Mysticism in Modern Psychology (review)

88 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Mulford A. Sibley, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. The Political Theories of Modern Pacifism. (Deals only incidentally with Quaker pacifism.) Completed. C. Marshall Taylor, 140 Cedar Street, New York 6, New York. Whittier Letters. (Making copies of all obtainable Whittier letters, either already published or in private collectors' hands, arranged chronologically.) Frederick B. Tolles, Friends Historical Library, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia Quakerism and the Great Awakening . (A study of the attitude of Friends in Philadelphia to the preaching of George Whitefield and other evangelists of the Great Awakening in the American colonies, c. 1740.) Manuscript nearly completed. (Miss) M. Helen Wright, 2134 Wyoming Avenue, Washington, D. C. Maria Mitchell, Pioneer Astronomer. (A life of Maria Mitchell, showing also what she accomplished in astronomy and in the education of women.) Material collected and writing partially completed. BOOK REVIEWS Mysticism in Modern Psychology, by Charles Carle. New York, PsychoSociological Press, 1943. 47 pp. ' I 'HE TITLE of this book is somewhat misleading. It is not a book dealing with religious mysticism from the psychological point of view. On the contrary, it is a critical study of magical trends in "psychoanalysis " and in what is known as "psycho-diagnostics." It is another instance of misuse of the much-used word "mysticism," in this case used for the magical, occult, and esoteric features which in the author's opinion pervade some aspects of modern psychology. What the book is attacking is the pseudomysticism in what he believes to be pseudopsychology. His guns are especially leveled against Freud's interpretation of the unconscious, with a scientific critique of psychoanalysis . Carle claims that psychoanalysis gives only a distorted pseudomystical insight into human nature, though he does not intend to cast doubt on the personal integrity of those who practice it. The second part of the book deals with Dr. Hermann Rorschach's use of cloud pictures or ink blots for diagnosing an individual's intellectual capacities and emotional reactions. He finds this to be another instance of pseudomysticism, and thus scientifically unsound. He pronounces all mechanistic, atomistic types of psychology equally unsound and he calls for spiritual rearmament in terms of a sound and adequate psychology, freed from worn-out pseudomysticism and in the closest contact with life itself. He finds his constructive principle in what is known as Gestalt, or configurational, or holistic, psychology—the study of larger contexts of experience, dealing with the individual as he is Vol. 32, Autumn 1943 BOOK REVIEWS89 moulded in tastes and manners and aims by the social group, as a needed counterweight against atomistic, mechanistic, and pseudomystical psychology. Rufus M. Jones John Woolman, Quaker, by Janet Whitney. London, George S. Harrap & Co, 1943. 432 pp. 21 shillings. AT LONG LAST has appeared the English edition of Janet Whitney's life of Woolman, already reviewed in these pages (31:84). Here one may call attention to the differences and to some of the vicissitudes of the English edition. In British format, the book is about 40 per cent thinner, 30 per cent lighter, and 40 per cent dearer than the American edition. The price was increased twice, a total of 68 per cent, while the announced date of publication was at least twice delayed. This delay was due in part to no less than four losses of mail at sea: loss of a copy of a contract, of a copy of the MS, of a copy of the American edition, sent over for the printer to use as MS, and of a copy of the proof. The English publisher has thought it best to drop the word "American" from the title (Why?), and to make no reference to the earlier American edition. Instead we read "First published in 1943 by George S. Harrap & Co." It is probably "in conformity with the authorized economy standards " that fifteen of the thirty-eight appendixes are omitted. The paper is thin but the type face is attractive. The illustrations, including the "chapter decorations" by George Whitney, show up well. A table of contents, lacking in the American edition, is now provided, and some errors of the former are corrected. The new pagination means that page references, if they...