysticsareprophets of Students mystical have alsobeenvisionaries. theology, mysticalpoets however, might wish to quarrelwith the statementthat identifies and mysticismin poetry.They would point out visionaryexperience
that visions are not necessarilymystical-are in fact accessibleto a great

or many in whom they are a sign of physicalweakness mentaldisease. They would add that the great Christianmystics,like the historical to whatsoever visions,and that Buddha,often grant no significance is in manymystical experience buta rudimentary visionary personalities stateon the Way. It is perfectlytrue that there is visionwhich is not mystical,and that there are visionarypoems which are not mystical Hall"is one. It is equallytruethatvision poems-Tennyson's"Locksley at all-is but a firsttentative -when it is anything stepon the mystic and however,is limitedto normalhumancapacities, path. Literature, it must into his more advanced cannotfollow the mystic experience; which appealto the senses remainwith those first feeble expressions,
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and the understanding, orderto stimulatethe readerto begin his in own spiritualpilgrimage.Vision is also the productof the creativity of the mystic,and the type of mystic experience which would come most naturallyto the artisticsoul.23 we Consequently, should not be to surprised find it an integralpartof mysticalpoetry,no matterhow it dogmatically unsatisfactorymayfinallybe. These problemsof definitionhave causeda greatdeal of confused or false judgment among criticsof mysticalliterature, the diffibut cultiesof intelligibility itselfthatarisefromthe natureof the experience to be communicated havebeenvastlymoretroublesome. experience All that is not verbalexperienceis finally inaccessible language,and to is to so-is, in fact,antagonistic language. mystical experience absolutely Words and "meanings" based upon a reality far removedfrom are and in practicelanguage becomes a barrierto mystical "reality," "awareness." mysticattitudetowardlanguageis illustrated the The by Tao Te Ching (or Lao Tzu) which beginswith a discussion words, of and the statement, JamesLegge'stranslation, "The name that in that can be named is not the enduringand unchangingname."It follows withoutquestion,then, that, in Lao Tzu's most famousepigram,"He who knows does not speak;he who speaksdoes not know."24 Lanis accused, course,because leadsman to mistakeverbalconof it guage for ventionsor mentalconcepts things,is, in fact,meantto protect men In from "reality." responseto this situation,Zen Buddhism,which is in large part descendedfrom Taoism, has developedan extensive systemof non-verbal teachingmethods.A Zen mastermight demonstratethe differencebetweenthe concept"stick"and the thing itself with a stick. by hittinghis student Whateverits limitations, however,languageis a basichuman tool, and mystics have always attemptedto use it to transcendits own
23See Evelyn Underhill's excellent chapter on vision in Mysticism, pp. 266-92, for a definitive study of the phenomenon. 24I have paraphrased Legge's literal and awkward translation, which reads, "He who knows (the Tao) does not (care to) speak (about it); he who is (ever ready to) speak about it does not know it." The first of the quotations from the Tao Te Ching used in this paragraphis from The Texts of Taoism, I, p. 47; the second from I, p. 100. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW

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condition.Zen,for instance, developed teachingmethodcalled has the and between mondo,which is a seriesof improvised questions answers student and master.The studentputs forth his intenselyconcerned aboutthe natureof realityand of Buddhism, the master and questions answersout of the awareness gained from satori (illumination).As be expected, answers irrational apparently the are and irrelevant, might and are meantto shockthe studentout of his usualpatternof logical by thought.A delightfulresponse Ummon,which laterbecamea koan formalized will serveasexample: (a mondo) This pupil went to Ummonand askedthe samequestion["All of of Buddhas thetenparts theuniverse entertheoneroadof Nirvana. Wheredoesthatroadbegin?"]. whohappened havea fan to Ummon, in his hand,said:"Thisfan will reachto the thirty-third heaven and hit the noseof the presiding there. is like the Dragon It Carpof deity 25 theEastern tipping therain-cloud histail." Sea over with This abuseof languageattemptsto bring two or more contradictory at systemsof knowledgetogetherso that they are experienced once, D. an approximation non-verbalizable of knowledge.26 T. creating Suzuki,the brilliantapostleof Zen for the West, explainsthe process is thus: "If the systemof logic that has been in circulation found into explainawaythe satoriexperience the mondothathas and adequate will have to invent a new systemof grown from it, the philosopher that to fit the experience, not conversely, is, to disprove and thinking factsby meansof logic."2 the empirical reference The use of languageto establish pointsin a new kind of for which the mind must then createa model is not limitedto reality The GermanmysticJacobBoehmebelievedthat Buddhism. Japanese And the communicated creating "forms"in the other.28 by speech
25Quoted in Reps, p. 127. 2 I have borrowed this observation from Charles W. Morris, "Mysticism and its Language," in Ruth N. Anshen, ed. Language: An Enquiry into its Meaning and Function (New York, 1957), pp. 179-87. 7 Quoted in Morris,p. 180. 28Boehme's comments on language, and a discussion of them, are included in Howard Brinton, The Mystic Will (New York, 1930), p. 119, an excellent study both of Boehme and of mysticism in general.

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use of speech to make ratherthan reflectrealityis basic to mystical as and poets,who adopt it mostcommonly paradox, mostmaddeningly as nonsense. of the Perhaps bestexamples thisdifficult mystical tendency are to be found among the wilder lines from Christopher Smart's Jubilate book,Kaddish, Agno, or in the final line of Allen Ginsberg's which reads:"ComePoet shutup eat my word,and tastemy mouthin line is intelligiblebecausehe is maintaininga your ear."Ginsberg's close referenceto the familiarworld to informus that he sufficiently is playingwith our ideaof how the physicalsenses work.Butevenhere he risks writing gibberish-a danger mystic poets do not always avoid when they struggleto breakthe mind open in orderto expose it to new knowledge.It is not my contention, course,that theseexof plosionsof irrationallanguageare successful simply becausethere is a reasonfor them-unfortunately,they usually are not. They should for simplybe recognized whatthey are:an old urgentbattleof the poet to satisfy evenolderneedof the soul. an Extremesof semanticirrationality, however,are rare outsidethe of literature Zen Buddhismitself. In dealingwith mysticalwriterswe with specialvarieties paradox,imagery, are more often confronted of and symbolism.Paradoxis the most traditionally acceptable way of and makingillogicalstatements, only needsto be noticedhere as a root character languageof mysticism,in contrastto its ratherexceptional in a more rationalistic One of the most profoundlybeautiful poetic. of the Tao Te Ching,a book basedon paradox, carriesits love poems so it of the paradoxical far as to celebrate as a fundamental principle and of the universe,29 any readerfamiliarwith the New Testament
a The poem is the seventy-eighth of the collection. I quote it here in R. B. Blakney's translation(New York, 1955), p. 131: Nothing is weaker than water, But when it attackssomething hard Or resistant,then nothing withstands it And Nothing will alter its way. Everyoneknows this, that weakness prevails Over strength and that gentleness conquers The adamant hindranceof men, but that Nobody demonstrateshow it is. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW

