S I I N S T O N E

MYSTICISMAND MORMONISM:
AN LDS PERSPECTIVEON TRANSCENDENC
AND HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS
By Mark Edward Koltko

What of the mind? We are great proponents of education-

NM=Y an& talentsnh a the smrns of an Eleventh Command- but are there levels of mental development which one cannot
ment. We talk a lot about developing strong spirits and bodies. reach through schooling and study alone?
According to some ancient traditions, the most highly devel-
oped minds are not those of the poets, the artists, the scien-
MARK ED WARD KOLTKO is the father of four children, and tists or the philosophers, nor even the prophets. Rather, they
a doctoral student in h e counseling psychology program at are those of the mystics, the people who have experienced
New York Univem'q.This essay is a version ofpapers presented "higher" states of consciousness.' Although difficult to
af the 1987 W~sbingtanSunstone Symposium and the 1987 describe or comprehend through everyday language, these
Su~istuneSymposium IX in Salt Lake City. experiences can transform the lives of the people who have

ILLUSTRATION BY BRETT MUELLER PAGE 13

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them; they are also remarkably consistent across cultures and city; the next, I knew that the fire was within myself.
history. On the whole, people who integrate mystical Directly afterward there came upon me a sense of exul-
experiences into their lives seem to be happier, healthier in tation, of immense joyousness accompanied or immedi-
mind and body, and more creative. It may be that such people ately followed by an intellectual illumination impossible
also develop important abilities and come to know the mind to describe. Among other things, I did not merely come
of God in a special way. to believe, but I saw that the universe is not composed
In this essay, I hope to acquaint you with some basic charac- of dead matter, but is, on the contrary, a living Presence;
teristics of the mystical experience. I will consider mysticism I became conscious in myself of eternal life. It was not
in light of the Latter-day Saint gospel, and I will conclude with a conviction that I would have eternal life, but a cons-
some things that mysticism can offer the Mormons. ciousness that I possessed eternal life then; I saw that
all men are immortal; that the cosmic order is such that
CHAEUCTERISTICS OF THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE without any peradventure all things work together for
the good of each and all; that the foundation principle
of the world, of all the worlds, is what we call love, and
S e v e r a l psychologists and philosophers have arrived at a that the happiness of each and all is in the long run
loose consensus concerning the essential qualities of the mys- absolutely certain. The vision lasted a few seconds and
tical or transcendent e~perience.~ A gven experience may not was gone; but the memory of it and the sense of the
have all of these qualities, but it will have some of them. Different reality of what it taught has remained during the quarter
experiences may also have these qualities to djfferent degrees. of a century which has since elapsed. I knew that what
The eight central characteristics are: the vision showed was true. I had attained to a point
The "ego quality." During the experience, the person may lose of view from which I saw that it must be true. That view,
