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Breakfast at the Victory: The Mysticism of Ordinary Experience
"This was true mystical vision. This I could never have anticipated. But I knew that we were both on the same galactic journey into the great void that contains us all. I was standing before a boundlessness that could swallow the stars in a heartbeat."--from Breakfast at the Victory
203 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
James P. Carse
14 books157 followersJames P. Carse taught at New York University for thirty years as the Professor of the History and Literature of Religion, and Director of the Religious Studies Program. He retired from the University in 1996. He is a writer and an artist, and lives in New York City and Massachusetts.
James Carse was the Director of Religious Studies at New York University for thirty years. He was a member of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, and the recipient of numerous teaching awards. He is retired and living in New York City.
James Carse was the Director of Religious Studies at New York University for thirty years. He was a member of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, and the recipient of numerous teaching awards. He is retired and living in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
May 11, 2012
James Carse was my professor at NYU twenty years ago when I was taking a master's degree in religious studies. I found him a very congenial thinker and his turns of mind soon became my own. Reading his book again almost twenty years after reading it for the first time, I find myself nostalgic for Carse's paradoxes and how subtle displacements shift the obvious almost unnoticeably into the mystical. I'm also struck by how melancholy a book it is. Carse wrote it in the wake of his wife's death and my time at NYU was shadowed by it. Almost every essay contains a sense of the passing of years, of roads not taken and dreams not fulfilled. Yet Carse's humanity and generosity toward failure and wrong turnings transform them into unexpected rewards and acknowledgments of life's fragility and beauty. I'm willing to forgive the occasional glibness and slick turn of phrase and perhaps an overloading of an insignificant event with too much philosophical weight precisely because of the passing of those years and because Carse (in this book and through his classes) gave me so much to think with and about.
April 25, 2012
I was about to give up on this book, when I began to see it as a loose collection of essays on pre-Freudian depth psychology (what some would call mysticism). Taking incidents from his own life, the author finds those points where ordinary experience opened doors into altered states of awareness. These states are understood by him mostly in terms of traditions within the world religions. For readers unfamiliar with the mystical, Carse's explanations can founder in ambiguities that defy comprehension. I often followed his confident lead into clouds of unknowing only to get lost in the fog. But it's a testament more to his tenacity than mine that I stayed with him to the end of the book, intrigued by the occasional discovery I was able to make along the way.
Of particular interest was his attempt to come terms with the enigma that is Robert Frost. A man whose poems ring with a wonderful lucidity, Frost we now know was not anything like the thoughtful, country gentleman who seems to speak in his verse. Carse's study of Frost's persona - especially his role in the JFK inauguration - acknowledges the mystery of personality itself. Reading Carse, we can begin to understand how thoroughly we are a creation of how we are perceived by others, and how this identity is and is not who we are. For readers who love to puzzle over such things, Carse is a willing - and entertaining - companion. But proceed at your own risk.
Of particular interest was his attempt to come terms with the enigma that is Robert Frost. A man whose poems ring with a wonderful lucidity, Frost we now know was not anything like the thoughtful, country gentleman who seems to speak in his verse. Carse's study of Frost's persona - especially his role in the JFK inauguration - acknowledges the mystery of personality itself. Reading Carse, we can begin to understand how thoroughly we are a creation of how we are perceived by others, and how this identity is and is not who we are. For readers who love to puzzle over such things, Carse is a willing - and entertaining - companion. But proceed at your own risk.
May 6, 2019
Reco by https://tim.blog/2019/02/28/graham-du...
My fav quotes (not a review):
-Page 18 |
"It is not accidental that the word for animal comes from the Latin anima, soul."
