The New Mysticism () von Keith Hill

THE STATE OF MYSTICISM TODAY

1    Clapping With Two Hands 

In Search of a Separate Reality • The Miraculous and India's Enigmas • Experiencing the Non-Ordinary • Clapping With Two Hands

2    A Brief History Of Western Mysticism

The Five Qualities of Technical Mysticism • Historical Waves of Mysticism • Two Waves of Christian Mysticism • The Occult Philosophy • The Impact of Eastern Mysticism • Victorian Spiritualism • A Confused Intertwining

3    The Problem With Mysticism

The Dalai Lama Stirs Angry Scientists • Jumping the Fence vs Religious Orthodoxy • The Impact of Cartesian Dualism • Ken Wilber on Modernity • The Problem With the Problem With Mysticism

4    Contemporary Confusions

Chemicals Gurgling, Synapses Flashing • No One is Counting • The Varieties of Mystical Experiences • Opening Up Mysticism • Clumping, Not Dancing

TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO MYSTICISM

5    The Symbolic Language of Alchemy

Three Strands of Technical Mystical • The Need for Symbolic Languages  • The Rise of Esotericism • The Uses of Mystic Initiation • Alchemy as a Mystic Quest • The Hermetic Corpus • As Above, So Below • The Chemical Wedding • The Spread of Alchemy • The Demise of Esoteric Languages

6    Self-Transformative Asceticism

Mystical Incubation • Shamanic Origins of Askèsis • Askèsis Among the Desert Mystics • How Original Sin Changed Ascetic Practices • The Fall of the Whip

7    The Metaphysics of the Occult

Our Need for Meta-Explanations • Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Meta-Explanations • Sankhya as Bottom-Up Meta-Explanation • Tantra as Occult Askèsis • Iamblichus and the Neoplatonic Milieu • Iamblichus on Theurgy • The Allure of the Occult • The Victorian Occult Revival

8    Magic and its Dissenters

Being Transported by the Magical • Magic is a Changing Commodity • Acknowledging Cognitive Dissonance

 THE SCOPE OF NEW MYSTICISM

9    Bursting Reality's Boundaries

The Anomalous and New Mysticism • The Nature of Agreed Reality • When Agreed Reality is Punctured • Psychic Insight • Dreaming the Future • Not Dying, Flying • Challenging Agreed Reality

10    The Paranormal as Outlier

Phantasms of the Living • The Pain of Doing Nothing • The Ganz-feld Experiments • Remote Viewing • Going Out-of-Body • Meeting Mescalito • The New Mystics • It's All in the Mind • Metanoia as Gateway

11    Talking to Ghosts

Hooves in the Darkness • Ghosts of the Tsunami • Talking to the Deceased • Acknowledging the Extra-Living

12    Spooky Stuff at a Distance

Spooking Agreed Reality • When the Spooky is Rejected • Scientism vs the Scientific Method • The Medium Delivers the Message

 THE MUSIC OF TWO HANDS

13    Requirements for Future Progress

Three Problems for Naturalism • Embracing the Anomalous • The New Mystical Approach • Advancing the New Mysticism • The Music of Two Hands