Cneprrn I

THE , IDEA T HE RA T I O N A L AND THE NON-RATIONAL

p is essentialto every theistic conceptionof God, and most
I of all to tlle Christian, that it designatcs and precisely
O F' T HE, HO LY characterizesdeity by the attributes spirit, reason,purpose,
good will, supreme power, unity, selfhood. T_C-!e!UI9-9f
G.,o
An Inquiry into the non-rationalf actor e

in the rdea ol the diaine and its -i.e.

@. Now all theseattributes
reLation to the rational constitute clear and definite concepts: they can be graspedby
the intellcct; they can be analysedby thought; they even
BY admit of definition. An object that can thus be thought con-
ceptually may be termed rational. The nature of deity de-
RUDOLF OTTO scribed in the attributes above mentioned is, then, a rational
naturel and a religion which recognizesand maintains such
a view of God is in so far a 'rational' religion. Only on such
TRANSLATED BY terms is b-zliy' possible in contrast to mere feeling. And, of
Christianity at least it is false that 'feeling is all, the name
.loHN \V. HARVEY but soundand smoke';r-where 'name' standslor conception
or thought. Rather we count this the very mark and criterion
of a religion's high rank and superior value-that it should
have no lack of conteplions about God; that it should admit
knowledge-the knowledge that comes by faith----of the
transcendentin terms of conceptual thought, whether those
already mentioned or others which continue and develop
them. Christianitynot only possesses such conceptionsbut
possesses them in unique clarity and abundance, and this is,
though not the sole or even the chief, yet a very real signofits
superiority over religions of other forms and at other levels.
This must be assertedat the outsetand with the rnostpositive

@ emphasis.
But, when this is granted, we have to be on our guard
4gainst an error which t'ould lead to 499!g_a!d_S4ggded \(
A GAI,AXY BOOK interpretation of religion. This is the view that thg_gsgleg
r Goethc, Faat .
NewYork oxFoRD uNlvERSlrY PREss 1956
 TIIE RATIO NAL AND THA NO N- RA T I O N A L T I IE R ATION AL AN D TH E N ON - R ATION AL
of deiW can be Aiven completely and exhaustivelv in such It is not that which is commonly asserted,that
rationalism is
lrational' attributions as have been referred to above and in _{re denial, and its.oppositet}r" oiA;;i;;;"r.
others-Iike
them.ffi is. manilestly a wro{rg or"m.rnutiorr,
at least'a very s;peificial
{l1t
are prompted to it by the traditional language ofedification, di$ieglisn.Fo.th"ffi, u,
with its characteristic phraseologyand ideas; by the learned the occasional breach in the causal ;""r; i;;;;;;"";y
Being who himself instituted and must tt .
treatment of religious themes in sermon and theological b.'ir"lt." of
instruction; and further even by our Holy Scripturesthem- it-this theory is itself as massivelytutionui-r.
"."fo.. itlr'p."iUf"
selves. In all these casesthe'rational' element occupiesthe to be. Rationalists have often enough acquicsced^
possibility of the miraculous in this in the
foreground, and often nothing elseseemsto be presentat all. i."r.; if,.v fr*"'.""r,
But this is after all to be expected. All language, in so far ss themselvescontributed to frame a theory ;ii;_*;;..",
rlrgnqigts of words, prrrports to convey ideas or concepts;- anti-rationalists have becn often indiffereni to
the whole .oo_
the more clearly and troversy about miraclcs. The differencebetwe."
@s;-and .",ioiuti.*
nt-*"" qqd its- opposite is to be found elsewhere. ft
..r.f"* lar.ii
expositions ol religious truth in language inevitably tend to rather into a pe.culiardifference o_fazaliil in
the menJl atti
stressthe 'rational' attributes of God, lude atd emotigr-,aI.co.,tent of the .JG[Glife itseF All
But though the above mistakeis thus a natural one enough, dependsupon this: in ou, of god i_s tG non_rutionul
_id-e_a
it is none t}te lessseriously misleading. For so far are these
H!-qq,9"+_p9rl aeswhotly.1cFdg$b; the ratioJ,rr
?
-that Ur conversely,doesthe non_rationalitselfp-eponderateover
'lational' attributesfrom exhausting-theideiol dejiv,
t-heyin fact imply a non-rational or supr4-rational Subiectof the rational? Looking at the matter thus, we
see th;t the
They are 'essential' (and not common dictum, that orthodoxy itself has U."., tf,.
)yhich_lhqjlgfredicatq. moih." ot
merely 'accidental') attributes of that subject, but they are rationalism, is in somemeasure,$€ilfounded. fri,
Jr.pfy
also, it is important to not!c!, slntheticessentialattributes. preoccupied rvith doctrinf anJ ".i
,ilil;_s
That is to say
ll1,^.3"1::1,*as
or dogma, tor thesehave been no lessa concern ofthe
wildeJ
mystics. It is rather that orthodoxy found in the
fonstruaion
can be. comprehended in them: which rather requirescom- g{ dogma and doctrine no way io do justice
ao ,t ,rorr_
Yet, though it eludesthe rational aspcctof its subject. So far froir t"epi"g;i;;""_ "
@.
conceptual way of understanding, it must be in someway rational element in religion alive io the hea.i#ih""
;;i;i"".
er other within our grasp, elseabsolutely nothing could be experience,orthodox Christianity manilestly fbil;
;;:;"g_
assertedof it. And even mysticism, in speaking of it as zri .nize i1 v.1lu.e,and by this faiiure gave to the idea of God a
d.ppqrov,the ineffable, does not really mean to imply that one-sidedly intellectualistic and raiionalistic int".p..tutii.r.
absolutely nothing can be assertedofthe object ofthereligious This bias to rationalization still prevails,
;rfi; ;;;."_
consciousness;othen,'ise, mysticism could exist only in un- Iogy but in the scienceofcomparative religion "o,in
,"a
broken silence,whereaswhat hasgenerally been a character- from top to bottom of it. Th.r"oa..r, .tui"r,t; *.ri...f,
;i;'r-h.i;gy,
istic of the mystics is their copiouseloquence, and Lhosewho pursucrcsearchinro the rcligion
man' and attempt to reconstruct the .base"s, "a;;;l;l;""
Here for the first time we come up against the contrast o" .rJ,r.".ri
religion, are all victims to it. Men do not, of course,l;;1"r" of
between rationalism and profounder religion, and with this
contrast and its signswe shall be repeatedlyconcernedin what casesemploythoselofty ,rational' .on..pi, *t i.f,
*" iook,,
follows. We have here in fact the first and most distinctive our point ofdeparture; but they tend to take tt
mark of rationalism, with which all the rest are bound up. and their gradual .evolution' as setting tfr. *"i" "r" "o.r..o.,.f
p..ti"_
 TIIE RATI O NAL AND TI I E NO N. R A T I O N A L

their inquiry, and fashion ideas and notions of lower value,

Cnaprrn II
which they regard aspaving the way for them. tlis always in
lLe,rtqsof concepts and ideas that the subject is pursued, . NUM E N ' AND THE'NUMINOUS'
'lLatural' ones,moreover, such as havea place in the general
sphereof man's ideational life, and are not specifically'reli- '13'or,wEss'-'the holy'-is a categoryof interpretation and
gious'. And then with a resolution and cunning which one I Ivaluation peculiarto the sphereofreligion. Itis,indeed,
can hardly help admiring, men shut their eyesto that which applied by transferenceto another sphere-that of ethics-
ilquite unique !n the religious experience,even in its most but it is not itself derived from this. While it is complex, it
primitive manifestations. Butit is rather a matter for astonish- contains q._q_Uj:!g_!pggi_qcelement or 'moment', which setsit
--frent
than for admiration ! For if there be any sinsle domain [-w-gaveT6-Elt
that word above, and w}4h rgrneln!.jl9lplggqe-an d.ppqrovor
ipdgljle-in the sense that it completel),eludesalrprehension
it is that of the religious life. In truth the enemy has often in..termsof concepts. The sametl-ringis true (to take a quite
a keener vision in this matter than either the champion of different region ofexperience)of the categoryofthe beautiful.
religion or the neutral and professedlyimpartial theorist. Now thesestatementswould be untrue from the outset if
For the adversarieson tlieir side know very well that the 'the holy' were merely what is meant by the word, not only
entire 'pother about mysticism' has nothing to do with in commonparlance, but in philosophical,and generally even
'reason'and'rationality'. in theological usage. The fact is we have come to use the
And so it is salutarv that we should be incited to notice that urords'holy', 'sacred' (heilig)in an entirely derivative sense,
religion is not exclusively contained and exhaustivelycom- quite diflerent from that which they originally bore. We
series of'rational' assertions:and it is well generallytake 'holy' as meaning 'completely good'; it is the
worth while to a relation of the different absolutemoral attribute, denotingthe consummationof moral
goodness. fn this senseKant calls the rvill which remains
unwaveringly obedient to the moral law from tJre motive of
This attempt we are now to make with respectto tl-lequite duty a'holy' will; here clearly we have simply the perJectu
distinctive category of tJre holy or sacred. moral w-iJl. In the same way we may speak of the holiness
or sanctity of duty or law, meaning merely that they are
imperative upon conduct and universally obligatory.
But this common usage of the term is inaccurate. It is
true that all this moral significanceis contained in- the.w-o1d
'holy', but it includes in addition-as even we cannot but
f."1-u_493! ry..p]g: rfugggling, and this it is now our task
to isolate. Nor is this merely a later or acquired meaning;
rather, 'holy', or at least the equivalent words in Latin and
Greek, in Semitic and other ancient languages,denoted first
and foremost only this overplus: if the ethical element was
presentat all, at any rate it was not original and never con-
s-ti-1qted
the whole meaning of the word. Aly one who usesit
to-day doesundoubtedly alwaysfeel 'the morally good' to be