-Page 25 |
"The wild geese do not know where they are but they are not lost. Knowledge can lift the veil. It can also become the veil. “In the pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added,” Lao Tsu declared. “In the practice of the Tao, every day something is dropped.” This is not mere anti-intellectualism; it is a recognition of both the importance and the limitations of knowledge. Learn what you can, then learn how to leave your learning behind you for it can hide you from the ceaseless change in and around you. The great Tao “nourishes infinite worlds, yet it doesn’t hold on to them.” Only by releasing our attachment, can we, in Rumi’s phrase, “find our place in placelessness.”"
-Page 30 |
"If there is such a principle, it seems to appear in a widely expressed caution: every discipline harbors contradiction. We can become so focused on the path that the path becomes its own end."
-Page 34 |
"Sharafuddin Maneri was certainly right. Unless we are running we can’t catch a wild ass. But surely he knew that the wild ass would outrun us every time. The only hope is that as we step up our speed, we will see that we are running like a wild ass. It is our self we run from."
-Page 50 |
"He might even pick up someone’s notes and read a line or two to the class, but never with ridicule, always with respect, as though there were something uniquely revealing in it."
-Page 69 |
"self-knowledge is not knowing who or what the true self is; it is being known by that self. To enter into ourselves is therefore increasingly to discover how well we are already known to ourselves."
-Page 67 |
"There was a mouse on my sneaker. She was a half-sized mouse, only a few weeks old, her body no bigger than her head, and obviously not yet wise in the ways of a mouse’s world. Having discovered the treasure of seeds and pollen that had accumulated in the seams and laces of my shoe... “Look, sweetie,” I said, leaning down, “there’s a whole out-of-doors full of this stuff and if you insist on being this careless you may become a meal yourself.” I explained that although Charlie was probably upstairs asleep, he could appear as suddenly and silently as she had. These warnings made no impression so I returned to my work in the sink while she continued at hers."
-Page 85 |
"The identity I present to the world is a self to be seen and not the self who sees. But this is the identity I present to myself as well."
-Page 84 |
"[Wrapped in a toilet paper 'mummy' costume with only an eyeball exposed], when the spooks looked at my eyeball, it was enough for them to know they were being seen. They knew their nafs was visible to the person looking through this eye. But since they did not see me looking back out at them, I had become invisible to them—and also to myself."
-Page 98 |
"Mystics frequently warn us against seeing the whole world from a perspective unique to our own tradition. Ibn Arabi, a master of Sufi gnosticism, observed that if we remembered that “the water takes its color from the vessel containing it,” we would not interfere with the beliefs of others “but would perceive God in every form of belief.”"
-Page 105
"Frost never “read” his poetry or “quoted” it. Since the tone and inflection of his voice scarcely changed when he began to “say” a poem, it took on a conversational quality. It did sound as though he were saying something to us and not merely reciting or repeating it."
-Page 110
"If so, this could explain why such beauty could come through an ego as pinched and combative as Frost’s. It is clear to me now that my curiosity about Frost was caused by more than the irreconcilability of his poetry with his personality."
-Page 110
"Creativity is not doing something, it is looking through whatever we do with the eye of the sleepless watcher, it is remaining through whatever we say an uncritically receptive listener. W. H. Auden said that we become poets not because we have important things we want to say but because we “like hanging around words listening to what they have to say.”"
-Page 112
"One of the first clues is the transparency of the writing, as in nearly all of Frost’s poetry. To be sure, the technique is always right in front of us. His work is written in verse, it often rhymes, it is precisely metered, so it looks like poetry. Still, the technique does not draw attention to itself as technique. His verses don’t say, This is a poet speaking. This is largely because of the naturalness of his speech, his ability to hang around words to hear what they have to say. As a result, his words so often point away from themselves at lucidly seen realities: a child’s grave, the path not taken, a crow on a snowy branch. They mirror these realities with such clarity that we don’t notice the mirror itself. By now the technique has hidden itself."
-Page 115
"I’ve heard it said there’s a window that opens from one mind to another, but if there’s no wall, there’s no need for fitting a window, or the latch. JALAL AL-DIN RUMI"
-Page 128
"The fatherlessness of the tale is the primary mark of its triumph over rationality. It is another way of saying that my origin is not outside me and obvious, but within me and hidden."
