ried out,
would be a life-work. Moreover, it is an inquiry which we are not yet in
a position to undertake. True, more and more material is daily becoming
available for it: but many of the principles involved are, even yet,
obscure. Therefore any conclusions at which we may arrive can only be
tentative; and the theories and schematic representations that we shall
be obliged to use must be regarded as mere working diagrams--almost
certainly of a temporary character--but useful to us, because they do
give us an interpretation of inner experience with which we can deal. I
need not emphasize the extent in which modern developments of psychology
are affecting our conceptions of the spiritual life, and our reading of
many religious phenomena on which our ancestors looked with awe. When we
have eliminated the more heady exaggerations of the psycho-analysts, and
the too-violent simplifications of the behaviourists, it remains true
that many problems have lately been elucidated in an unexpected, and
some in a helpful, sense. We are learning in particular to see in true
proportion those abnormal states of trance and ecstasy which were once
regarded as the essentials, but are now recognized as the by-products,
of the mystical life. But a good deal that at first sight seems
startling, and even disturbing to the religious mind, turns out on
investigation to be no more than the re-labelling of old facts, which
behind their new tickets remain unchanged. Perhaps no generation has
ever been so much at the mercy of such labels as our own. Thus many
people who are inclined to jibe at the doctrine of original sin welcome
it with open arms when it is reintroduced as the uprush of primitive
instinct. Opportunity of confession to a psychoanalyst is eagerly sought
and gladly paid for, by troubled spirits who would never resort for the
same purpose to a priest. The formulae of auto-suggestion are freely used
by those who repudiate vocal prayer and acts of faith with scorn. If,
then, I use for the purpose of exposition some of those labels which are
affected by the newest schools, I do so without any suggestion that they
represent the only valid way of dealing with the psychic life of man.
Indeed, I regard these labels as little more than exceedingly clever
guesses at truth. But since they are now generally current and often
suggestive, it is well that we should try to find a place for spiritual
experience within the system which they represent; t