I
6 'NuttlE x'argo rB r 'Nuur No u s '
'Nutrnu' AND TrrE tNUMlNous'
implied in 'holy' ; and accordingly in our inquiry into that
element which is separateand peculiar to the idea ofthe holy Omezhas given us 'ominous', and there is no reasonwhv from
it will be useful, at least for the temporary purpose of the numenwe should not similarly form a word .numinous'. I
investigation, to invent a specialicrm to stand6r lEe [oly' shall speak,then, ofa unique 'numinous' category of value
z and of a definitelv'numinous'stateoimind. wlicn:G-*"y,
mi@i... @. Thismentalstateis
It will be our endeavour to suggestthis unnamed Some- perfectly fd.qrzlru and ineducibl@; and there-
thing to the reader as far as we may, so that he may himself fo.., llk" ubrolot. ,
""..y
f..l it. ]vhile it admits ofbeing discussed,it cannot bestrictly defined.
real innemost core. and wift There is only one way to help another to an understanding
worthy of the name, It is pre-eminently a living force in the 9f it. H9 must be guided and led on by consideration
Semitic religions, and of these again in none has it such q4d discussionof the matter through thi ways of his own
vigour as in that of the Bible. Here, too, it has a name of its rrind, until he reach the point at which 'the numinous, in
own, viz. the Hebrew qdddsh,to which the Greek dyos and bi[r perforcebeginsto stir, to start into life and irrto conscious-
theLatin sanctus,and, more accurately still, sacer,are tJ:'ecor- ness. We can co-operatein this processby bringing before
responding terms. It is not, of course,disputed that these his notice all that can be found in other regionsof the mind,
terms in all three languagesconnote,aspart oftheir meaning, alriidy k.town and familiar, to resemble, ir again to afford
good,absolutegood.ness, when, that is, the notion has ripened somespecial confrast to, the particular experiencewe wish
and reached the highest stage in its development. And we to elqcidate. Then we must add: 'This X of ours is not pre-
then use the word 'holy' to translate them. But this 'holy' ciselyrrlr experience,but akin to this one and the opposite of
I that other. Cannot you now realize for yourselfwhat it is?'
meaning, gl lvhat we shall call the 'schematization',of what fn other words ggr )K cannot, shictly speaking,be taught, it
was a unique original feeling-response, which can be in iself can only be euo
ethically neutral and claims consideration in its own right. urat comes-ot the sDrnt'must be awakened.
And when this moment or element first emergesand begins
its long development, all those expressions(qaddsh,dyws,
sacer,&c.) mean beyond all question something quite other
than 'the good'. This is univenally agreedby contemporary
criticism, which rightly explains the rendering of qdd|shby
'good' as a mistranslation and unwarranted 'rationalization'
or 'moralization' of the term.
Accordingln it is worth while, as we have said, to find
a word to stand for this element in isolation, this 'extra' in
-the meaning of 'holy' above anil-Eeyffif tEC meaffi bT
'-+--
goodneis. By mgan-ol llllllllllllspecial_term
we dffiIft[e Edtter be
able, first, to keep the meaning clearly apart and distinct, and
secp4{, to apprehend and classify connectedly u'hatever sub-
ordlnate forms or stages of development it may show. For
this purpose I adopt a word coined from the Larn numen.
 THE ELEM ENTS I N THE'Nult t t xous' g
Schleiermacherhasthe credit ofisolating a very important
C n e p rrn IIf element in such an experience. This is the '&li.S_"ol_de:
pendence'. But this important discoveryof Schleiermacher
T H E EL EME N T S IN T H E 'N UMINOUS'
is open to criticism in more than one respect.
Creature-Fceling In the first place, the leeling or emotion which he really
r-|rnr reader is invited to direct his mind to a moment of has in mind in tiis phraseis in its specificquality not a'feel-
l
L deeplv-iblt religiousexperience,as little aspossiblequali- ing of dependence'in the 'natural' senseof the word. As
fied by other forms of consciousness.Who€ver cannot do this, such, other domains of life and other regions of experience
Whoqv€r knows no such moments in his experience, is re- than the religious occasionthe feeling, as a senseof personal
quested to read no farther; for it is not easyto discussques- insufficiencvand impotence,a consciousness of being deter-
ggng of lgligious plychology with one who can recollect the mined by circumstancesand environment. The feeling of
c.-motions ofhis adolescence,the discomfortsofindigestion, or, which Schleiermacherwrote hasan undeniableanalogy with
say, social feelings, but cannot recall any intrinsically reli- tbes9_$Al$_qfuSi"d: t}.ey serveas an indication to it, and its
gious feelings, We do not blame such an one, when he tries 44!ury_!q3y.bgelucidatedby them, so tlat, by following the
for himself to advance as far as he can with the help of such diryclion in which they point, the feeling itself may be spon-
principles ofexplanation ashe knows,interpreting 'aisthetics' t_aneouslyfelt. But the feeling is at the same time also
in terms of sensuouspleasure, and 'religion' as a function of gq4!i!41ty-elv different fiom such analogous states of mind.
the gregarious instinct and social standards,or as something Schleiermacherhimself, in a way, recognizesthis by distin-
more primitive still. But the artist, who for his part has an guishing the f-eelingof pious or religiousdependencefrom all
intimate personalknowledge of the distinctive element in the other feelinqsof depeqdence.I_Iismistakeis i1 6aking the
aesthetic experience, will decline his theories with thanlc, d-lqqiqcfonmerely that between'absolute' and 'relative' de-
and the religious man will reject them even more uncom- pendence, and therefore a difference of degree and not of
promisingly. intrinsic quality. What he overlooksis that, in giving the
Next, in the probing and analysisof such statesof the soul feeling the name 'feeling of dependence'at all, we are really
as that of solemn worship, it will be well if regard be paid to employing what is no more than a very closeanalogy. Any-
what is unique in them rather than to what they have ia one who comparesand conhaststhe t\.vostatesof mind intro-
common with other similar states. To bg_"optjgJoEblpj: spectivelywill find out, I think, what I mean. It cannot be
onejling; to be morally ullifted by the contemplation of a elpresqg! by means of anything else,just because it is so
good deed is another; and it is not to their common features, _pdmary and elementary a datum in our psychical life, and
but to those e..!.ements
of emotiona t thgrefore only def,nable through itself. Tt may perhaps help
that we would have at le. e
As Christians we undoubtedly here first meet with feelings 'moment' or element of religious feeling of w-hich we are
familiar enough in a weaker form in other departments of .speakingis most activelv present. \{hen Abraham ventures
experience,suth as feelingsofgratitude, trust, love, reliance,
humble submission,and dedication. But this doesnot by any
I to plead with God for the men of Sodom,he says (Gen. xviii.
z7): 'Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the
means exhaust the content of religious worship. Not in any Lord, which am but dust and ashes.' There you have a self-
of these have we got the special features of the quite urlique confesed 'feeling of dependence',which is yet at the same
p. In what tirne far more thaq and sometl-ringother tJran, nvrel2 afeeling
does this consist? of dependence. Desiring to give it a name of its owa, I
 .T'TU U IWOU S'
IO T HE E L E M EN T s IN T H E ' x rl tr(tN ous' THE EL EM EN TS IN TH E II

uroposeto call it 'creature-consciousness'

or creature-feeling. Now this object is just what we have already spoken of as
It i; themd iird ovaiwlelma 'the numinous'. For the 'creature-feeling' and the senseof
bv lts own nothlngness ln contrast to that whrch rs suDreme dcoendence to arise in the mind the 'numen' must
above all creatures. as
a numenoraesens- the
It is easilyseenthat, once again, qhisphrase,whatever it is, Abraham. There must be l-elt a
i:; r,ot a conceptual explanation of the matter. All that this new ins the charactet of a 'numen' to which
term, 'creature-fecling', can express,ir tlg mind turns
g!!Slnlo ngqfngness "S!9-g!1Cbqg!C-
before an overpowering, absolutemight other words) these feelinqscan only arise in the mind as
- ; - - -- - ,;- ,- ----
ef some kind i whereas eve@
this overpowering might, a character which cannot be ex- t!_s!lgd iggrlay.
pressedvirballv, and can@gh The numinous is thus felt as objective and outsidethe self.
the tone and content of@ And We have now to inquire more closely into its nature and the
this responsemust be directly experiencedin oneselfto be modesof its manifestation.
q4dentood.
ir dcbarrcd by his cmpiricist and pragmatist standpoint from coming to a
We have now to note a second defect in tl-reformulation of rccognition of facultics of Lnowledgc and potcntialiti€s of thought in the sPirit
Schleiermacher'sprinciple. The religiouscategorydiscovered itsclf, and he is thcrcforc obliged to havc tccoursc to somewhat singular and
mysterious hypothcscs to cxplain this fact. But hc graspsthc fact itself clearly
by him, by whose means he professes to determine the real cnough and is sufficicnt ofa realist not to cxplain it away. But this 'feeling of
content ofthe religious emotion, is merely a category of sef rcality', the fceling of a 'numinous' oD;actobjectively givcn, must be posited as
valuation, in the senseofself-depreciation.According to hrm a primary imrncdiate datum of consciousncss,and the 'feeling of depcndencc'
is then a corscqucncc, following very closely upon it, viz. a dcprcciation of drc
the religious emotion would be directly and primarily a sort flrrJ'r.! in bis ou! cycs. Thc latter presuppos.s the forod,
ofsef-consciousness, a feeling concerningoneselfin a special,
deterrnined relation, viz. one's dependence.Thus, according
to Schleiermacher,f can onlv comeupon t}le verv fact ofc_od
as the result of an

