Fanatical, Rational, Mystical: Santayana on Spirituality

Santayana on Spirituality

Abstrakt

One may argue that it has been an ongoing conversation in Santayana scholarship as to whether there is one Santayana or two for quite some time. At the very least, newcomers to Santayana’s philosophy wonder at the “apparent abyss between Realms of Being and The Life of Reason.” One philosophical area which is representative of this concern is Santayana’s account of the spiritual life.

            Santayana’s later ontological explorations of the spiritual life are viewed as straying from his earlier “more” naturalistic explorations of the same topic. Moreover, in his earlier works, Santayana discusses spirituality in the context of the value it produces in terms of contributing to human happiness or flourishing, while in his later work he focuses on spirituality as an apparent escape from value or valuing, all the while his Realms of Being culminates in a discussion of a Union with The Good. Therefore, if there is one Santayana and not two, if his work is to be a unified and “symphonic whole,” then these are issues which require explanation and clarification.

            In the following article, I address these concerns and to do so I introduce three types or forms of spirituality elucidated by Santayana in his Reason in Religion, viz. the Fanatical, the Rational, and the Mystical. First, I explore what kinds of spiritual practices and ideologies are considered fanatical or devoted to escaping worldliness via establishing a single, essentially arbitrary, interest. Second, I explore what kinds of spiritual practices and ideologies are considered mystical or devoted to escaping worldliness via abstention and surrender. Third, I explore what kinds of spiritual practices and ideologies are considered rational or devoted to escaping worldliness via seeking “a rational advance over it.” Finally, I use these types or forms to demonstrate the unity between Santayana’s earlier works with his later works, to clarify Santayana’s notion of a Union with The Good, and to explore similarities and differences between the Life of Reason and Realms of Being.