The Essentials of Mysticism THE ESSENTIALS of MYSTICISM AND OTHER ESSAYS BY EVELYN UNDERHILL 1920 NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. LONDON & TORONTO J. M. DENT & SONS LTD. _All rights reserved_ CONTENTS Preface . . . v The Essentials of Mysticism . . . 1 The Mystic and the Corporate Life . . . 25 Mysticism and the Doctrine of Atonement . . . 44 The Mystic as Creative Artist . . . 64 The Education of the Spirit . . . 86 The Place of Will, Intellect, and Feeling in Prayer . . . 99 The Mysticism of Plotinus . . . 116 Three Mediæval Mystics . . . 141 I. “THE MIRROR OF SIMPLE SOULS” . . . 141 II. THE BLESSED ANGELA OF FOLIGNO . . . 160 III. JULIAN OF NORWICH . . . 183 Mysticism in Modern France . . . 199 I. SŒUR THÉRÈSE DE L’ENFANT-JÉSUS . . . 199 II. LUCIE-CHRISTINE . . . 215 III. CHARLES PÉGUY . . . 228 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._ THE ESSENTIALS OF MYSTICISM