ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes the association between irrationality and the unconscious. It explores the differential meaning attributed to irrational mysticism in the pre- and postProtestant eras. It suggests now that the term unconsciousness was conceivably adopted by psychopathologists as an underground category to host. The chapter deals with the irrational-mystic thought system precisely because the Western no-exit situation that tabooed "un-reason" did not succeed to free people from their irrational fears. It demonstrates the pre-Protestant formulations, irrational-mystic thinking was included in the text because it was accepted as a legitimate source of knowledge and that the teaching of the language of mysticism and of irrational ecstasy was effective in many ways. The chapter shows how irrational mysticism functioned as a paradigmatic "book" that helped one to understand and accept unexpected atrocities. The unconscious is essentially irrational, dominated by primary process wish fulfillment and the pleasure principle.