-Page 136
“But I’ll bet there’s one thing that’s never changed. I’ll bet you still can’t get your helmet on straight.” Somewhere, somehow, we always have our helmet on backwards—without knowing it. We are always wrong in some essential way about what our story is. We are never living out exactly the story we think we are. That's what makes our story, open-ended and unpredictable, instead of a fixed plot rolling out to its foreknown conclusion."
My fav quotes (not a review):
-Page 18 |
"It is not accidental that the word for animal comes from the Latin anima, soul."
-Page 25 |
"The wild geese do not know where they are but they are not lost. Knowledge can lift the veil. It can also become the veil. “In the pursuit of knowledge, every day something is added,” Lao Tsu declared. “In the practice of the Tao, every day something is dropped.” This is not mere anti-intellectualism; it is a recognition of both the importance and the limitations of knowledge. Learn what you can, then learn how to leave your learning behind you for it can hide you from the ceaseless change in and around you. The great Tao “nourishes infinite worlds, yet it doesn’t hold on to them.” Only by releasing our attachment, can we, in Rumi’s phrase, “find our place in placelessness.”"
-Page 30 |
"If there is such a principle, it seems to appear in a widely expressed caution: every discipline harbors contradiction. We can become so focused on the path that the path becomes its own end."
-Page 34 |
"Sharafuddin Maneri was certainly right. Unless we are running we can’t catch a wild ass. But surely he knew that the wild ass would outrun us every time. The only hope is that as we step up our speed, we will see that we are running like a wild ass. It is our self we run from."
-Page 50 |
"He might even pick up someone’s notes and read a line or two to the class, but never with ridicule, always with respect, as though there were something uniquely revealing in it."
-Page 69 |
"self-knowledge is not knowing who or what the true self is; it is being known by that self. To enter into ourselves is therefore increasingly to discover how well we are already known to ourselves."
-Page 67 |
"There was a mouse on my sneaker. She was a half-sized mouse, only a few weeks old, her body no bigger than her head, and obviously not yet wise in the ways of a mouse’s world. Having discovered the treasure of seeds and pollen that had accumulated in the seams and laces of my shoe... “Look, sweetie,” I said, leaning down, “there’s a whole out-of-doors full of this stuff and if you insist on being this careless you may become a meal yourself.” I explained that although Charlie was probably upstairs asleep, he could appear as suddenly and silently as she had. These warnings made no impression so I returned to my work in the sink while she continued at hers."
-Page 85 |
"The identity I present to the world is a self to be seen and not the self who sees. But this is the identity I present to myself as well."
-Page 84 |
"[Wrapped in a toilet paper 'mummy' costume with only an eyeball exposed], when the spooks looked at my eyeball, it was enough for them to know they were being seen. They knew their nafs was visible to the person looking through this eye. But since they did not see me looking back out at them, I had become invisible to them—and also to myself."
-Page 98 |
"Mystics frequently warn us against seeing the whole world from a perspective unique to our own tradition. Ibn Arabi, a master of Sufi gnosticism, observed that if we remembered that “the water takes its color from the vessel containing it,” we would not interfere with the beliefs of others “but would perceive God in every form of belief.”"
-Page 105
"Frost never “read” his poetry or “quoted” it. Since the tone and inflection of his voice scarcely changed when he began to “say” a poem, it took on a conversational quality. It did sound as though he were saying something to us and not merely reciting or repeating it."
-Page 110
"If so, this could explain why such beauty could come through an ego as pinched and combative as Frost’s. It is clear to me now that my curiosity about Frost was caused by more than the irreconcilability of his poetry with his personality."
-Page 110
"Creativity is not doing something, it is looking through whatever we do with the eye of the sleepless watcher, it is remaining through whatever we say an uncritically receptive listener. W. H. Auden said that we become poets not because we have important things we want to say but because we “like hanging around words listening to what they have to say.”"