the sense of self, and feel absorbed into something greater. that conviction, I may say that consciousness, has never,
The "unibng quality." During the experience, the person may even during periods of the deepest depression, been
feel that "everything is one."
The "inner subjective quality." The person may feel that some This powerful experience illustrates most of the classic
things possess consciousness which we don't usually regard characteristics of the mystical experience which I mentioned
as being conscious, like trees, or the Earth itself. above. Another example comes from a woman who, in her six-
The "temporal/spatial quality." The person may experience ties, wrote of an experience which she had had as a schoolgirl:
time and space differently, and may even feel that the experience I was a girl of 15 or 16, I was in the kitchen toasting
occurs outside the normal boundaries of space and time. bread for tea and suddenly on a dark November after-
The 'hoetic quality." The person may feel that the experience noon the whole place was flooded with light, and for
is a source of true knowledge. a minute by clock time I was immersed in this, and I
The "ineJable quality." The experience may be impossible to had a sense that in some unutterable way the universe
express in normal language. was all right. This has affected me for the rest of my
The "positive emotion quality." The experience may have a life, I have lost all fear of death, I have a passion for
joyous aspect.
light, but I am in no way afraid of death, because this
The "sacred quality." The experience may seem to be intrin-
light experience has been a kind of conviction to me
sically sacred.
that everything is all right in some way.4
As an example, here is the experience of Rchard Bucke, a
nineteenth century Canadian psychiamst who was President Both of these were spontaneous experiences. That is, the
of the Psychological Section of the British Medical Association people involved did not do anything out of the ordinary in
and President of the American Medico-Psychological order to achieve these experiences. Let us turn to experiences
Association: associated with some activity or intent. I will focus on
I had spent the evening in a great city, with two experiences which involve a change in a pmon's sense of self
friends, reading and discussing poetry and philosophy. (cf. the "ego quality," above15
We parted at midnight. 1 had a long drive in a hansom We each draw a boundary line which defines a "self." One
to my lodging. My mind, deeply under the influence person may draw a very small circle, encompassing only the
of the ideas, images, and emotions called up by the read- qualities which this person presents to other people. It is as
ing and talk, was calm and peaceful. I was in a state if the person says, "I am my public persona, and no more,"
of quiet, almost passive enjoyment, not actually think- while repressing private thoughts and feelings as if these were
ing, but letting ideas, images, and emotions flow of them- not also parts of the self.
selves, as it were, through my mind. All at once, without Most of us draw a larger boundary. Perhaps we are willing
warning of any land, I found myself wrapped in a flame- to include within the circle of the self our thoughts, feelings,
colored cloud. For an instant I thought of fire, an and biological impulses. Our surrounding environment, other
immense conflagration somewhere close by in that great people, and the universe at large remain outside that circle of

