Receptivity to Mystery: Cultivation, Loss, and Scientism
Ian James
Durham University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.v4i3.276
Abstract
The cultivation of receptivity to the mystery of reality is a central feature of many religious and philosophical traditions, both Western and Asian. This paper considers two contemporary accounts of receptivity to mystery – those of David E. Cooper and John Cottingham – and considers them in light of the problem of loss of receptivity. I argue that a person may lose their receptivity to mystery by embracing what I call a scientistic stance, and the paper concludes by offering two possible responses to combating that stance and restoring the receptivity to mystery that it occludes.
Keywords: