Handbook of Religious Experience Book

I found this book/edition to be anything but "delightfully clear & accessible" (from the GR description: Offers a unique introduction to the wide-ranging thought of one of this century's foremost writers on mysticism. Delightfully clear and accessible.). From the five stars from fellow readers I expected this to be revelatory & revolutionary. Instead, I spent a great deal of time rereading entire pages, thinking "it must just be me - maybe that last migraine I had was more than just a migraine" because I found the style to be so obfuscated I was often not sure what was really being said.

Pressing on despite my abandonment of all hope, however, led me to the essay, The Christian Basis of Social Action, which turned out to be the most influential & useful chapter for me. It serves as a wonderful inspiration for the redirection of will, a truly motivational call to service, a reminder of what duty is & of what role humanity plays in God's plan. One doesn't have to be 'religious' to appreciate this; it is simply a deep love & honouring of one's fellows, a wish for happiness for all, & allowing oneself to be an instrument for altruism.

Whatever it was that I was looking for in this book wasn't there. While I'm not leaving entirely empty handed, I'm feeling disappointed, hence my miserable * rating.

This edition (ISBN 1851680608/9781851680603) contains the essays: The Essentials of Mysticism; The Mystic and the Corporate Life; The Education of the Spirit; The Place of Will, Intellect and Feeling in Prayer; The Philosophy of Contemplation; Spiritual Life; Some Implicits of Christian Social Reform; The Christian Basis of Social Action; The Ideals of the Ministry of Women; The House of the Soul.