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the self. This is what everyday reality looks like- the bound- lives, but in the wimess state, we watch the play and all its work-
ary of the self stops at the skin-and in the everyday world ings. It is a special form of detachment.
this perspective has its uses. Ken Wilber's teacher, however, "was thoroughly unimpressed
In the mystical experience, however, the boundary of the with all this. . . . 'The wimess [said the teacher] is the last stand
self expands further. A person may feel at one with other peo- of the ego.' "lo But then an interesting thing happened. As
ple, with the natural environment of the earth, or with the Wilber wrote:
universe as a whole. This is not merely an intellectual At that point, the whole stance of the witness abso-
experience. In transcendence, people are one with their world lutely disappeared. There was no subject anywhere in
or their universe. The person's circle is drawn with a larger the universe; there was no object anywhere in the
boundary. Ultimately, the boundary disappears altogether. Sit- universe; there was only the universe. Everything was
uations like this, where one's sense of identity enlarges beyond arising moment to moment, and it was arising in me
the boundaries of the personality, are also called "transpersonal" and as me; yet there was no me. It is very important
experiences. This whole realm of human experience is the sub- to realize that this state was not a loss of faculties but
ject of a branch of science known as "transpersonal a peak-enhancement of them; it was no blank trance
psychology."6 but perfect clarity; not depersonalized but transpersonal-
Alfred Lord Tennyson gave this description of what we would ized. No personal faculties- [like] language, log~c,con-
call today a transpersonal experience: cepts, motor skills-were lost or impaired. Rather, they
A kind of waking trance-this for lack of a better all functioned, for the first time it seemed to me, in radical
word-I have frequently had, quite up from boyhood, openness, free of the defenses thrown up by a separate
when I have been all alone. This has come upon me self sense. This radically open, undefended . . . state was
through repeating my own name to myself silently, till both incredible and profoundly ordinary, so extraor-
all at once, as it were out of the intensity of the con- dinarily ordinary that it did not even repter. There was
sciousness of individuality, individuality itself seemed nobody there to comprehend it, until I fell out of it. (I
to dissolve and fade away into boundless being, and guess about three hours later.)"
this not a confused state but the clearest, the surest of Ken Wilber experienced a state of mind where he was not
the surest, utterly beyond words-where death was an separate from the universe, where he was not inside of him-
almost laughable impossibility- the loss of personality self looking out. Rather, he was connected to everything-so
(if so it were) seeming no extinction, but the only true connected that a separate sense of self fell away completely.
life. I am ashamed of my feeble description. Have I not Temporarily, the boundary line was erased.
said the state is utterly beyond words?'
Tennyson said of this, "There is no delusion in the matter! "EFFECTS" OF THE MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
It is no nebulous ecstasy, but a state of transcendent wonder,
associated with absolute clearness of mind."8He experienced,
temporarily, an identification with something larger than the W h a t kind of effects do these states of consciousness
personal sense of self which we usually carry around with us. have on people? The term "effect" is tricky. All we can really
Much more recently, the scholar Ken Wilber described his observe is that people who have these experiences are differ-
experience at an intensive Zen meditation retreat which lasted ent in certain ways from people who don't have these
several days. He wrote this about the state of mind which he experiences. At this stage of research, we don't know whether
attained during the fourth day of the retreat: "There appeared, they became different because they had these experiences, or
so to speak, the state of the witness, the transpersonal witness whether they had these experiences because they were differ-
that steadily, calmly, clearly wimesses all arising events, moment ent people to begin with. With this in mind, let us consider
to m~rnent."~ what kinds of things seem to "go along withn these experiences.
In the "witness state" of consciousness, instead of having Jack Huber, an American psychotherapist, spent some time
one's mind occupied with this thought or that, one takes a step at a monastery in Japan. He started exercises in meditation that
back and witnesses the process of thinking itself. One watches, would likely seem moronic to most Westerners, and which
without interference, thoughts and emotions emerge into con- he found hideously boring and frustrating. But eventually he
sciousness and pass away, like bubbles on a stream. Perhaps experienced something like the wimess state of wnsciousness,
we can comprehend this state of consciousness through an anal- accompanied by great emotion. Later, he described how this
ogy. In our usual state, we are like actors in a play, completely experience changed his life:
taken up with the events of the play at a given moment. But I seemed almost to have a new pair of eyes, new ears,
in the witness state, we take a step back from the personal new abilities to taste and smell and feel. I had learned
melodrama of life and stand backstage, watching the actors pre- to give my full attention to whatever I was doing at any
pare in the wings, make their entrances, give their speeches, one moment and I wondered if I had ever really done
step off into the wings, change costumes, and so on. In sum, this before. Gradually I began to see I was eating when
in our ordinary state of consciousness, we live the play of our I was hungry, not when it was "time to eat." I began

