PREFACE
The essays collected in this volume have been written during the past eight years. They deal with various aspects of the subject of mysticism: the first half-dozen with its general theory and practice, and special points arising within it; the rest with its application as seen in the lives and works of the mystics, from the pagan Plotinus to the Christian contemplatives of our own day. Most of them have already appeared elsewhere, though all have been revised and several completely re-written for the purposes of this book. “The Essentials of Mysticism” and “The Mystic as Creative Artist” were first printed in The Quest; “The Mystic and the Corporate Life,” “Mysticism and the Doctrine of Atonement,” and “The Place of Will, Intellect, and Feeling in Prayer” in The Interpreter; “The Education of the Spirit” in The Parents’ Review; “The Mysticism of Plotinus” in The Quarterly Review; “The Mirror of Simple Souls” and “Sœur Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus” (under the title of “A Modern Saint”) in The Fortnightly Review; “The Blessed Angela of Foligno” in Franciscan Essays; “Julian of Norwich” in The St. Martin’s Review; and “Charles Péguy” in The Contemporary Review. All these are now republished by kind permission of the editors concerned.
E. U.
August 1920.