-Page 112
"One of the first clues is the transparency of the writing, as in nearly all of Frost’s poetry. To be sure, the technique is always right in front of us. His work is written in verse, it often rhymes, it is precisely metered, so it looks like poetry. Still, the technique does not draw attention to itself as technique. His verses don’t say, This is a poet speaking. This is largely because of the naturalness of his speech, his ability to hang around words to hear what they have to say. As a result, his words so often point away from themselves at lucidly seen realities: a child’s grave, the path not taken, a crow on a snowy branch. They mirror these realities with such clarity that we don’t notice the mirror itself. By now the technique has hidden itself."
-Page 115
"I’ve heard it said there’s a window that opens from one mind to another, but if there’s no wall, there’s no need for fitting a window, or the latch. JALAL AL-DIN RUMI"
-Page 128
"The fatherlessness of the tale is the primary mark of its triumph over rationality. It is another way of saying that my origin is not outside me and obvious, but within me and hidden."
-Page 136
“But I’ll bet there’s one thing that’s never changed. I’ll bet you still can’t get your helmet on straight.” Somewhere, somehow, we always have our helmet on backwards—without knowing it. We are always wrong in some essential way about what our story is. We are never living out exactly the story we think we are. That's what makes our story, open-ended and unpredictable, instead of a fixed plot rolling out to its foreknown conclusion."
November 19, 2024
Interesting essays combining personal memories with mystical thoughts. Some more successful than others. Overall enjoyable. And thought-provoking.
March 25, 2008
James P. Carse’s Breakfast at the Victory: The Mysticism of Ordinary Experience is a collection of twelve meditations on several spiritual occurrences realized by the author in seemingly routine moments of his own life. The final product is an engaging assortment of reworked philosophical exposés aimed at revealing and assessing each moment in detail. Rather than fall prey to Breakfast’s impressive laundry-list of philosophical references and ideas, Carse uses his professorial knowledge to heighten and explain his experiences—both by reliving them and by retrospection.
August 7, 2008
One of my favorite books. The best aspects of spiritual autobiography -- telling the story and revealing the transcendent in the everyday details of life and encounter with others. Told with a distinct voice, crisp and poignant recall, memorable characters, teaching stories without preaching. Reflective and deep without being obscure or inaccessible.
The story of human beings and our search for love, connection, and purpose. I barely do it justice to describe the contents.
The story of human beings and our search for love, connection, and purpose. I barely do it justice to describe the contents.
October 31, 2015
Boring philosopher
Wow!This guy takes pages and pages to try to get the point across. I generally like metaphors and illustrative writing but he overwhelms this reader for one trying to depict important historical thinking in what he believes are simple pictures of daily life. He fails. Truxton King
Wow!This guy takes pages and pages to try to get the point across. I generally like metaphors and illustrative writing but he overwhelms this reader for one trying to depict important historical thinking in what he believes are simple pictures of daily life. He fails. Truxton King
March 5, 2009
philosophical spirituality meets personal anecdotes. It didn't really hold my attention
January 2, 2011
If you have read any of Carse's other books you will enjoy this one. It connects his overall philosophy to daily life (i.e. the mysticism in the ordinary). Very good read to help clear your head.
March 1, 2022
This book came in as a donation at the library where I work, where part of my job is sorting the donated items. I had never heard of it before, but the cover and title caught my eye and I thought- hey, this is worth buying for $1 (our standard price for paperbacks in our ongoing book sale).
After reading the book, and underlining what felt like 30% of it to go back to later, I realized that this book coming into my possession was my own little mystical moment. I discovered so much to think about and ponder while reading, and found myself re-reading lines that I didn't grasp right away so I could really absorb the ideas. I never took a philosophy class in college, so many of these ideas were somewhat new to me. This book opened several new doorways in my mind, and that is truly the mark of an excellent read in my opinion.