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or the work of JohnDonne can himselfthink of sufficient furtherexamples to illustratethe use of paradoxin mysticalpoetry.A more troublesome elementof this literature the characteristic is strangeness of its imagery,which shows a remarkable througheven consistency different for is The imageryof "dark," instance, used radically systems. in all mysticism with similarlyambiguous reference: first,as the color of evil and deprivation, also as a warm,moist darkness, but pregnant with the Divine, and remainingdark only becauseof our inability to openour eyesto His light. Hencethe astonishing extremes ecstasy of famous in St. Johnof the Cross's and tormentin immediate proximity "TheDarkNight of the Soul." poemandtreatise, is terriblyuncomfortable The mystic with his imagery.He wants some naked languageto expresshis experience Reality,but is left of to familiarimagesbeyondtheirusual attempting drivethe frustratingly connotativepower. Fire, the big hunter cats, angels, sexual union, and substance, often pilgrimage:all take on heightenedand evocative in the strangely unnatural of juxtaposition, disturbing atmosphere the Orthodox Christianshave a traditionallyevocative mystical poem. of which canbe presence the Paraclete, imageryof theirown, a literary but called upon for certainotherwiseunverbalizable responses; even the St. theseare dangerous. Johnof the Crossdiscusses problemin the to his "Spiritual Canticle": "Prologue" to Forwho canwritedownthatwhichHe reveals lovingsoulswherein He dwells?And who can set forthin wordsthat whichHe makes who can express whichHe makesthem that themto feel? And lastly, not Of to desire? a surety, none;nay,indeed, the verysoulsthrough And it is for this reason whomHe passes. that,by meansof figures, of and similitudes, allowsomething thatwhichthey they comparisons fromthe abundance the and feel to overflow uttersecret of mysteries These similitudes, Spirit,ratherthan explainthesethingsrationally.
Becauseof this the Wise Man says That only one who bearsthe nation's shame Is fit to be its hallowed lord; That only one who takes upon himself The evils of the World may be its king. This is paradox.

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if they be not read with the simplicityof the spiritof love and understanding embodied in them, appear to be nonsense rather than the expressionof reason,as may be seen in the divine Songs of Solomon and in other books of the Divine Scripture,where, since the Holy of Spirit cannot expressthe abundance His meaning in common and vulgar terms, He utters mysteriesin strange figures and similitudes. Whence it follows that no words of holy doctors,despiteall that they have said and may yet say, can ever expoundthese things fully, neither could they be expoundedin words of any kind. That which is expounded of them, therefore,is ordinarilythe least part of that which they contain.30 These "strange figures," then, are difficult because if they are not read by a creative reader they can seem insane, as many poets-St. John of the Cross included-have learned to their sorrow. The condition not only endangers the poet, it also places a great responsibilitynot to be hurriedor insensitiveupon the reader. Although it poses many of the same problems as the imagery, the symbology of mystical literature merits special consideration here. It raises a question of how and what symbols mean. There is a sense in which the word "mystical"means "allegorical"-St. John of the Cross clearly has that meaning in mind in the paragraph quoted aboveand especially Christian mystical literature tends to pile up learned exegesis, to proliferate "meanings." In a theological system, one's mystical experience belongs to a class of universal significations which one can interpretaccording to fixed formulae. On the other hand, there is an absolute dimension to mystical symbolism which makes it impossible to interpret at all. Because each mystical experience is private, containing its own authority and justification, its symbols have no external reference by which they can be explained. They are literally and only what they are in the poem or treatise, and cannot be paraphrased or analyzed. This quality of symbolism is the meaning of Walt Whitman's much-maligned phrase, "I too am untranslatable."It leads St. John of the Cross to stress the final elusiveness of the "strange
30St. John of the Cross [Juan de Yepes], Complete Wotrs, 3 vol., ed. E. Allison Peers (Westminster,Maryland,1946), II, p. 24. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW 19

with whichhe was so fascinated. tensionbetweenmeaning The figures" and self-containment createsa nice problemof analysis, more imbut for portant,it createsa kind of frustration the readerthat has helped burdenmystical with the reputation vagueness inaccuracy. of or writing Whereasthe exact "meaning" a symbolor systemof symbolscanof not be preciselyfixed, each symbolcontainsa remarkable portentousa suggestionof vast, inexpressible The thought in the ness, mystery. in otherwords,is not at all equalto the emotiontheyarousesymbols, a generalconditiondeploredby YvorWinters,to choosea representative rationalistic critic, as "obscurantism." Winters is perfectly correct

