Tracing the Mystic

What does it mean to be a mystic?--to follow a mystical path? This course will explore questions posed by narratives gesturing at such a path. We will expand our purview to examine how artists, writers, and thinkers have employed mystical approaches in their respective creative processes, sometimes to a surprising degree. In addition, this course will invite personal reflection, storytelling, and creative work that re-envisions the ways that our lives can be enriched when engaged in the process of tracing the mystic; i.e., viewing texts through a mystical lens. Our readings will unfold in a process of discovery and will likely include the works of William Blake, Nella Larsen, bell hooks, W.B. Yeats, Valorie D. Thomas, and others, alongside cinematic, musical, and astrological texts.