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to eat what I wanted to eat, not because it was placed cal tests indicate that peakersnare less dogmatic, less authoritar-
before me, because others were eating, because we must ian, and more intelligent, imaginative and relaxed than
have three good meals a day. . . . I was seeing and non-peaker~.'~ These qualities are remarkably similar to the
choosing what I wanted to do.'' personal characteristics reported in ancient Eastern literature
It seems that Jack Huber gained greater capacities for atten- regarding people who were advanced practitioners of medita-
tion, awareness and self-determination, and a fresh approach tion, a technique to promote mystical development.''
to life. Paradoxically, transcending the personal self and leav- In terms of intellectual development, a practice like medita-
ing it behind for a while "tends to be accompanied by a sense tion can be associated with insight into how the mind works.
of personal freedom and a renewed sense of inner directed- There seem to be three levels of insight here. First, by turning
ness and re~ponsibility."'~ Perhaps this is because our every- attention to their consciousness, people realize how much of
day sense of self or ego is incomplete, not whole, dissatisfied. their life they spend on automatic pilot. Second, they begin to
Why do I say this? To sustain the usual sense of self, the see their own patterns of behavior more clearly. Third, they
person sets up a boundary line between what is "me" and what come to see a bit of how the mind is constructed, and how
is "not-me." This means that a certain sense of separateness motivation and desires shape thought."
and incompleteness is inherent in the everyday sense of self. You might think that all this concentration on the self would
It also means that we create defense mechanisms to protect lead to a withdrawn and antisocial attitude, a ''loner" mental-
our precious self-image.'' Deprivation, shame, or insult all ity. Not so. Researchers have found that people who report peak
hurt the self-image and may result in personality quirks. The experiences are more likely at least to say that they are willing
separate sense of self leads people to seek after approval, power, to help people in need, and that they perform some type of
or personal gain. social service.25 People who go through transpersonal
But, when a person transcends the ego, and has that experiences may undergo a shift in motivation, from self-
experience of intimate connectedness with the world, then fre- enhancement to service; they may become less involved with
quently that person is no longer concerned with protecting the their personal aggrandizement and more involved in partici-
ego, and preoccupation with approval and so forth fall away.15 pation in the world through ~ervice.'~
When people find out through vivid experience that they are This tendency has been noticed from ancient times. In
composed not only of their thoughts and feelings, when they twelfth-century China, an artist first drew a set of ten pictures
find out that they share a nature common to every other per- to illustrate stages in the development of mystical enlighten-
son and to everything in the universe, then the whole personal ment, symbolized by a man going out to find an ox which has
drama and all the defenses and needs that arise out of being gone astray. The last of the ox-herding pictures is called "entering
separate beings become much less important.16 One's past the marketplace with helping hands,"27symbolizing that the
history no longer commands the present." And that is part of enlightened person returns to the thick of the world to involve
what the mystics mean when they say that transcendent himself or herself in service to others.
experience leads to "liberation."
So far I have given a rather impressionistic description of IS MYSTICISM ANOTHER RELIGION?
how transcendent experience might change one's life. There
are some research data, as well. For example, Marilyn May Mal-
lory studied a mystical Christian religious order in Holland, N o w let us analyze this from a distinctly LDS perspec-
a group in existence for centuries. Dr. Mallory administered tive. One of the first questions we must consider concerns the
batteries of psychological and psychiamc tests, and concluded nature of mysticism itself. Is it a form of apostate religion?
that "advanced mystics are more stable than 80 to 90 percent" It is easy to see why this question arises. As my wife put
of the general Dutch population. She found that the more it when she read some material on transpersonal psychology
advanced mystics tended to be more stable, more happy, and which I was working with, "This is Buddhism 101!"Most of
less anxious than the less advanced mystics.'' Several psy- what is written in this area is based on writings from Taoism,
chologists have found that mystical experiences seem to be Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sufism with some input from
associated with psychological strength and well-being.lg Catholic, Jewish, Protestant and pagan mystics.
The late Abraham Maslow, president of the American Psy- But, as Hugh Nibley points out, "the very universality of mys-
chological Association about twenty years ago, studied people ticism shows that it is not peculiarly Christian or Jewish, it is
who had "peak experiences."(The term "peak experiencenrefers the peculiar property of no nation, race, society, or
to a broader category of experience than "mysticism," but Mystical experience reveals no scriptures and defines no spec&
definitely includes mysticism.) His clinical impressions were religion. Throughout history, most mystics have remained
that people who reported peak experiences were more psy- within one or another longstanding religious organization, rather
chologically healthy than people who did not report these than creating their own.
experiences." Researchers have found that people who report If mysticism is not an artifact, either of madness or of apostate