in his identification the situation;but any mysticwould rejecthis of negativejudgmentof it as one that soughtto limit man to his logical faculty. In additionto those problemsof mysticalintelligibility that arise from the inadequacy language,thereare also majordifficulties of due to opacityof context.Basically, simply mystical writingis of two kinds: thatin which the mystictellsabouthis experience, thatin whichhe and addresses himself to generalhuman affairsout of his experience. The first is by far the more common;nearlyall mysticsspendtheir entire literarycareerseeking an art that will recordclearlythe experience that has transformed their lives, and their purposeinvolvesdifficulty enough for any author.Some few mysticalwriters,however,either more confidentof their truth or less considerate their audience, of and simply reconstruct the ignore the narrativeof their experience, or consciousness have taken from it. Obviously,the cosmology they loss to the reader of the author'sabsolutesystem of referencecan causetremendous and mysticalartistsof this type run even difficulty, risk than their autobiographical brethrenof seemingobscure, greater or nonsensical, insane.The William Blakeof the "Prophetic Books," has for instance, been calledall of thesethings,and at leastsomeof the accusations true.His writingsare difficult because thought are not his On is vague or inconsistent. the contrary, frequentlymaddening the qualityof Blake'slaterwork is due to its exactmeaningand absolute The in is of consistency. problem his "meaning" thatthe significance his
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of symbolsand the operation his cosmosarebasedupon privateexperior that ence,andnot uponthe knowledgeof the worldas nature artifact he shared The is the with his audience. reader forcedto recreate complex subtleties Blake'sunique mind, and the propheticbooks are often of to simply incomprehensible anyone not up to the effort. Finally, however, the questionraised by the obscurityof Blake'sprophecies is not one of the balancebetween effort expendedand satisfaction of gained,but one of function.We must ask whetherthe difficulty his to writing contributes a uniquely valuableexperiencefor the reader or (i.e., if it forces him into productive contemplation), if it simply a statement couldbe phrased that keepshim from easilyunderstanding in moredirectterms.The dimensions the problem of maybe seenmore clearly in a discussionof one of the world's monumentalmystical books. The I Ching, as a completephilosophical systemin itself,can serve nicely to illustratethe problemscreatedboth by implicitcontextand the reader's need to recreate context.At the sametime, it can provide a model for all mysticbooks,with the specialproblems they involve. to Usuallyreferred as the ConfucianBook of Divination,the I Ching is actuallyneither Confucian(it is far older than Confuciusor any other historical figure,but was possiblyaddedto the canonof classics by Confucius),nor is it a book of divination.Ratherthan a manual for predictingthe future,it is a text meantto elucidate necessities the and potentialof the present,to tell one what to do, insteadof what is going to happen.It is consultedby throwingcoins, or by dividing bundles of yarrow stalks at random-in other words, by means of "chance" which the reader(I will use the term "reader" those in for who consultthe book as well as thosewho simplyreadit) is involved. The fall of the coinsor stalksreflects configuration the universe, the of the effectsof its innumerable variable at pressures any given moment; and this method of consultingthe oracle clearlypresupposes unia verse in which all events are interconnected no phenomenonis and
insignificant.
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The reader, who mustcometo the I Chingwith a specific question, obtainsfrom it a hexagram, of two separate each composed trigrams, line of which is determined a throw of the coins.A line is either by masculine and "firm"( ) or feminineand "yielding" to ( ) according whetherthe numberobtained chance by is odd or even, and the preponderance masculine femininelines of or determines natureof the trigram (and ultimately,of course,the the hexagram). Each trigram representsa specific linguistic character, whichin turnrepresents singleattribute, a Turnimage,or relationship. ing to his hexagramin the book itself, the readerobtains"The Judgment," a crypticpoem; an "Image"of the hexagram,which is an on and obliquecommentary both the hexagramand the "Judgment"; a seriesof shortversesthat commentupon the significance particof ular lines in the hexagram.Simply to give an exampleof the poetry of the I Ching, and of the way in which it respondsto questions,I asked it whetherit would be appropriate includean analysisof it to in what is aimed,afterall, at a discussion Westernliterary of problems. the coins,I obtained followingfigure: the Bythrowing

This is hexagramXLVIII, The Well, "The Judgment" which is: of Thewell.Thetownmaybechanged, Butthewellcannot changed. be nor It neither decreases increases. and from well. the Theycome go anddraw
If one gets down almost to the water

Orthejugbreaks, brings it misfortune.3

31? Ching, Richard Wilhelm translation, translated into English by Cary F. Baynes, Bollingen SeriesXIX, 3rd edition (Princeton, 1967), p. 185.

