Book #129 of 200 on the Mandorla 200 (“Micro-distillations of 200 necessary books on ecology, justice, and place-belonging for our times. 200 words or less.”):

Mysticism (2024) by Simon Critchley.

I actually listened to this book earlier this year, but was so moved by it I had to get a copy, and I’m glad I did.

It’s a strange read, full of surprises, full of voice-forward wisdom that’s accessible and not overly religious or dry. Critchley is whip-smart, and funny as hell (“effing the ineffable.”) A top read this year.

Here’s my 200-word seed packet…

(129/200) To live as contradiction, paradox incarnate, bodies empty to be filled—the mystic is far more punk than we think: devotional enfleshed participation with life, a radical rejection of disenchantment, spiritual subversion through solitude and contemplative practices that endlessly court the Great Unknown as if rounding the lips of a mouth set to eat you alive, only to become the one chewing. Mystics perform not as intellectuals but in kinesthetic divestment from the Self, obliteration through ecstatic spiritual burst. Merge! Weep into pools of awe and be baffled, charging the very aquifers that quench you. Pray naked in the dark and have your curling blood simmer with “limpid intensity.” Be guided by the Song. Mystics commit every minute to side-glancing at hidden gods, each breath stripping falsehoods through “ascending negation,” to move closer and burn brighter and strike a match to the wick of the Self so that they might burn off the singular and offer light to the world as one, as love, lantern songs clanking along in the dark, forever peering into the Emptiness in order to eat it, and be happily eaten.

• The Book: Mysticism (2024)

• The Author: Simon Critchley

• The Publisher: New York Review Books

• The Tip: Erin Hilgendorf