This is not an analysis of mysticism, it is a collection of primary sources grouped by the cultures that wrote them, with very brief introductions into each section. As such, it is an interesting first glimpse at the subject, but the author’s repeated references to the end of the world, “the human race may die out”, “in a time when the natural world is being destroyed”, “crucial now to our human survival”, “as we all face the threat of extinction”, make me think of a long-haired, white robed, man in the supermarket parking lot with a sign, handing out pamphlets of unintelligible gibberish. Why were these fragments chosen? Why were others omitted? Why be concerned about the fate of one planet, one species, even if it is ours, when mysticism claims the entire universe is “god”? I prefer my mysticism more up-to-date, sprinkled with a bit of quantum mechanics and wondering about the life that exists on the thousands of exo-planets recently discovered. This book is twenty years old, and we’re still here. We should look elsewhere for enlightenment. ( )

For some reason, not as good as the others in the "The Essential" series. ( )

291.422 Harvey 1998