And the ropedoesnot go all the way,

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I will not insultthe readerby offeringto explainthis rathergratifying little poem, except to notice that I believe the last three lines warn me againstusingthe booksuperficially as an expedient-wise advice, or by whichI hopeI canprofit. We have alreadynoted that the universereflected the throw of in the coins and its hexagramis all of a piece-that is, it is the familiar of It organicuniverse mysticism. is given its particular shapeand movement by the interaction the complementary of forcesrepresented by the symbols and Yang.Yin standsfor darkness, Yin moisture, warmth, the negative,the yielding, potential,the Feminine; Yang represents light, the positive,the firm, action, the Masculine.These principles interactcyclically;one is containedas potentialwithin the other,and has its cycle initiatedby the greatest of expansion the other-a process in represented the familiarsymbolof the Yin-Yang,which is a circle of two interwoventeardrops contrasting of colors.Because composed one principleadvances the otherrecedes, as are alwaysin balance, they and give form to all things: human, divine, natural.It should not, however,be supposedthat the Yin-Yangis only a cosmicprocess;it is a rhythmof movementand duration: an individual of life, or of an within it; of a day as well as a year,of Historyas well undertaking as Time itself.It might be calledthe diastoleand systoleof things,as a whole and individually. addition,it shouldbe noticedthat the YinIn in its diverseculturalexpressions, one of the most is Yang pattern, insistentlyrecurrentmysticalmodels of process.Especiallyin its exas pression the male-female (which,it mustbe emphasized, relationship is a metaphor the Yin-Yang,not the meaningof it), it constitutes for the of perhaps mostpopular system mystical imagery. The hexagram,then, that has been obtainedby chance indicates the particular of flux at the time the coins configuration the universal were thrown.However,the I Ching has been only superficially used
I have made extensive use of this important edition in my discussion of the I Chingin fact, I have based much of my commentary upon it. For a more detailed reading of a hexagram than I am able to include here the interestedreaderis referredto Carl Jung's foreword to this edition. The question Jung asked the I Ching, incidentally, and the response he received,are bemusingly similar to my own. ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW

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thus far. The non-particularized discovered using it as a by "message" referencebook of hexagrams not of much value to anyoneuntil it is is fitted to a particular situation.Even the ratherunusuallyexplicit from my hexagram would clearlybe simplya I obtained "Judgment" were it not for the contextprovidedby a seriesof gnomic utterances Here we are comingcloseto the truefunctionof the specificquestion. betweenthe individualand the I Ching: the book is a relationship which is to The individualbringsto it a personalsituation, universal. so into its cosmicperspective, thathe may fit himselfto the flow be put of things,and makeuse of the immensepowershe only dimly underin the stands.Conversely, universaltruth expressed each poem of the until it has a particularized I Chingis only truthin potential expression in the immediateworld. The contextis all; and the individualmust of bring it to the book. The I Ching itself containsno discussion the are which its statements appliedor of the way in which cosmologyby individualsmay be exposed to its wisdom. A successful"reading" and of of reflects reader's the understanding the processes his universe of book the his own natureand situation. Through the mediumof the universaland particular interact,giving relevanceand form to one another. The functionof channelingsupernatural cosmicenergyinto the or life of the individual, which is the greattriumphof the I Ching,may on in be understood anotherway by concentrating its excellenceas a We system of action and contemplation. have seen earlierthat it is whatwill but not a bookof divination, one of action.It doesnot predict happen; it suggestsin generalterms what must be done at present, In to the way leavingthe reader particularize suggestion. the traditional involveratherthan denies,responsible it creates, of mysticdisciplines, of ment. But betweenthe consultation the oracleand the impulsionto The the willing readera completeway of meditation. action,it offers between the rhythm of the individualactivityand the relationship rhythm of the year, say, or the universeitself, is a much more comIn plicatedmatterthan has yet been suggested. orderto make application to his particular case, the readerfirst must know himself thor24
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know his strength oughly.He mustruthlessly analyzehis own motives, and weakness, understand male and female,the firm and yielding the in his own nature.He must work free of that strident"self" which by the I Ching accordingto its desireswould read in it only distorting thatwhich it wishedto discover, insteadof thatwhich is true. The inner discipline,then, is intense,but the externaldiscipline no less so. Eventhe simplest with its opposingandchanging hexagram, lines of force and reference, demandsfar moreconsideration than any humanmind can bring to it. Eachline of a hexagram eitherYin or is and the hexagram Yang, and modifieseveryother line, the trigrams, itself. The trigramshave explicitmeanings,and modify one another. Yin or Yang lines of pure constitution(determinedby the coins or stalks) change into their opposites,therebychanging the hexagram into anotherhexagramwhich must be understood relationto the in first. For the adept,even the most subtleconsiderations, such as the of many yieldinglines in a hexagram formedin response a to presence mustbe counted. The possibilities reference each of in positivequestion, hexagramlead ultimatelyto every other hexagram,with all their and the sincerestudent,faced with this awesomecompossibilities, plexity,is forcedinto himselfat the sametimethathe is forcedoutward into naturalprocess.He is forcedto considertortuously complex,but interrelated of pressure compulsion, and for subtly systems accounting all movementand existenceif broughtto their extremity, to find and a place within them for his own profoundbeing. His problemis far the beyondthe graspof intellect,and in orderto understand mystery he must repeat the mystic experiencewhich is at the roots of the I Ching,and to which the book is a guide. By extendingits abstracted world, by not being explicit,the I Ching processinto the perceivable containsall truth-personal,social,cosmic.It is typicallyAsianin that it seestruthasprocess rather thaneternally fixedstatement. I of Perhaps am violatingthe stricture my hexagram abandoning by the topic so quickly,but I want to leavethe philosophy the I Ching of in order to considermomentarily one other of its aspects.Although it may seem irrelevant rude) to ask if a work of its cosmicquality (or
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is art, the literaryproblemthe I Ching raisesis important. And the of on answerto the question its status, course, of restsentirely one'sidea of what artis. If we can acceptartas a relationship betweenthe reader of in and the artist,as a process creation whichthe growthof form and of the sensation beautypresentthemselves uniquelyto eachindividual, of mind-if we can as the development illuminationin the reader's an for understand artistictruthnewly discovered eachreaderand conof sistingin the perception it-then the I Chingis not only art,but art on the other hand, we limit art to the "made great.If, inexpressibly urn" exists object,"a creationthat like John Donne's "well-wrought from both its creator audience is complete itself;if we in and and apart conceiveof artistictruth as that which can be abstracted paraand the phrasedand remainsthe same for all readers, I Ching is not art collection of gnomic sayings,of isolated at all, but a fragmentary The differenceof opinion cannot be easily scraps,of gobbledygook. but these basic ways of viewing art, and the culturaland solved, on background which they are formed,are at the core cosmological of of the problem judgingmuchof theliterature mysticism. of of Our shortdiscussion the difficulties the I Chingcan standfor of the specialproblemsand rewardsinherentin both mysticismand its literature.Mystics are tough, cranky people, devoted to a private is for experience which they claim the highestworth.Their literature the alsotough-obscureandsometimes shocking-and demands willing dedicationof the reader,demandsthat he forget at least for awhile methodof judgment. canbe a tremendously It his usualcommonsensical For who can make and annoyingliterature. those,however, frustrating act who will perform necessary the the necessary of intuitivesympathy, are its labors, rewards incomparably great.It is a tremendously literary exalted and moving literature,and one that can widen the entire It individualconsciousness. is also a way of art that is able to gather time or placeor individual, of and the formsand concerns a particular expressitself in them even as it lends them profoundsubstance.

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