^{Page 177 note 1} Cf. Rudolf Otto's classical discussion of the subject in Mysticism East and West (1932).

^{Page 177 note 2} Cf. the author's ‘Mystical and Magical Contemplation’, in History of Religions, vol. 1 (1961), pp. 9–36,Google Scholar particularly p. 11. I have tried there to present and analyse a concrete historical example of cognitive mysticism. The argument of the present paper takes the contrast with ‘mystical contemplation’ one step further.

^{Page 177 note 3} Ibid. pp. 16–17.

^{Page 177 note 4} Among the modern names that readily come to mind in this connection are Mme. Blavatsky, R. Steiner, Ouspensky, Gurdjieff, Aurobindo.

^{Page 178 note 1} Rudolf Otto's expression, op. cit., p. 72.

^{Page 178 note 2} Cf. Otto, op. cit. p. 30. St John of the Cross speaks of ‘spiritual gluttony’.

^{Page 178 note 3} Ibid. p. 151. For a profound and penetrating study of St John, remarkable both for its erudition and perceptiveness, see Jean Baruzi, Saint Jean de la Croix (1924). The chapter ‘Une critique des appréhensions distinctes’ (ibid. pp. 449–567) is of special relevance to the present subject.

^{Page 178 note 4} Thus recently by Benz, E., ‘Vision und Werk in der christlichen Mystik’, Eranos Jahrbuch, vol. xxxi (1962; Zürich, 1963), pp. 150–5).Google Scholar

^{Page 179 note 1} I ignore, for the purpose of the present discussion, the distinction between the ‘first’ and the ‘second’ night, as well as the many exegetical problems arising out of St John's repeated treatment of the same or similar themes in his three major prose works. To simplify the argument I have limited myself to the Ascent of Mount Carmel. For quotations and references I have used E. Allison Peer's excellent English translation which can almost serve as a substitute for Father Silverio's critical edition of the saint's works (Peers, E. Allison, The Complete Works of Saint John of the Cross (London, new ed. 1953).Google Scholar Page references are to vol. 1 (Ascent of Mount Carmel).

^{Page 179 note 2} The Protestant evaluation of mysticism in general and of ‘quietist’ mysticism in particular is an interesting chapter not only in the history of religions but also in the history of the History of Religions. Whilst Protestant ‘biblical’ theology generally and almost by definition takes a very jaundiced view of mysticism (cf. for the twentieth century Barth, Brunner, Niebuhr, and on the Jewish side Franz Rosenzweig), there also was a tendency to view quietism, with its emphasis on‘pure’ or ‘simple’ faith and its repudiation of discrete acts, as an abortive attempt within Catholicism to break through to the full light of the Protestant truth: it was a movement in the right direction which of necessity miscarried. This tendency is well illustrated by H. Heppe, Geschichte der quietistischen Mystik in der katholischen Kirche, 1875. According to the very curious article on Molinos in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, quietism carries certain basic Protestant tendencies to its radical conclusions.

^{Page 179 note 3} Otto, op. cit. p. 73.

^{Page 179 note 4} Ascent, p. 68.

^{Page 179 note 5} Ibid. pp. 68–9.

^{Page 180 note 1} Ascent, p. 78.

^{Page 180 note 2} Ibid. p. 65.

^{Page 180 note 3} Cf. Ascent, pp. 226, 232. This particular argument is based on St John's somewhat primitive theory of knowledge.

^{Page 180 note 4} The influence of the Rhenish mystics on Spanish spirituality is no longer open to doubt. In St John's time the writings of Tauler and Ruysbroeck were available in Latin translations; Pseudo-Tauler (Institutiones) and Denys the Carthusian were even available in Spanish. Cf. also the remark of Orcibal, Jean, La rencontre du Carmel Thérésien avec les mystiques du nord (1959), p. 1:Google Scholar ‘il est difficile de ne pas croire que Saint Jean de la Croix n’ait pas lu Harphius, Tauler et, peut-être, Ruysbroeck‘.

^{Page 180 note 5} Institutions, ch. xxxv. Cf. also Ascent, pp. 87, 229.

^{Page 180 note 6} Ascent, p. 29; cf. also ibid. p. 71.

^{Page 181 note 1} St John discusses each type of supernatural experience separately (visions, locutions, spiritual and corporeal feelings, sensations, apprehensions of the understanding, outward and imaginary apprehensions, etc.) and distinguishes several levels of value and significance. For the purpose of the present discussion these distinctions may be ignored and I therefore quote statements made in connection with specific phenomena as if they had been made in a generalising way.

^{Page 181 note 2} Ascent, p. 97.

^{Page 181 note 3} Ibid.

^{Page 181 note 4} Ibid. pp. 133–4.

^{Page 181 note 5} Ibid.

^{Page 181 note 6} Ibid. pp. 128, 130

^{Page 182 note 1} Ascent, p. 98.

^{Page 182 note 2} Ibid. p. 229

^{Page 182 note 3} Ibid. p. 154.

^{Page 183 note 1} My italics.

^{Page 183 note 2} Ibid. p. 153.

^{Page 183 note 3} Ascent, p. 192.

^{Page 183 note 4} Ibid. p. 155.

^{Page 183 note 5} Ibid.

^{Page 184 note 1} Ibid. p. 163.

^{Page 184 note 2} Ascent, p. 287.

^{Page 184 note 3} Ibid. pp. 212, 214–5.

^{Page 184 note 4} Ibid. p. 215; cf. also pp. 184, 216.

^{Page 184 note 5} A very different type of rejection of mystical illuminations in the context of Jewish piety has been presented by the author in Joseph Kara (Oxford, 1962), pp. 307–12.Google Scholar