Mystical Truths

This article by Russell was the most challenging for me to fully grasp. I appreciated his encouragement of a form of logic in looking around the world that was separate from the metaphysical but I found myself reading and re-reading the same paragraphs over and over again for clarity. He defines metaphysics as the attempt to conceive the world as a whole by means of thought and calls it a union of two opposing human impulses, mysticism and science. Upon further dissection, he explains that mysticism is little more than certain intensity and depth of feeling in regard to what is believed about the universe. We tend to make the mistake of demanding that the world conform to our desires and this is evident in many of the “truths” that we base our life decisions and beliefs on. Russell writes of Heraclitus the empiricist and Plato who tends to reside more in the realm of mystic philosophical thought. He discusses Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the pain and discomfort associated with the search for truth. While Russell himself finds the philosophy of mysticism and the belief in the possibility of a way of knowledge based in insight and intuition as opposed to sense, reason and analysis to be somewhat lacking, he does admit that there is an element of wisdom to be learned from the mystical way of feeling. However, he insists that this should be viewed as an attitude toward life and not a creed about the world.