But this is entirely opposed to the

! This is so manifcsdy bornc out by expcriencc that it must bc about tlrc fiist
thing to fotcc itself upon the notice of psychologists analysing the facts of rcli-
gion. Thcrc is a certain naivetC in the following passagefrom \\tilliam Jamcs's
VarLtics of Rcligiotts Expcri.ncc (p. 58), where, alluding to the origin of thc
Crecian repr€sentationsofthe gods, he says:'As regards the origin ofthe Grcek
gods, we need not at present seek an opinion. But the whole array of our
instances leads to a conclusion somethrng likc this: It is as if thcre wcre in thc
hrrman consciousness d senscoJ /.al;tt, a f..ling oJ objcdirc ptescne, a pctceplion ol
athatwctio y a,.lL" sotwthing thcrc" , motc dc4 and more geucral than any of thc
spccial and particular "scnses" by which thc currcnt psychology supposcs €r.ist-
cnt realitics to bc originally rcvcaled.' (Thc italics are James's ou,n.) Jamce

i
 'uvstrnluu TREMENDUM- r3
to ecstasv. It has its wild and demonic forms and can sink to
CneprE,n IV an almost grisly horror and shuddering' It has its crude,
.M YS TE RIUM barbaric ariteced.t ts and early manifestations, and again it
TRE ME NDUM' mav be developed into sornethingbeautilul and pure and
TheAnaQsisof 'Tranendwn' gloiiorls. It may becomethe hushed,trembling, -andspeech-
Iess humility of the creature in the presence of--whom. or
1 1 p said above that the nature of the numinous can only what? In the presenceof that which is an2ster2inexpressible
V ! be suggestedby mcansof the specialway in wbich it is and above all creaturcs.
reflected in the mind in terms of feeling. 'Its nature is such It is again evident at once that here too our attempted
that it grips or stirs the human mind with this and that deter- formulation by means of a concept is once more a merely
minate affective state.' We have now to attempt to give a negative one. Conceptu ally mlsleriumdenotes merely that
further indication of thesedeterminatestates. We must once wh-ichis hidden and esoteric,that whichisbeyond conception
again endeavour, by adducing feelingsakin to them for the or understanding,extraordinary and unfamiliar' The term
purpose of analogy or contrast, and by the use of metaphor does not define ihe object more positively in its qualitative
and symbolic expressions,to make the statesof mind we are character. But though what is inunciated in the word is
investigating ring out, as it were, of themselves. ncgativc, what is meant is sometling aholutely and intensely
Let us consider the deepestand most fundamental element ooiitive.'This pure positive we can experiencein feelings,
in all strong and sincerelyfelt religiousemotion. Faith unto ieelineswhich oiur discussioncan help to make clear to us, in
salvation, trust, love-all theseare there. But over and above so faias it arousesthem actually in our hcarts'
theseis an element which may also on occasion,quite apart
from them, profoundly affect us and occupy the mind with a r. nu Elenrnt oJ Awefulness
wellnigh bewildering strength. Let us follow it up with every To get light upon the positive 'quale'of the,object of these
effort of sympathy and imaginative intuition wherever it is to feeling-s,*" analysi more closelyour phrase mysterium
be found, in the lives of those around us, in sudden, strong tremenrlum, ^rr.t
and we will begin first with the adjective'
ebullitions of personal piety and the frames of mind such Tremoris in itself merely the perfectlyfamiliar and 'natu-
ebullitions evince, in the fixed and ordered solemnities of ral' emotion offar. But here the term is taken, aptly enoygh
rites and liturgies, and again in the atmospherethat clings but still only by analogy, to denote a quite specific kind.of
to old religious monumentsand buildings, to temples and to emotional risponse,whol1y distinct from that of being afraid,
churches. If we do so we shall find we are dealing with though it so lar resemblesit that the analogy of fear may
something for which there is only one appropriate expression, be us-edto throw light upon its nature- There are in some
'mysteriumtremendum'.The feeling of it may at times come lansuaqesspecialexpressionswhich denote,either exclusively
sweeping like a gentle tide, pervading the mind with a tran- o, In iil. fi.st instu.tce, this 'fear' that is more than fear
quil mood of deepestworship. It may passover into a more orooer. The Hcbrew hiqdtsh(hallow) is an example' To
set and lasting attitude of the soul, continuing, as it rvere, :keep a thing holy in the heart' mears to mark it off by a
thrillingly vibrant and resonant,until at last it diesaway and feeling ofpeculiar dread, not to be mistakenfor any ordinary
the soul resumesits 'profane', non-religiousmood of everyday dreadl that is, to appraiseit by the categoryofthe numinous'
experience, It may bunt in sudden eruption up from the But tlie Old Testament throughout is rich in parallel expres-
depths of the soul with spasmsand con'ulsions, or lead to the sions for this feeling. Specialiy noticeable is the'En^4hof
strangest excitements, to intoxicated fienzy, to transport, and Yahweh ('fear of God'), which Yahweh can pour forth,
 r4 t My s rE R ru M
T R E M EN D uMT TREMENDUM' r5
'uvsrrnluu
dispatching almost like a daemon, and which seizesupon a all the products of 'mythological apperception' or 'fantasy'
man with paralysing effect. It is closely related to the Eeipo, are nothing but different modesin which it hasbeen objecti-
ravm\v of the Greeks. Compare Exod. xxiii. e7 : 'I will send fied. And all ostensibleexplanationsof the origin of religion
my fear before thee, and will destroyall the people to whom in terms of animism or magic or folk-psychologyare doomed
thou shalt come. . .'; alsoJob ix. 34; xiii. zr ('let not hisfear from tlle outset to wander astray and miss the real goal of
terrify me'; 'Iet not thy dread make me afraid'). Here we their inquiry, unlessthey recognizethis fact of our nature-
have a terror fraught with an inward shuddering such asnot primary, unique, underivable from anything else-to be the
even the most menacing and overpowering created thing can basic factor and the basic impulse underlying the entire
instil, It hassomethingspectralin it. processof religious evolution.t
In the Greek language we have a correspondingterm in Not only is the sayingofluther, that the natural man can-
oepctor6s.The early Christians could clearly feel that the title not fear God perfectly, correctfrom the standpointofpsycho-
oepdoris (augustus)was one that could not fittingly be given logy, but we ought to go farther and add that the natural man
to any creature, not even to the emperor. They felt that to is quite unable even to 'shuddet' (grauen)or feel horror in
call a rr'an oepaordswas to give a human being a name proper the real senseof the word. For 'shuddering' is something
only to the numen,to rank him by the category proper only more than 'natural', ordinary fear. It implies that the
to tll.e numen,and that it therefore amounted to a kind of mystcriousis already beginning to loom beforethe mind, to
idolatry. Of modern languagesEnglish has the words 'awe', touch the feelings. It implies the fint application of a cate-
'aweful', which in their deeper and most special senseap- gory of valuation which hasno place in the everydaynatural
proximate closely to our meaning. The phrase, 'he stood world ofordinary experience,and is only possibleto a being
aghast', is also suggestivein this connexion, On the other in whom has been awakeneda mental predisposition,unique
hand, German has no native-grown expressionofits own for in kind and different in a definite way from any 'natural'
the higher and riper form of the emotion we are considering, faculty. And this newly-revealed capacitn even in the crude
unless it be in a word like erschauern, which does suggestit and violent manifestationswhich are all it atfirst evinces.bears
fairly well. It is far otherwise with its cruder and more witness to a completely new function of experience and
debasedphases,where such termsasgrausenand Schauer, and standard of valuation, only belonging to the spirit of man.
the.more popular and telling gruseln('grue'), grdsen,and Before going on to considerthe elementswhich unfold as
grtisslich('grisly'), very clearly designatethe numinous ele- the'tremendum' develops,let usgive a little furtherconsideration
ment. In my examination of Wundt's Animism I suggested to the first crude, primitive forms in which this 'numinous
the term Scfrea(dread) ; but the special 'numinous' quality dread' or azzeshows itselL lt is the mark which really
(making it 'awe' rather;than 'dread' in the ordinary sense) characterizesthe so-called'religion of primitive man', and
would then, of course,have to be denoted by inverted com-
mas. 'Religious dread' (or 'awe') would perhaps be a better t Cf. my papers in lluologbchzRundschau, r gro, vol- i, on'Myth and Religion
in lVundt's Vijlkalrychologir', and in D.uk.h. Lit falurz.ilung, Igro, No. 38,
designation. Its antecedentstageis'daemonic dread' (cf. the I find in more recent investigations, especially those of R. R. Marctt and N.
horror ofPan) with its queer perversion,a sort of abortive Sdderblom, a very welcome confirmation of thc positions I thcre maintained.
offshoot, the 'dread of ghosis'. It fint begins to stir in the It is true that lreither of them calls attcntion quite as prcciselyas, in this matter,
. feeling of 'something uncanny', 'eerie', or 'weird'. It is this psycbologistsneed to do, to the unique character of the relgious 'awe' and is
qualitative distinction from all 'natural' feelings. But Marctt morc particularly
feeling which, emerging in the mind of primeval man, forms comeswithin a haii's breadth of what I tale to be thc truth about the mattcr.
the starting-point fot the entire religious development in Cf. his Thrzshold aJ Rcligion (LorLdon, rgog), and N. S6dcrblom's Das l4/ndcn dcs
Gotlzsglaubcns (Leipzig, r9r5), also my review of the latter h Thal. Litetaiur-
history. 'Daemons' and 'gods' alike spring fiom this roo! and
ztitung, Ja\\, tgr,S,
16 'lrysrnnruM tnnunltouu, ' I r t Ys r r n l u u TREMENDUM' r7
there it appears as 'daemonic dread'. This crudely nar=ve and is merely iu a state ofpleasure, orjoy, or aestheticrapturq or
primordial emotional disturbance, and the fantasticimages moral exaltation, or finally in the religious bliss that may
to which it givcs rise, are later overborneand oustedby mJre come in worship. Such states certainly show resemblances
highly dcveloped forms of the numinous emorion,with all its one to anotier, and on that account can legitimately be
mysteriously impelling power, But even when this has long brought under a common class-concept('pleasure'), which
attained its higher and purer mode ofexpressionit is possibli servesto cut them offfrom other psychicalfunctions, generic-
for_the primitive typesof excitation that were formerly a part ally different. But this class-concept,so far from turning the
of it to break out in the soul in all thcir orisinal naivet6and various subordinate speciesinto merely different degreesof
so to be experienced afresh. That this is sJis shown bv the the samething, can do nothing at all to throw light upon the
potent attraction aEainand again exercisedby the elementof essenceof each several state of mind rvhich it includes.
horror and 'shudder' in ghost stories, even among pen;ons Though the numinous emotion in its completestdevelop-
ofhigh all-round education. It is a remarkablefaci that the ment showsa world of difference from the mere 'daemonic
physical reaction to which this unique 'dread' ofthe uncanny dread', yet not even at the highest level does it belie its
givesrisc is also unique, and is noi found in the caseofany pedigree or kindred. Even when the wonhip of 'daemons'