peak experiences are less likely than others to say that they religion, then what is the source of mystical experience? To
value material possessions, high pay and fame." Psychologi- approach this question, we must consider another issue first.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MIND OF GOD and the ends thereof, and all the children of men which are,
and which were created (Moses 1:8). After this, the presence
of God withdrew from Moses, and Moses had an encounter
W h a t is the mind of God like? We speak of "the wis- with the adversary, whom Moses cast out. The Lord returned
dom of him who knoweth all things" (2 Ne. 2:24), but what to Moses, and spoke with him.
does it mean to know all things? Does God know all things And it came to pass, as the voice was still speaking,
by just piling fact upon fact in his memory over the millennia? Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all
Or does the Lord think in a way entirely different from our of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did
everyday form of consciousness? I think that the scriptures not behold, discerning it by the spirit of God.
(especially the latter-day scriptures) indicate that the Lord has And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there
a form of consciousness which is very different from our usual was not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned
one-a form which may sound a bit familiar to you now. them by the spirit of God; and their numbers were great,
Consider this verse from the Olive Leaf revelation. The Lord even numberless as the sand upon the sea shore.
says of himself: As he beheld many lands; and each land was called
He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof (w.
him, and all things are round about him; and he is above 27-29).
all things, and in all things, and is through all things, Moses saw every mote of dust on this planet, every person
and is round about all things; and all things are by him, on it, a host of other planets and their inhabitants as well. Here
and of him, even God, forever and ever (D&C 88:41). again, I feel that the Lord lent his own state of consciousness
This is very much the manner of existence one sees in the to Moses, enabling Moses to grasp all of this simultaneously,
highest mystical experience: a form of consciousness where outside the bounds of space and time. This resembles mysti-
one is connected to everything, where one's identity is greatly cal consciousness, where one can have a grasp of such vastness.
expanded and, in a sense, one is everything. Probably the best scriptural example of this kind of cons-
Another example from the Doctrine and Covenants is where ciousness being lent to a mortal is found in the vision of Enoch,
the Lord says, "Thus saith . . . Jesus Christ . . . the same which recorded in chapter 7 of the Book of Moses:
looked upon the wide expanse of eternity . . . before the world And it came to pass that the Lord showed unto Enoch
was made; The same which knoweth all things, for all things all the inhabitants of the earth . . .
are present before mine eyes" (DQC 38:l-2). . . . Enoch beheld, and lo, all the nations of the earth
This sheds an interesting light on passages like the follow- were before him.
ing, where the Lord says, "Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine And there came generation upon generation; and
hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine Enoch was high and lifted up, even in the bosom of
eye can pierce them also" (Moses 7:36). the Father, and of the Son of Man . . . (Moses 7:21,
I interpret this to mean that God is not limited in his aware- 23-24).
ness as we are. He is aware of everything, in all places and Note how the scripture puts this. To see these things, Enoch
all ages, at one time, in what for him is the Eternal Now. This was "in the bosom of the Father and the Son," and partook,
is God's way of thinking, his mode or form of consciousness, I would presume, of their manner of consciousness. To con-
and mystical consciousness seems to resemble it greatly. tinue, Enoch said to the Lord:
The scriptures record instances where the Lord seems to . . . Were it possible that man could number the par-
have "lent" this form of consciousness to individual mortals, ticles of the earth, yea mdlions of earths like this, it would
such as Enoch, the brother of Jared, Abraham and Moses. For not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and
example: "The Lord . . . showed unto the brother of Jared all thy curtains are stretched out still . . . (Moses 7:30).
the inhabitants of the earth which had been, and also all that We may infer that Enoch saw these things himself. This could
would be; and he withheld them not from his sight, even unto occur through Enoch temporarily receiving the manner of mys-
the ends of the earth (Ether 3:25). tical consciousness which I feel that God has.
Perhaps people read this as if the Lord showed the brother But now we come to something new. The Lord tells Enoch
of Jared everyone in a crowd scene, like a fuzzy cosmic snap- of the wickedness which would be rampant among the men
shot. However, I feel that the scripture indicates that the Lord who lived before the flood.
showed everyone to the brother of Jared, maybe 60 billion peo- [Enoch] looked upon their wickedness, and their mis-
ple, as individuals. If I am correct, this could not have been done ery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart
under the constraints of normal consciousness. However, in swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and
a mystical state it could be done, operating outside the normal all etemity shook (v. 41).
constraints of space and time. It would be hard to find in all of mystical literature a more
The visions of Moses recorded in Moses chapter 1 are excel- powerful example of transpersonal identification with the world
lent examples of God's form of consciousness being lent to a beyond the everyday boundaries of the ego. It seems that
man. Upon an unnamed mountain, "Moses beheld the world Enoch's sense of self was expanded, as I feel the Lord's can

