It is unfortunate that few mystics have ever been trained in critical habits of thought and scientific habits of observation. The ordinary mystic seldom raises the question: "What is the intrinsic truth of my inner experience?" But the philosophic mystic must do so. For instance, mental inertia may be mistaken for mental peace. And the fact of experiencing a mystical vision is no guarantee of the authenticity of its revelation. It was not an utterly materialist sceptic nor a fully enlightened philosopher but one of the best and most famous mystics amongst a people who have produced Europe's greatest mystics, the Spaniard Saint John of the Cross, who dryly remarked of a certain nun's meditations: "All this that she says, `God spoke to me, I spoke to God,' seems nonsense." Saint John could never have arrived at such a perception if he had not himself arrived at the very end of the mystical path and so come to know quite well what he was talking about. Such beliefs as this nun's can only be accepted by people whose capacity for critical judgement is very weak. Mysticism unchecked by reason may degenerate into mere superstition. That men cling to fantasies and accept absurdities merely evidences their lack of intellectual capacity--not their spirituality. It is good to be a mystic but it is better to be a critical mystic. The mystic who suffers from intellectual, muddleheaded, or emotional hysteria should not be content with these defects but should try to get rid of them. In a region where yogic aberrations and mystical excesses abound so freely, the value of scientific attitude, accuracy of statement, disciplined imagination, and broad-based learning is surely indisputable. When the scientific habit of observation is missing, when reason is under-developed and emotion over-weighted, the mystic receives his experiences in an unbalanced way or holds his views in a disproportionate relationship. Most necessary indeed is the scientific antidote to the excrescences of unbalanced mysticism, which magnifies the trivial and minifies the essential; most valuable is the rationalist counter to the impulses of shady superstitions; most helpful is prudent reserve against the exaggerations of antiquated mysteriosophy; most assuring is the mental armour against premature conclusions; and most desirable is self-criticism, too, as a safeguard against the truth's being turned by our fancies, imaginations, or desires into something quite different. The mystic must use his whole intelligence--that is, his scientific faculties of criticism, observation, and fact-finding, plus his metaphysical faculties of abstract reflection upon facts--to check his inspired emotions and spiritual experiences. Such a remorselessly critical method of approach loosens the bond of dogma and superstition and thus prepares the way for a genuine understanding which shall be as impeccable as it will be rational.
-- Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 2 : Phases of Mystical Development > # 185