'natural' fear or terror. We say: 'my blood ran icy cold', has long since reached the higher level of wonhip of'gods',
and 'my flesh crept'. The 'cold blood' feeling may be a these gods still retain as numinasomething of the 'ghost' in the
symptom of ordinary, natural fear, but there is sometiing impress they make on the feelings of the worshipper, viz. the
non-natural or supernatural about the symptomof'creeping peculiar quality of the 'uncanny' and 'aweful', which sur-
fiesh'. And any one who is capable of mbre prcciseintro- vives with the qualiry of exaltednessand sublimity or is
spection must recognize that the distinction bctwcensuch a slrnbolized by means of it. And this element, softened
'dread' and natural fear is not simply one of degreeand though it is, does not disappear even on the highest level of
intensity. The awe or 'dread, may indeed be so overwhelm- all, where the worship of God is at its purest. Its disappear-
ingly great that it sccmsto penetrate to tJrevery marrow, ance would be indeed an essentialloss. The 'shudder' re-
making the man's hair bristle and his limbs quake. But it appearsin a form ennobled beyond measurewhere the soul,
may also steal upon him almost unobservedas the gentlestof held speechfess, trembles inwardly to the farthest fibre ofits
agitations, a mere fleeting shadow passingacrosshis mood. being. It invades the mind mightily in Christian worship
It has therefore nothing to do with intensity, and no natural with the words: 'Holy, holy, holy'; it breaks forth from the
fear passesover into it merely by being intensified. I may be hy.rrn of Tersteegen:
beyond all measure afraid and terrified without there being
even a trac€ of tJrefeeling of uncanninessin my emotion. God Himself is present:
We should seethe factsmore clearly if psychologyin general Heart, be stilled beforeHim:
would make a more decisive endeavour to examine and Prostrateinwardly adoreHim.
classifythe feelings and emotions according to their qualita- The 'shudder' has here lost its crazy and bewildering note,
tive differences. But the far too rough division of elementary but not the ineffable something that holds the mind. It has
feelingsin general into pleasuresand pains is still an obstacle become a mystical ar,r'e,and setsfree as its accompaniment,
to this. In point of fact 'pleasures' no more than other that 'creature-feetng' that has
reflectedin self-consciousness,
feelings are differentiated merely by degreesol'interuity: already been described as the feeling of personalnothingness
they show vcry definite and specificdifferences. It makesa and submergencebefore the awe-inspiring object directly
specific difference to the condition of mind whether the soul experienced.
r8 'rvr:rSfE'nrUU f neUeXpUtrt' 'trrvs1:enruu TREMENDUM' r9
The referring of this feeling numinous trcmor to its object word we are not concernedwith a genuine intellectual 'cou-
in the numen brings into relief a property of the latter which cept', but only with a sort of illustrative substitute for a
plays an important part in our Holy Scriptures, and which concept. 'Wrath' here is the 'ideogram' of a unique emo-
has been the occasion of many difficulties, both to com- tionaf moment in religious experience, a moment whose
mentators and to theologians, from its puzzling and baffiing singularly daunting and' awe-inspiring character must be
nature. l'his is the <ippi (orgl), the Wrath of Yahweh, which gravelydisturbing to thosepenonswho will recognizenothing
recurs in the New Testament as 3pyi10<o0,and which is in the divine nature but goodness,gentleness,love, and a
clearly analogousto the idea occurring in many religions ofa sort ofconfidential intimacy, in a word, only those aspectsof
mysterious ira deorum. To pass through the Indian Pantheon God which turn towards the world of men.
of gods is to find deities who seemto be made up altogether This dpyj is thus quite wrongly spoken of as 'natural'
out ofsuch an dpyrj;and even the higher Indian gods ofgrace wrath: rather it is an entircly non- or super-natural, t.e.
and pardon have frequently, beside their merciful, their numinous, quality. The rationalization processtakes place
'wrath' form. But as regards the 'wrath of Yahweh', the when it begins to be filled in with elementsderived from the
strange features about it have for long been a matter for moral reason: righteousnessin requital, and punishment for
constant remark. In the first place, it is patent from many moral transgression. But it should be noted that the idea of
passagesof the Old Testament that this 'wrath' has no con- the wrath of God in the Bible is always a synthesis, in which
cern whatever with moral qualities. There is something very the original is combinedwith the later meaning thathas come
bafling in the way in which it 'is kindled' and manifested. to fill it in. Something supra-rational throbs and gleams'
It is, as has been well said, 'like a hidden force ofnature', like palpable and visible, in the 'trath of God', prompting to
stored-up electricity, discharging itself upon anyone who a senseof'terror' that no 'natural' anger can arouse.
comes too near. It is 'incalculable' and'arbitrarv'. Anvone Besidethe 'w-rath' or 'anger' of Yahweh standsthe related
who is accustomedto think of deity only by its raiional attri- expressionJealousyofYahweh'. The state of mind denoted
butes must seein this 'wrath' mere caprice and wilful passion. by the phrase 'being jealous;fozYahweh' is also a numinous
state of mind, in which features of the tremendum pass over
But such a view would have been emphatically rejected by
the religious men of the Old Covenant, for to tlem the Wrath into t}le man who has experience of it.
of God, so far fiom being a diminution of His Godhead, ap- ('mcjestas')
z, Tlu element of 'Oaerpoweringness'
pears as a natural expression of it, an element of'holiness'
itselq and a quite indispensable one. And in this tlrey are We have been attempting to unfold the implications of that
entirely right. This dpl is nothing blut tJiretremendumitself, aspect of the mlsteriurntremendurn indicated by the adjective,
apprehended and expressedby the aid of a naive analogy and the result so far may be summarized in two words, con-
'from the domain of natural experience,in this casefrom the stituting, as before, what may be called an 'ideogram',
ordinary passionallife of men, But naive as it may be, the rather than a concept proper, viz. 'absolute unapproach-
analogy is most disconcertingly apt and striking; so much so ability'.
that it will always retain its value and for us no lessthan for It will be felt at once that there is yet a further element
the men of old be an inevitable way of expressingone element which must be added, that, namely, of 'might" 'power',
in the religious emotion. It cannot be doubted that, despite 'absolute overpoweringness'.lVe will take to represent this
the protest of Schleiermacher and Ritschl, Christianity also the term majestas,majesty-the more readily because any'
has something to teach of the 'wrath of God'. one with a feeling for languagemust detect a last faint trace
It will be again at once apparent that in the use of this of the numinous still clinging to the word. The tremmdun
 'Mystsnrul\.r TREMDNDUM' 2l
'uYstn,nI u Irl tnnueNpuu'
may then be rendered more adequately trcmmda majcstas, the consciousness of creaturehold.tIn the one case you have
or 'aweful majesty'. This second element of majesty may the creature as the work of the divine creative act; in the
continue to be vividly preserved, where the fint, tiat of other, impotence and general nothingnessas against-over-
unapproachabitty, recedesand dies away, as may be seen, powering might, dust and ashesas against 'majesty'. In the
for example, in mysticism. It is especiallyin relation to this L.r" h.t the fact of having been crcated; in the
"ur""yo,i
other, the statusof " the creature. And as soon as speculative
element of majesty or absolute overpowcringnessthat the
creature-consciousness, of which we have already spoken, thousht has come to concern itself with this latter type of
comes upon the scene, as a sort of shadow or subjective consc"iousness-as soonasit hascorneto analysethis 'majesty'
reflection of it. Thus, in contrast to 'the overpowering' of -we ale introduced to a set of ideas quite different from
which we are conscious as an object over against the self, those of creation or preservation- \{e come upon t}re ideas,
there is the feeling of one's own submergence,of being but fint, of the annihilation of self, and then, as its comPlement,
'dust and ashes'and nothingness. And this forms the numi- of the transcendent as the sole and entire reality. These are
nous raw material for the feeling of religious humility,! the characteristic notes of mysticism in all its forms, however
Here we must revert onceagain to Schleiermacher'sexpres- otherwise various in content' For one of the chiefest and
sion for what we call 'creature-feeling', viz. the'feeling of most general features of mysticism is just this self'depreciation
dependence'. We found fault with this phrase beforeon the (so pllidy parallel to the caseof Abraham), the estimation of
ground that Schleiermacher thereby takes as basisand point tfr. iaq of the perso.tal 'I', as something not pefectly or
of departure what is merely a secondaryeffect; that he sets essentiallyreal, ;r even as mere nullity, a self-depreciation
out to teach a consciousness of the religious objut only by way which comes io demand its own fulfi'Iment in practice in
of an inference from the shadow it castsupon refconscious- reiectins the delusion of selfhood, and so makes for the
ness. We have now a further criticism to bring against it, of the self. And on the other hand mysticism
"tioiftiU'tio"
and it is this. By 'feeling of dependence' Schleiermacher leads to a valuation of the transcendentobject of its reference
means consciousnessof Deizgeonditioned (as effect by cause), as that which through plenitude ofbeing stands supremeand
and so he develops the implications of this logically enough absolute, so that the hnite self contrasted uith it becomes
in his sectionsupon Creation and Preservation. On the side consciousevenin its nullity that 'I am naught, Thou art all''
of the deity the correlate to 'dependence' would thus be There is no thought in this of any causal relation between
'causality', i.e. God's character as all-causing and all-condi- God, the creator,ind the self, the creature' The p^ointfrom
tioning. But a senseof this does not enter at all into thac which speculation starts is not a 'consciousnessof absolute
immediate and first-hand religious emotion which we have dependince'-of myself as result and effect of a divine cause
the
in the moment of worship, and which we can recover in a -io" th.t would in point of fact lead to insistenceupon
measurefor analysis; it belongson the contrary decidedly to reality ofthe self; it siarts fiom a consciousnessof the absolute
the rationalside of the idea of God; its impiications admit of ,np.tio.ity or suPremacy of a power other than myself, and
preciseconceptual determination; and it springsfrom quitc it is only as it fatl'sback upon ontological terms to achieveits
a distinct source. The diflerence between the'feeling of end-terms generally borrowed fiom natural science-that
dependence'of Schleiermacher and that which finds typical that elemeni of the tremendun,originally aPprehended as
;pl..rit.tde of power', becomestransmuted into'plenitude of
utterance in the words of Abraham already cited might be
expressedas that betwien the consciousness of creatednes(
and beine'.
r Cf. R. R. Marctt, 'The Birth of Humility', in 77c Thrcshold Tiis leads again to the mention of mysticism' No mere
of tulfuin, I Guclibfli4h*tit'
2rd cd., tg!4. [Tr,] 2 Gcschafcatuit.
 ' ttlYsTrRIur"t r nnunno uM'
'vYs'rrRIuru rtruexnuu' 2Z