APRIL 1989 PAGE 17

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be, to include everything. But we can go farther here. experience, most Mormons brush off the experiences of past
. . . Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a or contemporary mystics as either illusion or apostate religion.
voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, But if I am correct, the scriptures I consider above provide the
the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because basis for a very differentLDS perspective on mysticism. At least
of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, some of these experiences may offer valid insight into the way
and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth the mind of God works.
out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I This analysis also points up a basic error that some mystics
may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon have made. Some cultures which did not have the benefit of
my face? (Moses 7:48). revelation turned to mysticism as a substitute, as Nibley points
As mentioned earlier, one of the eight classical characteris- 0ut.j' Some mystics themselves made the error of substituting
tics of the mystical experience is the "inner subjective quality." this manner of thinking for God Himself. That is, they mis-
This means that during the experience, the person may feel took the experience of seeing things the way God does for the
that some things have "consciousness"which we don't usually experience of seeing God himself: The widespread idea in the
think of as being conscious, like trees or rocks. Here Enoch religions of the world that God has a center that is everywhere
experienced the whole Earth as a vast, conscious being; again, and a circumference that is nowhere may be simply a confu-
it would be hard to find a more powerful example of this quality sion between a form of thought that goes outside the normal
in all of the literature on mysticism. boundaries of space and time and the Being who can think
This encounter with the Earth as a conscious being in pain in those terms.
had a profound effect on Enoch. His compassion for the Earth This, then, is the error into which some mystics have fallen,
was so deep that he begged the Lord three times to alleviate the error of substituting the transcendent experience for God,
the suffering of that vast conscious being-a being whom most and mysticism for religion. It is only fair to point out, though,
people consider to be a dumb hunk of rock.*' that many Mormons have made the reverse error, of substitut-
I started this discourse on the mind of God as a means to ing religion for the transcendent experience. That is, some of
answer the question, "what is the source of mystical experience!" us feel that because we have the true gospel, we have no need
What do I conclude from the apparent simdarity between scrip- to be involved in contemplative practices or transcendent
tural descriptions of the consciousness of God and mystical experience. I feel that this is a great mistake.
consciousness?
SO WHAT?
MYSTICISM AND THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD

I feel that when a person has a mystical or transcendent

experience, that person's mind is working in the same mode
P e r h a p s your reaction is. "So what? We don't need these
experiences td make us holier people. And as for experiencing
reality the way God does-who needs it? The Lord will give
as does the mind of God. It is not, smctly speaking, inspira- us that when we are exalted! As far as right now is concemed-
tion or revelation as Mormons usually understand these terms, what is it good for?"
that is, as some kind of message from God. I feel that it is an That is a good question. As Ron Bitton put it, "Mysticism
opportunity to experience the universe and to think in the terms is not a shortcut to divini~ation."~~ Salvation and exaltation are
that God does. what the gospel is for, and I do not want to substitute mysti-
Our doctrine is that human beings are gods in embryo. This cism for the gospel. But because the gospel encompasses every-
suggests that the important capacities which God has are also thing, from apple canning to plats of Zion, mysticism is a part
present in us in embryo. Certainly one of the most important of the gospel, too-a greatly neglected part, but a part all the
aspects of any being is the mode of consciousness which that same.
being has. I believe that we have, locked within us, the capac- Abraham Maslow pointed out that there is a hierarchy of
ity to perceive the universe in the way that God does. I think needs in a person's 1ife.j' Once a person has taken care of
that transcendent experiences are occasions when people exer- needs for basic nourishment and safety, once one has a meas-
cise this capacity. ure of self-esteem and social contact, once one is magniEylng
(Note, however, that although mystical consciousness is avail- one's personal talents, then the need arises to "transcend the
able to the Lord, we cannot assume that it encompasses all the self," as Maslow put it. In other words, after a certain point in
modes of consciousness available to God, nor that it is the personal development, one needs to transcend the self in order
predominant mode.)'' to be a healthy or mature person. One puts away one's toys
to grow up. One (temporarily) sets aside one's adult toy, the
A NEW LDS PERSPECTIVE ON MYSTICISM ego, to grow farther.
To some extent, we meet the need to transcend the per-
sonal self through communing with the Lord. But if we are
M o r m o n s seem to abhor the word 'mysticism.. In my already doing that, then there is nothing wrong with expand-

