\u27Normal\u27 Mysticism and the Social World: A Comparative Study of Quaker and Hasidic Communal Mysticism

This dissertation hopes to establish the fact of essential linkages between inner-worldly mysticism, community, and ordinary activity. In order to accomplish this task, it is necessary to demonstrate first of all, that elite or other-worldly mysticism ... is but one among several types of mysticism. Secondly, the distinction between mysticism and religion -- valid and important for analytic purposes, may not be rigidly maintained in practice. This distinction in the works of prominent phenomenologists of religion such as Mircea Eliade and Rudolf Otto, for example, constantly breaks down. While ostensibly discussing religion, the paradigms they employ appear to be mystical. Finally, notice must be taken of an essential shift in orientation from objectivity to subjectivity, which occurred in both Western Christian and Jewish mysticism. This shift is reflected in a strong emphasis upon personal experience, the demand for a \u27new\u27 perception of one\u27s environment, and a tendency towards transformation, i.e. ritualization, of routine or profane actions. All of these manifestations occur within a communal context