inquiry into the genesisof a thing can throw any light upon .EIcwas there than that I was. Indeed, I felt myself to be, if
possible,the lessreal of the two-
its essential nature, and it is hence immaterial to us how
mysticism historically arosc. But essentiallymysticism is the This exampleis particularly instructive asto the relation of
stressingto a very high degree, indeed the overstressing,of mysticismto the 'feelingsof identification', for the experience
the non-rational or supra-rational elemens in religion; and it here recountedwas on the point of passinginto it.r
is only intelligible when so understood. The various phases
and factors of the non-rational may receivevarying emphasis, g. Thz Elementof 'Energy' or Urgerryt
and the type of mysticism will differ according as some or There is, finally, a third element comprised in thoseof te-
othen fall into the background, What we have been analys- mendumand, majestas,awefulnessand majesty, and this I
ing, however, is a feature that recurs in all forms of mysticism venture to call the 'urgency' or 'energy' of the numinous
everywhere, and it is nothing but the 'crcature-consciousness' object. It is particularly vividly perceptible in the ripfi or
stressedto the utmost and to excess,the expressionmeaning, 'wrath'; and it everywhereclothes itself in symbolical ex-
if we may repeat the contrast already made, not 'feeling of pressions-vitality, passion, emotional temper, will, force,
our createdness'but 'feeling ofour creaturehood',that is, the movement,z excitement, activity, impetus. These features
consciousness of the littleness of every creaturein face of that are typical and recur again and again from the daemonic
which is above all creatures. level up to the idea of the 'living' God, We have here tJ:e
A characteristic common to all types of mysticism is the factor that has everywheremore than any other prompted
Idtntifuation, in different degrees of completeness,of the the fiercest opposition to the 'philosophic' God of mere
personal self with the transcendent Reality. This identifica- rational speculation,who can be put into a definition. And
tion has a source ofits own, with which we are not here con- for their part the philosophers have condemned these ex-
cerned, and springs from 'moments' of religious experience pressions of the energy of the numen, whenever tltey are
which would require separate treatment. 'Identification' brought on to the scene,as sheeranthropomorphism. In so
alone, however, is not enough for mlnticism; it must be f den- far as tleir opponents have for the most part themselves
tification with the Something that is at once absolutely failed to .."og.rir. that the terms they have borrowed fiom
supreme in power and reality and wholly non-rational. And the sphereof human conative and afective life have merely
it is among the mystics that we most encounterthis element value as analogies,the philosophers are right to condemn
of religious consciousness.R6cijac has noticed this in his them. But they are wrong, in so far as, this error notwith-
Essai sur lesJondements dc la connaissancen)stique (Pais, rBgT). standing,theseterms stood for a genuine aspectof the divine
He writes (p. 9o) : nature-its non-rational aspect-a due consciousnessof
which servedto protect religion itselffrom being 'rationalized'
Le mysticismecommencepar la crainte,par le sentimentd'une away.
dominationuniverselle, inaincible,et devient plus tard un ddsir For wherever men have been contending for the 'living'
d'union avec ce qui domine ainsi.
God or for voluntarism, there, we may be sure, have been
And some very clear examples of this taken from the reli- non-rationalistsfighting rationalists and rationalism, It r.r'as
gious experience of the present day are to be found in W. sowith Luther in his controveny with Erasmus; and Luther's
James (op. crt.,p. 66): omnipotentia Dei in his De SeraoArbitio is nothing but the
r Comparc too the cxperience on p.
The perfect stillnessof the night wasthrilled by a more solemn 7o: '. . .lAhat I felt on thcsc occasion:
was a temporary loss of my own identity'.
silence. The darknessheld a presencethat wasall the more felt
becauseit was not seen. I could not anv morehavedoubtedthat ' Thc 'mobilitas Dci' of Lactantius.
24 'Ir.rvsrrntuM rnruruouu'
union of 'majesty'-in the senseof absolute supremacy- Cneprpx. V
with this 'energy', in the senseofa force that knows not stint
nor stay, which is urgent, active, compelling, and alive. In TH E AN ALYSIS OF 'M YST ER IU M '
mysticism,too, this element of 'energy' is a very living and
Einb.gtif.tdt Gou isrkrin Cou.
vigorousfactor, at any rate in tl-re'voluntaristic' mysticism,
'A God comprchcndcdis ao God.' (fensrmcrx.)
the mysticism of love, where it is very forcibly seenin that
'consuming fire' of love whose burning shength the mystic I A JE gaveto the objecttowhich the numinousconsciousness
can hardly bear, but begsthat the heat that has scorchedhim YY is directed the name mltsteiumtremendurn, and we then
may be mitigated, lest he be himself destroyed by it. And in set ourselvesfirst to determine the meaning of the adjective
this urgency and pressure the mystic's 'love' claims a per- tremendum-whichwe found to be itself only justified by
ceptible kinship with the 6Wi itself, the scorching and con- analogy-because it is more easily analysed than the sub-
suming wrath of God; it is the same'energy', only differently stantivc idea m7slerium.\Nehave now to turn to *ris, and try,
directed. 'Love', saysone ofthe mystics,'is nothing elsethan as best we man by hint and suggestion, to get to a clearer
quenchedwrath.' apprehensionof what it implies.
The element of'energy' reappearsin Fichte's speculations
on the Absolute as the gigantic, never-resting, active world- 4. Tlu'Whol$ Otha'
stress,and in Schopenhauer'sdaemonic 'Will'. At the same It might be thought that the adjective itself gives an ex-
time both these writers are guilty of tlr.e same error that is planation of the substantive; but this is not so. It is not
already found in myth; they transfer 'natural' attributes, merely analytical; it is a synthetic attribute to it; i.e. tremen-
which ought only to be used as 'ideograms' for what is itself dum adds sometling not necessarily inherent irt mysteium.
properly beyond utterance, to the non-rational as real quali- It is true that t}re reactiors in consciousnessthat correspond
fi.cations of it, and they mistake symbolic expressionsof to the one readily and spontaneously overflow into those that
feelings lor adequate concepts upon which a 'scientific' correspondto t}re other; in fact, anyonesensitive to the use
structure of knowledge may be based. of words would commonly feel that the idea of 'mystery'
In Goethe, aswe shall seelater, the sameelement of energy (m2steiun)is socloselybound up with its synthetic quali$ing
is emphasizedin a quite unique way in his strange descrip- attribute 'aweful' (tremendun)that one can hardly say the
tions of the experiencehe calls 'daemonic'. former without catching an echo of the latter, 'mystery'
almost of itself becorning 'aweful mystery' to us. But the
passagefrom the oneidea to the other need not by any means
be always so easy. The elements of meaning implied in
'alvefulness'and 'mysteriousness' are in themselvesdefinitely
different. The latter may so far preponderate in the religious
consciousness, may stand out so vividly, that in comparison
with it the former almost sinks out of sight; a case which
again could be clearly exemplified from some forms of
mysticism. Occasionally, on the other hand, the revene
happens, an'd the tremendum may in turn occupy the mind
without the m\stzrium.
This latter, then, needs special consideration on its own
 . M YSTERI U M , TrrE ANALYSTSor 'uystrntuut
26 THE ANALYSI S OF

