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 inThe Quest; “The Mystic and the Corporate Life,” “Mysticism and the Doctrine of Atonement,” and “The Place of Will, Intellect, and Feeling in Prayer” inThe Interpreter; “The Education of the Spirit” inThe Parents’ Review; “The Mysticism of Plotinus” inThe Quarterly Review; “The Mirror of Simple Souls” and “Sœur Thérèse de l’Enfant-Jésus” (under the title of “A Modern Saint”) inThe Fortnightly Review; “The Blessed Angela of Foligno” inFranciscan Essays; “Julian of Norwich” inThe St. Martin’s Review; and “Charles Péguy” inThe Contemporary Review. All these are now republished by kind permission of the editors concerned.
E. U.
August 1920.