Abstract

One of the issues which arises in connection with the study of mysticism concerns the status of a so-called 'pure consciousness' experience, i.e., a state of consciousness devoid of conceptual or empirical content and often alleged to be characterized by the realization of the mystic's identity with ultimate reality. Proponents of what I shall call the unanimity thesis typically assert that the state of pure consciousness is the common core of all mysticism; variations in accounts of mystical experience result from post-experiential interpretations of this universal state of consciousness which are derived from the conceptual framework of a given mystic's religious tradition. In contrast to the perennialist position are the 'contextualists,' who claim that mystical experience is essentially shaped and constructed by the beliefs and expectations brought to the experience, with the consequence that not only is the very possibility of a state of pure consciousness undermined, but that there are as many varieties of mystical experience as there are traditions which allow for such experiences. ;The present inquiry is concerned with an examination of the state of pure consciousness as mystical experience, and with the often-made distinction between monistic and theistic experience. In this connection, I draw on the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of the eighth century Indian thinker Samkara. I argue that the Vedantic framework provides a justification for claims concerning non-dual, pure consciousness as the ontological ground of reality and as realizable in mystical experience, and sheds light on the monistic/theistic distinction in a way which partially reconciles the perennialist and contextualist positions. ;Despite this partial reconciliation, however, in the final analysis I will suggest that the distinction between monistic and theistic experience is perhaps best understood not in light of a distinction between mystical states of consciousness , but rather in terms of how a mystic approaches the reality he or she believes to be the ultimate source of meaning and value