Excerpt from A Psychological Interpretation of Mysticism: A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Philosophy)<br><br>The psychological viewpoint from which this interpretation of mysticism is undertaken is the functional one, the essential idea of which is that all mental processes are means by which the organism interacts with its environment in a way to further the total ongoing of life both individual and social. In accordance with this conception we shall, throughout, be speaking of the mystic experience as a mode of adjust ment and reaction under the stimulus of varying kinds of social environ ment. More particularly we shall study the operations of three great factors which seem to us sufficiently important to be the carrying cate gories of the discussion. These are the human instincts, sensitivity of temperament, and social environment. A general exposition of these in relation to the development of the mystical experience is given in the first chapter.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.