Ways in Mystery
Book Reviews
Booklist (February 1, 1997)
Luther Askeland.Ways in Mystery: Explorations in Mystical Awareness and Life. Feb. 1997. 224p. White Cloud; dist. by SCB Distributors, paper, $17 (1-883991-16-1) DDC:291.4
In clear, direct language, Askeland explores the most profound questions of the mystical life. Mysticism is not, he points out, a kind of philosophy. It is directly lived experience, and experience that, by its very nature, eludes expression. For some, this difficulty in expression creates a challenge; they will make incursions into the mystical realm and then grapple mightily to find appropriate expression. For others, expression is needless, and the experience itself is to be sought and prolonged. Such distinctions as this are among the joys of Askeland's writing as he reasons carefully about what is, essentially, an unreasonable part of human experience.
-- Patricia Monaghan
Publishers Weekly (January 13, 1997)
WAYS IN MYSTERY: Explorations in Mystical Awareness and Life Luther Askeland. White Cloud, $17 (224p) ISBN 1-883991-16-1 (Religion/Mysticism)
In this compilation of six essays, philosopher and woodworker Askeland undertakes an examination of the mystical life. Ranging across the teachings of the masters of the mystical tradition-Christian mystics St. John of the Cross and Meister Eckhart; Buddhist sage Nagarjuna; Zen Masters Dogen and Tanzen; Indian saint Shankara-Askeland works to recover the mystical path known as the way of unknowing. Although this path continues to flourish in other world religions, the way of unknowing, or finding God in God's silence and God's absence, was suppressed in Christian theology over a thousand years ago by streams of the Christian tradition that wanted to emphasize God's presence. Askeland here seeks to recapture an authentic spirituality, an understanding of God that exceeds all speech and thought. Askeland carries out this task with a fresh voice, and his essays are full of grace, profound insight and wisdom.
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