Looking for something to boost your mood?
Exercise has proven effects, generating feel-good chemicals in the brain known as endorphins. Coffee increases dopamine – another “happy hormone” – while alcohol may trigger both dopamine and serotonin. These can make you feel less anxious in the short term, although alcohol consumption in the long run can harm both your mind and your body.
Here’s something else you could try: mysticism.
The unlikely recommendation comes from English philosopher and author Simon Critchley, who in a new book examines the experience of Christian mystics and their “release” from ordinary life. Difficult to define, and beyond the ken of neuroscience, mysticism is characterised by Critchley as a form of “detachment” that can lead “a condition of rest, a feeling of joy, even happiness, a bulwark against melancholy” and perhaps even “existential ecstasy”.
That’s something you might like the sound of, since Critchley drily observes: “Adulthood is the abdication of ecstasy.”
From Liverpool, Critchley has previously written about his religious devotion to the Reds – the city’s more successful football team – and another of his books explored the wonder of David Bowie. So turning his attention to medieval mystics such as Christina the Astonishing – who, legend has it, resurrected during her funeral Mass – and Julian of Norwich, who gained fame for her alleged visions of Christ, seems like a curve ball.
Speaking by Zoom from his home in New York, however, Critchley suggests it’s all part of a continuum. Asked when he last had a mystical experience, he replies that he has just been listening to a Scritti Politti track, The Sweetest Girl.
“I love that song; when I put that song on, I believe,” he coos.
“In that sense – and I say this in the book – it’s impossible to be an atheist when you listen to music you love.”
The author of On Mysticism (Profile Books) discusses further as this week’s Unthinkable guest.
You associate mysticism with “idiot glee: a sheer mad joy at the fact of the world”. How can I experience this?
“Idiot glee, I got that idea from Brian Eno ... The problem we have is we have reduced religion to the simple question: Do you, or do you not, believe in the existence of God? And that misses the point. Participation in religious practices is more playful. It’s playful participation in something that has the character of a ritual, which doesn’t necessarily make any sense ... and [which] allows us to hope for something that we probably think isn’t going to happen.
“With idiot glee, you are trying to push against misery and melancholy ... The basic idea is that the world is a catastrophic, noisy, violent place and we need some rest. We need some solace, which is not just nodding off, but something with a spiritual dimension and discipline to it.”
Do you need to bring God into it?
“No, but it helps. Mysticism is about practice of devotion, and practice of attention. A lot of what the mystics do is to read, fast, study and pray; and to work and to try to make sense of the situation we are in. Do you need God as some extra party out there floating in the sky? I don’t know.
“One of the nice things about the mystical tradition is, because these texts were popular, they were circulated and translated into different languages. And it’s also the first place where women find a voice. The first book of English by a woman is by Julian of Norwich. The second book is [by fellow mystic] Margery Kempe ... These gripped people, and that posed a problem for the Catholic Church ... [which] has to figure out whether to reject that as heresy or incorporate it.”
Have we been too quick to abandon that Christian tradition in our secular age?
“Yeah, I think so. A little more toleration and understanding would be better.
“One thing I keep coming back to is the idea of critique. I’m suspicious of the way in which, particularly in education, we are obsessed with critique and critical thinking. I think that often blinds us to understanding. We would do better to understand than to just critically assess something and then tear it down.”
The conservative Christian vote proved to be of great benefit to Donald Trump. Are you concerned about how Christianity has become so politicised in the United States?
“In the US, the one thing I’m hopeful about is that there is a book which is held in common by most people and that is the Bible. That Bible is read in very different ways but ... at least you can establish a common ground. And I think you can point out that the Christian tradition is one which is incredibly porous, complex.
“Julian of Norwich speaks of Christ is a mother. ... there is a maternity to Christ, and also his gender is really hard to fix. Just look at representations of Christ. Is he a manly man, or something else? He is definitely something else. A rather queer God, I would say.
“You see, you can imagine having that conversation with JD Vance – to find some common ground.”