In this reading group, the intersections between mystical experience and (anti-)fascist tendencies in the early 20th century will be examined, based on the writings of Simone Weil, Gustav Landauer, Roger Caillois, and Georges Bataille. The aim is to understand the various dimensions of mystical experience — aesthetic, epistemological, and ethical — and to question how these experiences were politically appropriated or could be integrated into a political logic that resonates with fascist ideologies and/or could be mobilized against them.
In the first two sessions, we will focus on the fundamental characteristics of mystical experiences, with particular emphasis on the aesthetic dimension of mysticism, which, in its transgressions and intensities, highlights the connection between subjectivity and the cosmos. In the following two sessions, the focus will shift to the political dimension to understand how mystical experiences and their associated boundary dissolutions influenced the foundations of political thought and action.
This reading group will contribute to a deeper understanding of the problematic and often ambivalent relationships between mystical experiences and political structures, and will provide a critical perspective on the specific risks and potentials of such philosophical approaches in a time of political upheaval.