ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that W. T. Stace’s account of mysticism has deep faults which reflect its method. It considers the enumeration of the basic traits of mysticism, its ‘universal core’, which occurs in Stace’s book. Mysticism, says Stace, is neither subjective nor objective, but trans-subjective: it is a community of attitude that many people share. He then goes on to consider a number of questions which illuminate the value and validity of mysticism. The truth of mysticism may be deeper than the truth of science, and it may only be in the light of mystical truth that scientific truth is fully intelligible. Some performances and utterances may have some of the marks of the mystical without the others, but the marks cluster together in a great number of cases, and have moreover, a character of mutual ‘belongingness’ which makes such a clustering seem natural and appropriate.
