CHAPTER III.. Mystic Imagination.

MYSTIC IMAGINATION.

Its elements; its special characteristics.--Thinking symbolically.--Nature of this symbolism.--The mystic changes concrete images into symbolic images.--Their obscurity; whence it arises.--Extraordinary abuse of analogy.--Mystic labor on letters, numbers, etc.--Nature and extent of the belief accompanying this form of imagination: it is unconditional and permanent.--The mystic conception of the world a general symbolism.--Mystic imagination in religion and in metaphysics. 221