Emerson and Mysticism

IF THE WORD mystic is so wide in meaning that it may be used to describe both Plotinus and Adolf Hitler, then certainly Emerson was a mystic; and if mysticism is the word for the philosophy of Bernard of Clairvaux and Mr. Henry Wallace, the philosophy of Emerson may also be called mysticism. One must doubt, however, whether there is much meaning left in those words after they have been stretched so far. One doubts especially whether words of such elasticity can be of any real assistance when the ideas of Emerson are up for discussion. For surely the great need in dealing with Emerson is to have intellectual tools that are as, precise as possible. But despite their notorious imprecision, mystic and its related words are often used by the commentators on Emerson.' Indeed it may be said that references to Emerson as a mystic are as common in studies of Emerson as they are rare in studies of mysticism. It should be instructive, then, to inquire into the nature of mysticism as the students of mysticism conceive it so as to determine what significance this word should have for us as students of Emerson.2 Mysticism belongs to an order of discourse very different from that of geometry, and there never will appear a Euclid competent