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mg one's consciousness by a contemplative discipline such as Walsh and Vaughan, eds., Beyond Ego, pp. 188-189.
14. Frances Vaughan, The Inward Arc: Healing and Wholeness in Psychotherapy and Spiritu-
meditation. Some might say that this is "looking beyond the ality (Boston: Shambhala), 1985, pp. 187-194.
mark (Jacob 4: 14), but I think of it rather as a different aspect 15. Vaughan, Inward Arc. p. 185.
16.James Fadiman, "The Transpersonal Stance." in Walsh and Vaughan, eds.. Beyond Ego.
of the development of godliness. Mystical consciousness is pp. 177-178.
another capacity, another talent to increase and magnify. We 17. James Bugental, "Being Levels of Therapeutic Growth," In Walsh and Vaughan, eds.,
Beyond Ego, p. 192.
spend thousands of hours tying quilts, canning prunes, play- 18. Marilyn May Mallory, Christian Mysticism: Transcending Techniques (Amsterdam: Van
ing volleyball, running in marathons, watching BYU football, Gorcum Assen, 19771, pp. 67-68.
19. E.g., David Hay and Ann Morisy, "Reports of Ecstatic, Paranormal, or Religious
and somehow all of this can come under the umbrella of our Experience in Great Britain and the United States-A Comparison of Trends,"Journalfor the
religion in the name of "magnifymg our talents." I think that Scientijc Shcdy ofReligion 17 (1978): pp. 256-264; Ralph W. Hood, Jr., "PsychologicalSmngth
and the Report of Intense Religious Experience," ibid. 13 (1974): pp. 65-71; idem, "Consuuc-
there is also a place for mystical development, so that we expand tion and Preliminary Validation;" idem, "Anticipatory Set and Setting: Stress Incongruities as
not only our physical and spiritual abilities, but our highest Elicitors of Mystical Experience in Solitary Nature Situations,"ibid. 17 (1978): pp. 279-287;
Howard L. Sacks, "The Effect of Spiritual Exercises on the Integration of Self-system.": ibid.
mental capacities as well. 18 (1979): pp. 46-50.
The preponderance of evidence indicates that mystical cons- 20. Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being; idem, Religions. Values, and Peak-Experiences
(1964; reprint, Harmondsworth, Middlesex. England: Penguin, 1970).
ciousness is an innate, healthy, but usually hidden capacity. 21. Robert Wuthnow. "Peak Experiences: Some Empirical Tests,"Joumal of Humanistic
If I am correct, this is the capacity to experience reality in the Psychology 18, no. 3 (Summer 1978). pp. 67-70.
22. E.W. McClain and Henry B. Andrews, "Some Personality Correlates of Peak
way that God does. It seems unobjectionable for prepared Latter- Experiences-A Study In Self-Actualization."Journal oJClinical Psycho& 25 (1969): pp. 36-38.
day Saints to engage in mystical development; indeed, the "mag- 23. Daniel Goleman. "Mental Health in Classical Buddhist Psychology,"in Walsh and Vau-
ghan, eds., Beyond Ego, pp. 131-134.
nify your talents" ethic suggests that the mature Latter-day Saint 24. Jack Komfield. "Meditation: Aspects of Theory and Practice," in Walsh and Vaughan,
should do so. (Although it is beyond the scope of this essay eds., Beyond Ego, pp. 152-153.
25. Wuthnow. "Peak Experiences," p. 70.
to discuss in detail what one can do to develop one's personal 26. Vaughan, "Transpersonal Psychotherapy;" p. 188.
capacity for mystical consciousness, mature and spiritually 27. Vaughan. Inward Arc, pp. 123-124.
28. Hugh Nibley, The World and the Prophets (Salt Lake City: Deseret, 1954). pp. 89-90.
grounded Latter-day Saints might profitably study the medita- 29. As a sidelight. Enoch's pleas and the Lord's responses appear to form a chiasmus,
tive traditions of other cultures. Studied with discretion and the ancient Hebrew literary construction that John Welch has found in the Book of Mormon.
1 find a chiasmus in vv. 49, 54, 58, 61, 64, 67. Compare: John W. Welch, "Chiasmus in the
discernment, they have much to offer.) Book of Mormon," Brigham Young University Studies 10, no 1 (Autumn 1969): pp. 69-84; idem,
I would not wish mystical development to replace the "A Book You Can Respect," Ensign, September 1977, pp. 44-48.
30. Ron Bitton. "Response to Mark Edward Koltko. 'Mysticism and Mormonism,' " (Paper
strengthening of our testimonies. But if we can combine both delivered at the Sunstone Symposium 1X. Salt Lake City, 27 August 1987).
of these efforts-testimony development and mystical 31. Nibley. The World and the Prophets, p. 97.
32. Bitton, "Response."
development-perhaps we may come to know in a deep and 33. Abraham H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality. 2d ed. (New York: Harper & Row,
direct way what is means to say that the Father, the Son and 1970); idem, Toward a Psychology of Being; idem, Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences.
the disciple are one (see John 17:21, 23). B

