This book shows that mysticism is incomplete without scientific rationalism, and that our current social and political projects cannot be completed without assimilating the values and practices of mysticism. It discusses cross-cultural ethics, mysticism and value theory, mysticism and metaphysics, mysticism and the theory of knowledge, ethics and religion, parapsychology, patriarchy, and social and political history.

Leonard Angel's profile page

Leonard Angel teaches philosophy at Douglas College in New Westminster, British Columbia. He is the author of two previous books of philosophy, The Silence of the Mystic, and How to Build a Conscious Machine.

"To anyone who has thought vaguely about the contrasting ideals of ideological East and West, this will be an enormously exciting book. There has been nothing on the subject so clearly written, so comprehensive, and so wise. Angel faces head-on the difficulties involved in reconciling reason and mysticism and constructs a surprisingly plausible case. His argument for the view that each of the two traditions needs the insights of the other is one that neither side can honestly ignore. This book is engaging and absorbing, and admirably embodies the synthesis for which it argues." — Ronald de Sousa, University of Toronto

"This is a book with delightfully surprising insights for readers interested in our present cultural and religious situation as well as its future." — Julia Ching, University of Toronto

"The book is especially timely and fleshes out issues in a way that can engage minds well trained in critical philosophy and scientific thinking, while supporting with exceptional strength those who find mystical experience central to their human experience." — Robert M. Garvin, State University of New York at Albany