Toward a Psychology of Knowledge: VI. The Sublime,the Mystical,and the Inner Creative

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is threefold: (1) to contribute to a psychology of the Sublime, an important concept in the history of aesthetics, (2) to relate the Sublime to the kind of psychology today called “existential” and/or “humanistic,” and (3) to unfold further the Rorschach framework of interpretation, particularly in regard to its limits The first of the paper's two main sections shows that most of Samuel Monk's basis for distinguishing Wordsworth from the “Blue Stockings and picturesque travelers” of late 18th century England is irrelevant to the framework. In so doing, it interprets the Sublime in terms of mystical—including psychedelic—experience. The other main section suggests the relevance of the foregoing to Viktor Frankl's “logotherapy,” and Abraham Maslow's “self-actualization,” “peak-experience,” and “Being-cognition.” A third section refers to Eric Hoffer's “true believer.” In sum, the paper associates all these individuals and/or concepts with each other and with what Rorschach meant by the capacity for inner creation.