NOTES

My deepest gratitude belongs to Patricia Wallace Koltho,for her patient critiques ofthese ideas
on many occasions. I am indebted to others who made comments on earlier versions of this paper:
Ron Bitton, Robert Krueger, Robert Spanvill, Andrew Winhler, and Karen Winhler. I am grateful
to Douglas Heath, Ph.D., who supelvised the research I performed at Haverjbrd College which started
my investigationsin this area However, only I am responsiblefor the unathibuted thoughts expressed
in this paper. These thoughts are my opinwns, not Church doctrine.

1. It implies no disrespect to say that, on the whole. Olympic athletes have more highly
developed bodies than do the prophets. Similarly. I see no disrespect in saying that mystics
may have minds which are more highly developed in specific ways than are those of the
prophets.
2. W.T. Stace, Mysticism and Philosophy (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1960). pp. 78-79,
110-111; Abraham H. Maslow. Toward a Psychology oJBeing, 2nd ed. (New York: Van Nos-
trand Reinhold, 1968), pp. 74-96. In the main, I follow here Ralph W. Hood, Jr., "The Con-
struction and Preliminarv Validation of a Measure of Re~ortedMvstical Exoerience." .
. loumal
for the ScientiJc Study oikligion 14 (1975): pp. 30-32.'
3. Wiiam James, The Varieties of~.Religious Experience
. (1902; reprint, New York: New Ameri-
can Library, 1958). pp. 306-307.
4. Aldous Huxley. "V~sionaryExperience," in John White, ed.. The Highest State of Cons-
ciousness (Garden City. NY: Doubleday, 19721, p. 49.
5.1 follow here Ken Wilber, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches lo Personal Growth
(1979; reprint, Boston: Shambhala, 1981). pp. 4-8.
6. See: Roger Walsh and Frances Vaughan, eds., Beyond Ego: Transpersonal Dimensions
in Psychology (Los Angeles: Tarcher, 1980); many of the works of Ken Wilber; and the Journal
of Transpersonal Psychology.
7. James. Varieties of Religious Experience, p. 295.
8. Ibld.
9. Ken Wilber. "Odyssey: A Personal Inquiry into Humanistic and Transpersonal Psy-
chology."Joumal oJHumanistic Psychology 22, no. 1 (Winter 1982): pp. 83-84
10. Ibid., p. 84.
11. Ibid. '7 just had a tem'ble ni&tmare I dreamed
12. Adam Smith, Powers of Mind (New York: Random House, 1975), pp. 174-175.
13. Frances Vaughan. "Transpersonal Psychotherapy: Context, Content and Process," in Hugh Nibley had a Swiss bank account.'

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