This book presents a unique collection of papers on various philosophical aspects of the unknown and unvoiced truth and reality of the cosmic world. It offers a systematic analysis of the three philosophical theories of Quietism, Agnosticism and Mysticism and introduces readers to the fundamentals of mystical knowledge claimed by philosophical schools of the east and the west. It discusses, debates and deliberates on philosophical issues concerning the acquisition of truth, its objectivity and its various dimensions along with the application of thoughts pertaining to Quietism, Agnosticism, and metaphysical-mystic traditions in philosophy. It examines and precisely defines the scope and limits of knowledge, the respective way of life, its expressions and morality, mystical revelation, ineffability of the ultimate, value realism, and faith and reason - with a primary focus on the classical Indian schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Agnosticism, the Bāuls, Greek traditions, modern western meta-philosophy, and contemporary quietist debate in religion and theology. This insightful collection should be of great interest to independent researchers, students and teachers of philosophy, theology, Mysticism and Agnosticism, cultural studies and religious studies.

What would a "reappeared" Plotinus answer today if asked how we might build a divinely-ordered city? That is the question at the core of this unique book, and Stephen Clark takes us on a wide-ranging deep dive to uncover possible answers. To do so, he first gives an account of the Plotinian philosophy of mind and metaphysics, showing how Plotinus nicely balances the entanglement of soul-body composites (our immediate identities) with the workings of the World Soul and the eternal soul that animates "from within." Drawing on later Christian and Islamic interpretations of the Neoplatonic tradition, and parallel developments in Hindu thought, he then describes the various social forms that seem to be the inevitable context of our lives here and now. Furthermore, we discover that the form a Plotinian religion adopts depends on taking seriously the thought of reincarnating souls and wandering hermits, but now with the difference in our time that, although some sages may be content to consider themselves simple wanderers in a world without borders or settled communities, some will follow the same path as Buddhists, Epicureans, and Christians: forming communities of friends loyal to their founder and to the fellowship of the Sangha. We learn as well that in due course even those among the hermits who prefer to go, almost literally, "alone to the Alone" will become part of dispersed, unhierarchical communities. Finally, Clark offers cautious thoughts about our likely futures, dependent both on current technological advances and on the realistic suspicion (shared by our predecessors) that catastrophes and wholly unexpected turns are always to be expected.

Agnosticism is the modern variation on the ancient theme of the Greek philosopher, “All I know is that I know nothing.” Agnosticism is lack of reason, nescience rather than ignorance. Having found gnosis we cannot turn our backs on it and become agnostics, says a Master of Wisdom. The strong Agnostic assumes the negative position of knowing nothing but phenomena and refuses to believe in anything else. The weak Agnostic may be ready to entertain new ideas, but the light of Truth will always blind the religious bigot. With the exception of psychism, every other –ism is a shade of materialism — a science without a soul. Ancient pagans held far deeper views on the First Cause and its emanations than modern philosophers, whether Agnostics, Materialists or Christians. Agnostics have to choose between the Secret Doctrine of the East, and the materialistic Darwinian and Biblical Doctrines of the West. Agnosticism, Positivism, and Materialism are the worst enemies of Theosophy and Mysticism. Much of current agnostic speculation on the existence of the First Cause is little better than veiled Materialism. Between Agnostics and Catholics, the age revels at a debauch of phenomena. Brutal but frank Materialism is more honest than Janus-faced agnosticism in our days. Monism is no better than a mask concealing the void of final annihilation, even of consciousness. The Occultist would be guilty of treason, were he to demolish the old gods before he could replace them with the eternal verities that they represent. Atheists and Agnostics are thinly attracted to “godless” Buddhism, or to our highly philosophical and logical agnosticism. The “moral standard of the Theosophists” is TRUTH and this covers all. No sincere seeker of Truth can ever be found among the blind believers in the “Divine Word.” Our doctrine knows no compromises. It either affirms or denies, for it never teaches but that which it knows to be Truth.

Reproduction of the original: The Mystical Element of Religion by Baron Friedrich von Hugel