The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology

Burnham, Kenneth E.; Wallis, Roy

doi:10.2307/1386163

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Despite the fact that there had been some discussion of mysticism, mystical experience, and other anomalous phenomenon during sociology's birth and adolescent stages (Garrett 1975;Wach 1947), subsequent to that initial interest, mysticism and mystical experience has been almost completely ignored (Johansson 2022). Save for a handful of studies during sociology's adolescent stage (Bourque 1969;Bourque and Back 1968;Furfey 1940;Robertson 1975;Sturzo 1942), and a nascent interest re-emerging only very recently (Winchester and Pagis 2022), sociologists have focused exclusively and unfortunately on the ecclesiastical side of things, with a smattering of cult investigations on the side (Bainbridge and Stark 1980;Wallis 1976). This dismissal of mystical experience has left sociologists' understanding of human spirituality a poorly drawn caricature, or as Bourque (1969, p. 151) charges, "highly stylized" and "simplistic .…”

Section: The Flowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connection 100—An Auto-Ethnography of My (Mystical) Connection Experiences

Sosteric

2022

Religions

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This paper provides an autoethnographic accounting and analysis of my own mystical experiences, called connection experiences in this paper. This account, which is structured around a description of my early experiences, attempts to weave together psychological, sociological, historical, and methodological themes into a coherent contribution that advances our understanding of connection experience. The paper includes an explication of the four stages of the research project that developed as a consequence of these experiences as well as an examination of the processes, tools (i.e., MediWiki), and emotional, psychological, professional, and scholarly challenges of collecting and analyzing the autoethnographic data of mystical experiences. The denouement of the paper is the presentation of a conceptual schema aimed at overcoming nomenclature confusion and providing a basis for description, analysis, and discussion of connection and connection experiences. The utility of the schema is demonstrated when it is used to provide a clear overview of my own connection experiences, and the connection experiences of others. In order to facilitate critical discussion of the conceptual framework, a glossary of terms developed and presented in this paper is provided at the end.

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