account. We need an for the mental reaction rationalization of religion, which often endsby constructing
peculiar to il: , such a massivestructure oftheory and such a plausiblefabric
though, as it is strictly applicable only to a 'natural' state of of interpretation, that the rmystery' is frankly excluded.r
d Both imaginative 'myth', when developedinto a system,and
'$cpot:,. Stulor is plainly a different thing from tremor; -it intellectualist Scholasticism,when worked out to its com-
sie"ifi.s bt""k *o. L$!t9!g3C!nb, pletion, are methods by which the fundamental fact of re-
4lSa4lqgntAolute.r Taken, indeed, in its purely natural ligious experienceis, as it wcre, simply rolled out so thin and
sense,mysterium would first mean merelya sccretor a mystery flat as to be linally eliminated altogcther.
in the senseofthat which is alien to us, uncomprehendedand Even on the lowest level of religious development the
unexplained; and so far mystciumis itself merely an ideo- essentialcharacteristic is therelore to be sought elsewhere
gram, an analogical notion taken from the natural sphere, than in the appearance of'spirit' representations. It lies
illustrating, but incapable of exhaustivcly rendering, our rather, we repeat, ig-a p_erg!!41!4gqqnt'_o_f consciousness,to-
leal meaning. Taken in the religious sense,that which is wl!, ths,!tup7! lefo1q ro4qthlng 'wtrglly other', whetller such
'!qy$g4g5Jt-to give it perhaps the most striking expres- ?4_9!heI_b9_na_qf C{lprnll o1 jd4er4on ol'deva', or be left
sion-lre-'.ttl'olly-glLhgr' (1drepov,atryad,alienum),that which U!!hgg! a!L4ame. Nor doesit make any difference in this
is quite beyond the sBberqof thg-!D-uj[ tlrg inle]ligible, and respect whether, to interpret and preservetheir apprehension
the familiar, which therefore falls quite_oltside the limits. of of this 'other', men coin original imagery of their own or
th"'."@{.Il4g I4s mind wi-th adapt imaginations drawn from the rvorld of legend, the
blank wonder and astonishment. fabrications of fancy apart from and prior to any stinings of
This is already to be observedon the lowest and earliest daemonic dread.
level of the religion of primitive man, where the numinous In accordance with laws of which we shall have to speak
consciousness is but an inchoatestirring ofthe feelings. \\rhat again later, this feeling or corrsciousnessofthe 'wholly other'
is really characteristic of this stageis not-as the theory of w-i!!,e!E!h {s_e!119,_el,lqmetllqes be indirectly aroused by
Animism would have us believe-that mcn are here con- lleans of obiects whi readv_luzzling gpo4 the
cerned with curious entities, called 'souls'or 'spirits', rvhich '@sing o1a11q9q{149 qh.qt1gtcr;
happen to be invisible. B&Pr9!cn!4!iensof spirits and.similar such asextraordinary phenomenaor astonishingoccurrences
conggplro.Il!4tCI4qrer o,4q4!d 4!!.eq4!ymoder qf:r4uonal i2- or things in inanimate nature, in the animal world, or among
r.!g iggqe_d"gtt qxperie"ce, !9 whigh !\E 3lgjlqsiglgrv. men. Bu!_bglg_sqre_melle we are dealing with a case of
ft-"V t." in somewiy or otherit little rnatters how, e$""i",i. rd;i iv-4l t-ihe-numin-
^tttr"ptt
to guess the riddle it propounds, and their effect is at the ous' a4d the 'natural' moments of consciousness-andnot
sanie time alwaysto weakenand deadenthe experienceitself' merely with the gradual enhancementof one of them-the
They are the sourcefrom which springs,not religion, but the 'natural'-till it becomesthe other. As in the caseof 'natural
t Compare also obstupefaure.Still more exact €quivalents are ihc Grcek fear'and 'daemonic dread'already considered,so here the
\ip.pos aia Bappci". The sound 0 a p P (thanb) exccllently depicts this statc of transition from natural to daemonicamazementis not a mere
mind of blank, staring wondcr' And the difference bctwccn the momenls of matter of degree. But it is only.uatblheJatlet tlgt-Se sqsr-
stupol tremot s vely 6nely suggcsted by rhc passagc, Mark x' 3z (d' iny'a,
^r.d,On the othcr hand, what was said above ofthc facitity and raPidity
p. r5B). plelqlr!4ry_extrt9ss1t:1r-vtystqia!!lperfe-cly larmonizes, as will
withwhich tic two moments mergc and blend is also markedly true of 0rippos,
r A spirit or soul that has been conccivcd and comprchended no longcr
which then bccomes a classical tcrm for the (ennobled) awe of thc n\rminous
in gencral. So Mark xvi- 5 is rightly tlanslated by Luthcr'und sie eBtsetzten prompts to 'shuddcring', as is provcd by Spiritualism- But it thercby ccaics to
sici', and by thc English Authorir.d V.oioo 'and thcy werc atrrigbtcd'- bc of intcrcst for the psychology ofrcligion,
28 r HE A N A L YS IS o F ' M Ys rER ru M ' TrrE ANALysrs oF 'IltysrE nruM' 29
trglelt pg!1aps rnore clearly in the caseof the adjectival form But it doesthis,
@,fancy. 'dnd
'!sy$c4ous'. No one says,strictty and in earnest,ofa piece not-Eccinse-it ia 'sofimilg long white' (as someone
ofclockwork that is be1'ondhis grasp,or of a sciencethat he oncedefineda ghost),nor yet throughanyof thepositiveand
cannot understand: 'Ihat is "mysterious" to me.' conceptualattributeswhich fanciesabout ghostshave in-
It might be obiected that the mvsteriou! is !9!qqih14,C vented, but because iq is a thingthat 'doesnit really exist at
ryhichj-s and-remains absolutely.-aniliavariably-beyoudour 4Lgg_fyhgllgth4_sjqgthiqg,rvhich hasno ptace in our
uqdg$L4l|ding, whereasthat which merely eludesour under- gchemeofreality but belongs to an absolutelydifferent one,
standing for a time but is perfectly intelligible in principle and which at the same time arousesan inepressible interest
should be called, not a 'mystery', but merely a 'problem'. -the
in mind.
But this is by no means an adequateaccount of the matter. But that which is perceptibly true in tlle fear of ghosts,
which is, after all, only a caricatureofthe genuinething, is in
comprehension.not only becauseour knowledge has certatn a far stronger sensetrue ofthe 'daemonic,experienceitsel{ of
irremovable li but becausein it we come upon some- which the fear of ghosts is a mere off*hoot. And while,
' following this main line of development,this element in the
numinous consciousness, the feeling of the ,wholly other', is
fore recoil in a wonder that strikesus chill and heightened and clarified, its higher modes of manifestation
Thtr *ry b. r""di-.tiil 6y i tonsideration of that come into being, which set the numinous obiect in confast
"l"u."t
Cegraded oflshoot and travesty of the genuine 'numinous' not only to everything wonted and familiar (i.e. in the end,
driad or awe, the fear of ghosts. Let us try to analysethis r to nature in general), thereby turning it into the ,super-
experience, We have already specifiedthe peculiar feeling- natural', but finally to the world itself,and therebv exalt it to
element of'dread' aroused by the ghost as that of'grue', the 'supramundane', that which is above the whole world-
grisly horror.2 Now this 'grue' obviously contributes some- oroer.
thing to the attraction which ghost-storiesexercise,in so far, In mysticism we have in the 'beyond' (int<ewa) again the
namely, as the relaxation oftension ensuing upon our release strongest stressingand over-stressinEof those non-rational
from it relieves the rnind in a pleasant and agreeableway. elements which are already inhereni in all religion. Mysti-
So far, however, it is not really the ghost itself that givesus cism continues to its extreme point this contrasting of tlre
pleasure.but thg lbq1-lfat *c afe,rid qf it' But obviouslythis numinous object (the numen), as the .wholly othei,, with
quite insuficient to explain the ensnaring attraction of the ordinary experience.Not content with contrastinEit l,ith all
ghost-story. The ghost's real attraction rather consistsin that is of nature or this world, mysticismconcluJes by con-
-s
this, that o!!1self and- in,an. u4qolqlnqlt.dcgqq it -e4tlc,esJhe -trastingit with Beingitselfand all that 'is', and finally aitually
imagination, awabgging-strong interest ,arld curiosity; it is calls it 'that which is nothing'. By this ,nothing' is meant not
I In ConJcssiotLs, ii. 9. r, Augustine very striLingly suggests this stifening, only that of which nothing can be predicated,but that which
benumbing element ofthc'wholly other'and its contrast to the rational aspcct is absolutely and intrinsically other than and opposite of
of the numcn 1the dirsimilc and the sinilc: gv-qrythingthat is and can be thought. But while exaggerat-
'Quid est illud, quod interlucet mihi et percutit cor meum sinc laesionc?
Et inhorresco et inard esco. Inluttcsa, in quantum dissirnili.r ei sum. Inzldesco,
ing to the point of paradox is negationand contra;i-the
in quantum simils €i sum.' only mcans open to conceptual thought to apprehend the
('!Vhat is that which glcams through me and smitcs my hcart without
wounding it? I am both a-shuddcr and a-glow. A-shudder, in so far as I am
rylsterium-mr-sticism at the same time retaini the boitizte
unlike it, a-glow in so far as I anr like it.')
qualityof the'rvholly other' as a very living factor in ie over-
2
Erut.In, giisefl. brimming religious emotion.
 . M YSTERI U I T '
3o THE ANALYSI S OF

