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The visionary is a mystic when his vision mediates to him an actuality beyond the reach of the senses. The philosopher is a mystic when he passes beyond thought to the pure apprehension of truth. The active man is a mystic when he knows his actions to be part of a greater activity.

— Evelyn Underhill Practical Mysticism (1914)

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More quotes by Evelyn Underhill

Mysticism is the art of union with Reality. The mystic is a person who has attained that union in greater or less degree; or who aims at and believes in such attainment.

Practical Mysticism (1914)

Recollection, the art which the practical man is now invited to learn, is in essence no more and no less than the subjection of the attention to the control of the will.

Practical Mysticism (1914)

True contemplation can only thrive when defended from two opposite exaggerations : quietism on the one hand, and spiritual fuss upon the other.

Practical Mysticism (1914)

No nation is truly defeated which retains its spiritual self-possession. No nation is truly victorious which does not emerge soul unstained.

Practical Mysticism (1914)

Even the power which lurks in every coal scuttle, shines in the electric lamp, pants in the motor-omnibus, declares itself in the ineffable wonders of reproduction and growth, is supersensual.

Practical Mysticism (1914)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Evelyn Underhill (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.