But what is true of the strange 'nothingness' of our mystics

and the sinyatd,the'vo!d' Cneprrn VI
holds good equally of the sunlt:am
and'eirptineis' of the Buddhist mystics. This aspirationfor 5 . T HE ELEMENT OF FASCINATION
the 'void' and for becoming void, no lessthan the aspiration
ofour western mysticsfor 'nothing' and lor becomingnothing, rlrnn qualitative contentof the numinous expcrience,to
must seem a kind of lunacy to anyone who has no inner I which 'the mysterious' stands as form, is in one of its
sympathy for the esotericlanguage and ideogramsof mysti aspectsthe element of daunting 'awefulness' and 'majesty',
cism, and lacks the matrix from which these come neces- which has already been dealt wittr in detail; but it is dear
sarily to birth. To such an one Buddhism itself will be simply that it has at the sametime anothcr aspect,in which it shows
a mLrbid sort of pessimism. But in fact the 'void' of the itself as something uniquely attractive and faseinating.
eastern,like t-he'nothing' of the western,mysticis a numi- These two qualities, the daunting and the fascinating,now
nous ideogram of the 'wholly other'. combine in a strange harmony ofcontrasts, and the resultant
These Lrms 'supernatural' and 'transcendent'rgive the dual character of the numinous consciousness, to which the
appearance of poiitive attributes, and, as ap-plied.to the entire religious development bears witness, at any rate fiom
*yrt.tion., tlrey appear to d iv estthe m2steiumof its originally t}le level of the 'daemonic dread' onwards, is at once the
negative meaning-ind to turn it into an affirmation' On tlre strangest and most notewortiy phenomenon in the whole
sidi of conceptual thought this is nothing more than fPPear- history of religion. The daemonic-divine object may appear
ance, for it is obvious that the two terms in question are to the mind an object of horror and dread, but at the same
merely negative and exclusive attributes with reference to time it is no lesssomething that allures with a potent charm,
'nature' aid the world or cosmosrespectively. But on the and the creature, who trembles before it, utterly cowed and
side of the feeling-contentit is otherwise;tlrat ls in ve.rytruth cast down, has always at the sametime the impulse to tum to
positive in the highest degree, though here too, as beforg, it, nay even to make it somehowhis own. The'mystery'is
i-t cannot be rencl"cred.*!ti.it i.t conceptual terms' It is for him not merely something to be wondered at but some-
thro"gt this positive feeling-contentthat the conceptsof the thing that entrances him; and beside that in it which be-
'transiendent' and'supernatural' becomeforthwith designa- wilders and confounds, he feels a something that captivates
tions for a unique 'wholly other' reality and quality, some- and transports him with a strange ravishment, rising often
thing of whose special character we canfeel, without being enough to the pitch of dizzy intoxication; it is the Dionpiac-
able to givc it clear conceptual expression. element in the numen.
r Literally, supramu td anel. ibcrucltlidt Theideas and conceptswhich are the parallels or'schcmata'
on the rational side of this non-rational element of 'fascina-
tion' are love, mercy, pity, comfort; these are all 'natural'
elements of the common psychical life, only they are here
thought as absolute and in completeness.But important as
theseare for the experienceof religious bliss or felicity, they
do not by any means exhaust it. It is just the sameas with
the oppositeexperienceof religibus infelicity-the experience
of the Spyi or 'wrat}l' of God:-both alike contain funda-
mentaUy non-rational eiements. Bliss or beatitude is more,
far more, than the mcle natural feeling of being comforted,
 T1IE ELD, M ENT O F FASCI NAT I O N TI{E EL EM EN T OF FASC IN ATION 33
32
ofreliance, of the joy oflove, howeverthesemay be height- recognize, besidesmere religion in general, the particular
ened and enhancid. Just as 'wrath', taken in a purdy roots of m)'sticism. I refer to those numerouscurious modes
rational or a purely ethical sense,doesnot exhaustthat pro- ofl behaviour and fantastic forms of mediation. by means of
found elemenl of atoefulncsswhich is lockcd in the mystery of which the primitive religious man attempts to master 'the
deity, so neither does 'graciousness'exhaust the profound mysterious', and to fill himself and even to identify himself
element of wonderfulnessand rapture which lies in the with it. These modesof behaviour fall apart into two classes.
mysterious beatific experience of deity. The term 'gracc' On the one hand the 'magical' identification of the self with
may indeed be taken as its aptestdesignation,but then only the numen proceeds by means of various transactions, at
in ihe sensein which it is reilly applied in the languageof once magical and devotional in character-by formula,
the mystics, and in which not only the 'gracious intent' but ordination, adjuration, consecration, exorcism, &c.: on
'someihi.rg more' is meant by the word. This 'something the other hand are the 'shamanistic' rvaysofprocedure, pos-
more' has its antecedent phasesvery far back in the history session,indwelling, self-fulfilment in exaltation and ecstasy.
of relisions. All these have, indeed, their starting-points simply in
It niay well be possible, it is even probable, that in the 6nt magic, and their intention at first was certainly simply to
stage ol its development the religious consciousnessstarted appropriate the prodigious force of the numen for the natural
with only one of its poles-the 'daunting' aspectof the numen ends ofman. But the processdoes not rest there. Possession
-and so at first to;k shape only as 'daemonic dread'. But of and bv t}le numen becomesan end in itself; it begins to be
if this did not point to something beyond itself, if it were not sought for its own sake; and the wildest and most artificial
but one 'moment' of a completer experience,pressingup methods of asceticismare put into practice to attain it. In a
gradually into consciousness,then no transition would be word, the uita rcligiosabegins; and to remain in thesestrange
possibleto the feelingsofpositive self-surrenderto the numen. and bizarre statesofnuminous possession becomesa good in
The only type of woiship that could result from dris 'dread' itself, even a way of salvation, wholly different from the
alone would be that of &na,rciofla,'and dnory€neu,taking profane goods pursued by means of magic. Here, too, corn-
the form of expiation and propitiation, the averting or the mencesthe processof development by which the experience
appcasement of the 'wrath' of the numen. It can never ex- is matured and purified, till finally it reachesits consumma-
piiin ho* it is that 'the numinous' is the object ofsearch and tion in the sublimest and purest statesof the 'life witi n the
iesire and yearning, and that too for its own sake and not Spirit' and in the noblest mysticism. Widcly various as these
only for the sake of the aid and backing that men expect stat€s are in themselves, yet they have this element in
from it in the natural sphere. It can never explain how this common, that in them the m2steriunis experienced in its
takes place, not only in the forms of'rational' religious essential,positive, and specific character, as something that
worshiip, but in those queer 'sacramental' observancesand bestows upon man a beatitude beyond compare, but one
rituals and procedures of communion in which the human whosereal nature he can neither proclaim in speechnor con-
being secksto get tie numen into his possession. ceive in thought, but may knorv only by a direct and living
RJligions prictice may manilest itself in thosenormal and experience. It is a bliss which embracesall those blessings
easily intelligible forms rvhich occupysoprominent a placein that are indicated or suggcstedin positive fashion by any
the history of religion, such forms as propitiation,,petition' 'doctrine of salvation', and it quickens all of them through
sacrifice, thanksgiving, &c. But besidesthesethere is a series and through; but these do not exhaust it. Rather by its all-
ofstrange proceedingswhich areconstantlyattracting greater pervading, penetrating glow it makes of thesevery blessings
and greiter attention, and in which it is claimed that we may more than the intellect can conceive in them or affi.rm of
34 TIIE EL E M EN T O F F A SC IN A TION TIIE DLEMENT Otr FASCINATION
35
them. It gives the peace that passesunderstanding, and of O nov_amansio, te pia concio, genspia munit,
which the tongue can only stammer brokenly. Only fiom Provehit, excitat, auget, identitat, efficit, ,roiti
afar, by metaphors and analogies,do we come to apprehend This is where-the living .something more' of the
what it is in itself, and even so our notion is but inadequate . fascinans,
the element offascination, is to be found. It lives io lessin
and confused. those-tenseextollings of the blessingofsalvation, which recur
'Eye hath not secn,nor ear heard, neitherhave enteredinto in all religions of salvation, and Jtand in such remarkable
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for contrast the relatively meagre and frequently childish
them that love him.' lVho doesnot feel the exalted sound of import of-to-
that which is revealed in them by conceot or bv
these words and the 'Dionysiac' element of transport and image. Everywhere salvation is something rvhor.
fervour in them? It is instructive that in such phrasesas is often-very little apparent, is even wholliy obscure, -"u.i.rg
to the
these,in which consciousness would fain put its highest con- 'natural' man; on the contrary, sofar as hi understantls it, he
summation into words, 'all images fall away' and the mind tends to-find-it highly tedious and uninteresting, sometimes
turns from them to grasp expressionsthat ale purely negative. downright distasteful and repugnant to his riature, as he
And it is still more instructive that in reading and hearing would, for instance,find the beatific vision ofGod in our own
such words their merely negative character simply is not doctrine of salvation, or the henlsisof ,God all in all, among
noticed I that we can let whole chains of such negationsen' the mystics. 'So far as he understands',be it noted; but then
rapture, even intoxicate us, and that entire hymns-and he doesnot understand it in the least. Becausehe lacks the
deeply impressive hymns-have been composed,in which inward teachingofthe Spirit, he must needsconfound what
there is really nothing positive at all ! All tlfs teachesus the rs onereclhrm asan expressionfor the experienceofsalvation
independence of the positive content of this experiencefrom -a-mere ideogram of what is felt, whoseimport it hints at by
the implications of its overt conceptual expression,and how analogy-with 'natural' concepts,as though it were itself
it can be firmly grasped, thoroughly understood, and pro- iust
such an one. And so he'wandlrs ever fariirer from the eJal,.
foundly appreciated, purely in, with, and from the feeling It is not only in t_hereligious feeling of longing tha"t the
itself. moment of fascination is a living factor. It is already alive
Mere love, mere trust, for all the glory and happinessthey and presentinthe moment of .solemnity',both in the gathered
bring, do not explain to us that moment of rapture that concentration and humble submergenceof private dlvotion,
breathes in our tenderestand most heart-felt hymns ofsalva- when the mind is exalted to the holn urrd i., the common
tion, as also in such eschatologicalhyrnns of longing as that rvorship of the congregation, where this is practised with
Rhyme ofSt. Bernard in which the very versesseemto dance. earnestness and deep sincerity, as, it is to be feired. is with us
a thing rather desired than realized. It is this and nothing
Urbs Sion unica, mansiomystica,condita coelo, else that in the solemn moment can fill the soul so full and
Nunc tibi gaudeo,nunc tibi lugeo,tristor, anhelo, r 'O Sion, thou city. sole and
Te, quia corporenon queo'pectoresaepepenetro; ,
ncavens,
single, mrstic mansion hidden away in the
now I rejo)cc in thec, no\v I moan for thee and mourn and yearn for
Sed caro terrea, terraque carnear mox cado retro.
jhcc; th:: oltel I plss-rhrough in the heart, as I crnnot in rhc b"ay, U"f l.i"g
Nemo retexere, nemoque promere sustinet ore, but earthly flcsh and flcshly earti soon I fall back. None can aisci*. or .r"..,
quo tua moenia, quo capitolia plena nitore. in--speechw_hatpl€nary radiance fills thy walls and thy citadcls. f .." iittf.
Id queo dicere, quo modo tangere pollice coelum' tell ofit at I can touch the skics with my 6ngcr, or run upon th. oi ""
dart stand still inrhe air. This thy splendour overwhelmi every hcart,
".. "
IJt mare currerc, sicut in aere figere telum' (J reacet (, tunclcssCtty, Do prarsecan bclie thcc.
O-J.Sion,
O new dwelling_place. tlcc
Opprimit omne cor ille tuus decor, O Sion, O Pax. thc concours€ and people of thc faithful crccls and exahs, inspi.." .ij irr"i.u"o,
Urbs sine trmporer nulla potest fore laus tibi mendax. joi.u! to itscli aud makca coEplet end oDc.,
 TIr E EL EM EN T OF FASC TN ATION
36 T I I A E L D ME N T O F F AS C IN AT ION 37
cism, a trace of it survivesin all truly felt statesof religious
keepit so inexpressiblytranquil. Schleiermacher'sassertionr
true of it,'as of-the numinous consciousness in beatitude,however restrained and kept within measure by
i, f.rt
^p. really occur alone on its other factors. This is seenmost clearly from the psychology
seieral.'viz. that it cannot -own
with rational of those great experiences-of grace, conversion, second
;;;;;;;, - .*..p, combined and penetrated
o,
birth-in which the religious experience appears in its pure
S",, if this be admitted,lt is upon otler grounds
intrinsic nature and in heightenedactivity, so as to be more
it u" thot" adduced by Schleiermacher; while, on the other
"f.-""".
cleally graspedthan in the lesstypical form of piety instilled
hand, it may occupy a more or lesspredominant place.and
in by education. The hard core of such experiencesin their
i.ud io .tut.t of iuim (i"uxtd as well as of transport'
3u1 in all the Christian form consistsof the redemption from guilt and
whi"h it a/rnostof ieelf wnoity nUs the soul'
in bondageto sin, and we shall have prcsently to sce that this
rn"ttifota forms in which it is aroused in us, whether
also doesnot occur without a participation of non-rational
.r.h^tolosicul promiseofthe coming kingdom ofGod and-the
transcend"entblissofParadise, or in the guiseofan entry into elements.But leaving this out of account, what we have here
it to point out is the unutterablenessof what has been yet
inui U."tin" reality that is 'above the world'; whether
present genuinelyexperienced,and how such an experiencemay pass
come first in expectancy or pre-intimation or in a
.*oU."." ('When I but haic Thee, I ask no quesdon of into blisful excitement,rapture, and exaltation verging often
ft"i""" in all theseforms, outwardly diversebut on the bizerre and the abnormal.r This is vouched for by the
autobiographicaltestimony of the 'converted' from St. Paul
inwardly akin, it appearsas a strange and mighty propulsion
""a.utth');
onward. William James has collected a great number of
towards an ideal goodknown only to religion.and.inits nature
i,i"Jr*""t"Uy n"on-rational, which the mind knows of in thcse, without, however, himself noticing the non-rational
vearninq and p.eserrtiment, recognizing it for what it is elementthat thrills in them.
its Thus, one writes
ir.ti"a irt" ou.i"u." and inadequale symbols which are
onlv expression. And this shows that above and beyond our . . . Forthe momentnothingbut an ineffablejoy and exaltation
,raio.r"i being lies hidden the ultimate and highestpart ofour remained.It is impossible fully to describethe experience.It lvas
of
iti"t., *fti"fi can find no satisfactionin the mere allaling like theeffectof somegreatorchestra,u'hen all the separatenotes
psychical,or intellectual imp-ulses and havemeltedinto one swellingharmony, tlat leavesthe listener
the need.sof our sensuous,
ih. *Vstics called it the basisor ground ofthe soul' conscious of nothing savethat his soul is being wafted upwards
and almmt bunting with its own emotion. (VarieliesoJReligious
We iaw that in the caseof the element of the mysterious the
".""i"S""
Expuiew, p. 66.)
and. transcendent
'whollf other' led on to the supernatural
urra ttt.t above these appeared the 'beyond' (iaerervo) of And another:
through the non-rational side of religion being
the . . . The more I seekwordsto expressthis intimate intercou$e,
tuir.J ao its highist power and stressedto excess' is
-y.ti"i.m, It
the moreI feelthe impossibilityofdescribingthe thing by any of
;;;;1" tlte cas"eof tie element of 'fascination' ; here, too' is our usualimages. (Ibid., p. 68.)
of
oorribt" a transition into mysticism' At its highest point I This may be found fatal to the attempt to construct a'rcligion within thc
L.tt tf." fascinating becomesthe 'overabounding', 'e-'iuber-
limits of pure reason', or 'of humanity'; but, none the less,the matter is as wc
u.rti,' th" mystical ';oment' rvhich exactly correspondsupon havc describcd it, as far as concerns thc psychological inquiry into religion,
and
this iine to ihe dzlr.rvo upon the other line of approlclr' which asks,not what it is within thc aforementioned limits, but what it is in
its own esscntial nalure, And for that matt€r this proceeding of coDstructing a
*triJ ir to be understood-accordingly' But while this feeling
'humanity'prior to and apart from the most ccntral and potent of humar
of *r" 1o.r"t-uUounding' is specially characteristic of mysti' capacitics is like nothing so much as the attcmpt to framc a standard idea of the
human body after having prcviously cut off the head.
I Glubathhrc, | 5' ' dzt Abctsclutarylkla.
38 THE ELEMENToF FAscrNATroN TI I E ELEM ENT O F FASCI NATI O N
39
And almost with the precision of dogma, a third (Jonathan which is only in appearancea cold and negative
state. It is
Edwards) indicates the qualitative difference of the ex- onty conceptuzlly that .Nirvana' is a negati;; it is feltincon_
perienceof beatitude from other 'rational' joy: sciousnessas in the strongestdegreep"ositive;
t ;..;;;;
The conceptionswhich the saintshave of the loveliness of God 'fascination' by which its votarieJ are a. .r..i.Ju*uy "
and rhat kind of delight which they ec<perience in it are quite as are the Hindu or the Christian by -".t th" .o...rpo.dino
peculiarand entirely different from anything which a natural objectsof their.wonhip. I recall vividly a
man can possess or of which he can form any proper notion. wrrn a buddhrst monl<. He had been putting "."".;";i;i;;;
before me
(Ibid.,p. rz9.) and pertinaciously the argum;,; f;; ;i"
Telh,?{iTlly
lJudrrhrst'theologyof negation',the doctrini ofAnd.tman
Cf. also pp. rg2, 225; and the testimony of Jacob Boehme 'entrre emptincss,.lVhen he had and
givenon p.4r7. Also this of Boehme: made an end, I askedhim,
what.then Nirvanaitself is; and after a lone pu"ra
.u*"'u.
But f can neither write nor tell ofwhat sort of Exaltationthe tast lhe slngleanswcr,low and restrained:iBtrs_unspeak_
triumphingin the Spirit is. It canbe comparedwith nought,but able'. And the hushedrestraint of that answer,,h.
that when in the midst of death Me is born. and it is like the ,;i;-r;;iy
ofhis voice, demeanour,and gesture,made more clear
resurrectionof the dcad. what
was meant than the words themselves.
With the mystics these experiencespass up wholly into the And.so we maintain, on the one hand, followine
the zra
'over-abounding'. 'O that I could tell you what the heart eminenttae et cawalitatis,that th€ divine is i"a."a tfr.-frigfr.*,
feels,how it burns and is consumedinwardly! Only, I find strongest,best,Ioveliest,and dearestthat man can
thfik ;f:
no words to expressit. I can but say: Might but one little but.we asserton the other, following the oia neeation;-;al.
drop of what I feel fall into Hell, HeIl would be transformed (;od, rs not mn_ely the ground and superlative of-all that can
into a Paradise.' So saysSt, Catherire of Genoa; and all the oe tnought; He is in Himself a subject on His own
account
multitude of her spiritual kindred tesdry to the sameeffect. and in Himself,
What we Christians know as the experiencesofgrace and
the second birth have their parallels also in the religions of In,the adjective6evdsthe Greeklanguagepossesses
a word
high spiritual rank beyond the borders of Christianity. Such peculiarly difficult to translate, and "sta;d;g {b;-;;
il..
are the breaking out of the saving 'Bodhi', the opening ofthe p.eculiarlydifficult_tograsp in ali its strangeviiaiio^.
La
'heavenly eye', th e Jfidna,by I {aarasprasdda,whichisvictorious rt we askwhencethis difficulty arises,the answer plain:
is it
over the darknessofnescienceand shinesout in an experience is,becauseacrvtisis simply r-he'numinous
t-"rriv
with which no other can be measured. And in all thesethe a tower level,iu an arrestedform, attenuatedbyrhetorical
"i.i"*"'rt or
entirely non-rational and specific element in tie beatific poetic usage). Consequently6eydsis the .q"iu"t.oioi};r
experience is immediately noticeable. The qualitative ancr rremendus. lt may mean evil or imposing, potent and
character of it varies widely in all these cases,and is again strange, queer and marvellous, honifying an-d iascinating
in them all very different from its parallels in Christianity; divine and daemonic, and a source oi..i..gy,.
Sophocl",
still in all it is very similar in intensity, and in all it is a m€ans to awakenthe feeling of ,numinor, throueh the
'salvation' and an absolute 'fascination', which in contrast wfiole gamut ol-itsphasesat the contemplation "i", of mai.
the
to all that admits of 'natural' expression or comparison creature of marvel, in the choric ,ong oi th. Antigone:
is deelly imbued with the 'over-abounding' ('exuberant')
zolid rd 6eryd,rorl8iy dv0p6rov6<v6repovtz!\et.
nature of the numen.
And this is also entirely true of the rapture of Nirvana, This line defiestranslation,just becauseour language
has no
40 THE ELEM ENT O F FASCI NATIO N

term t}rat can isolate distinctly and gather into one word the
total numinous impression a thing may make on the mind.
The nearest that German can get to it is in the expression
dasUngeheuerc (monstrous),while in English 'weird' is perhaps
the closestrendering possible. The mood and attitude repre-
sented in the foregoing verse might then be fairly well
rendered by such a translation as:
Much thereis that is weird; but noughtis weirderthanman.
The German ungeheuer is not by derivation simply 'huge', in
quantity or quality;-this, its common meaning, is in fact a
rationalizing interpretation ofthe real idea; it is that which
is not geheuer,i.e. approximately, the uncannlt-in a word, the
numinous. And it is just this elementof the uncanny in man
that Sophocleshas in mind. If this, its fundamental meaning,
be really and thoroughly felt in consciousness, then the word
could be taken as a fairly exact expressionfor the numinous
in its aspects of mystery, awefulness,majesty, augustness,
and 'energy'; nay, even the aspect of fascination is dimly
felt in it.
The variations of meaning in the German word ungefuuer
can be wcll illustrated from Goethe.r He, too, usesthe word
first to denote the huge in size-what is too vast for our
faculty ofspace-perception,suchasthe immeasurablevault of
the night sky. In other passages the word retains its original
non-rational colour more markedly; it comes to mean the
uncanny, the fearful, the dauntingly 'other' and incompre-
hensible, that which arousesin \s sluplr and 0dppos;and
finally, in the wonderful words of Faust which I have put
at the beginning of this book, it becomesan almost exact
synonym for our 'numinous' under all its aspects.
Das Schaudernist der MenschheitbestesTeil.
Wie auch die \{elt ihm dasGeftihl verteuere,
Ergriffen fithlt er ticf daslJngeheuere.z
' C,f. Wilh.lnt Mc;skrs Waddcrjalw,Bk.l, ch. ro; llTahlamt:andttrhalt n, 2. rsi
Dichtung und Walvluit, 2- g. 4. 2o.
2 Awc is thc b6t of man: howe'er thc world's
Misprizing of thc fceling would prevent us,
Dccply wc fcd, oncc grippc4 the wcird Portcntous.
(Gozrne, Faafl, Sccond Part, Act r, Sc. v.)