"All experience, to borrow an expression of the mystics, is bounded by the boundless. Every step on our journey adds to what we know but it also reveals there is no end to knowing."
After reading the book, and underlining what felt like 30% of it to go back to later, I realized that this book coming into my possession was my own little mystical moment. I discovered so much to think about and ponder while reading, and found myself re-reading lines that I didn't grasp right away so I could really absorb the ideas. I never took a philosophy class in college, so many of these ideas were somewhat new to me. This book opened several new doorways in my mind, and that is truly the mark of an excellent read in my opinion.
"All experience, to borrow an expression of the mystics, is bounded by the boundless. Every step on our journey adds to what we know but it also reveals there is no end to knowing."
May 20, 2020
James P. Carse delighted me with his book on how to see the awesome in the boring, the crazy in the normal, the mysticism in the ordinary. His way of writing feels like a continues out breath and his storytelling is captivating and informative. He blends personal experience with profound knowledge from all kinds of lineages and ancient traditions. By reading this book my world expanded and I was able to recognize and identify my own wonder about mysticism and other worldly mysteries. If you are looking for heartwarming and soul-expanding work; read this book. And do so with an wonderous eye.
January 18, 2022
This is not light reading. This is important, mind-expanding, philosophical, spiritual, and excellent. As it says in the book: "All experience, to borrow an expression of the mystics, is bounded by the boundless. Every step on our journey adds to what we know but it also reveals there is no end to knowing. This book is an invitation to see how extraordinary the ordinary is when we rediscover it by way of the mystical."
It is worth every minute you spend on it. It is fine to read a bit at a time, to ponder deeply.
It is worth every minute you spend on it. It is fine to read a bit at a time, to ponder deeply.
November 17, 2023
Finite and Infinite Games alone cements Carse as a great writer and thinker, but, although not as essential as that book, with Breakfast at the Victory he regales us once more and we get more of that mastery of his: subtlety, beauty and conciseness of spiritual, religious and deeply emotional ideas. That is something to hold dear and treasure for there aren't many out there like him.
July 21, 2025
Carse as ever has such an inspiring attitude about everything. Literally everything. Some chapters were more rich than others, the work as a whole is definitely looser and more transparent and reflective than Finite and Infinite Games, but the same universally spiritual and relatable mind is the source.
May 26, 2019
Ok... I know this book isn’t at 5. For sure; no 5. But maybe it’s a 4. Subtle wisdom. The author is very gifted at setting up small stories so much so that the little tales never pay off like the set up.
March 1, 2018
I loved Carse's other books. But if you're expecting something like The Religious Case Against Belief or Finite and Infinite Games, you--like me--will be sorely disappointed.
June 30, 2019
The sacred is in the ordinary. The extra-ordinary is the mundane. The mystical ideas have a beauty that stories in this book manages to touch.
February 28, 2021
A family favorite
February 12, 2023
I read a bit of this each morning. I love the way Carse connects every day experiences to the unknown. He does not give any pat answers, just a lot of food for thought.
January 11, 2024
always stunning
Carse is my favorite author of all time. Like any of his books, I want to curl up with the prose and revel in the ideas. Highly recommended.
Carse is my favorite author of all time. Like any of his books, I want to curl up with the prose and revel in the ideas. Highly recommended.
March 30, 2024
I enjoyed some of the anecdotes, but found the whole disappointing--useless philosophical woolgathering.
January 27, 2025
I found it incomprehensible, but apparently that is just me.
Want to read
July 31, 2025recommendation: [The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Graham Duncan (#362) - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss](https://tim.blog/2019/03/01/the-tim-f...)
June 10, 2015
"The mysticism of the Victory Luncheonette was hidden in its ordinariness - which is to say that it was revealed in its ordinariness. Mystical vision is seeing how extraordinary the ordinary is." p. 15
I am not sure what I thought this book was about. I had heard of it many times over the last years, but apparently the title had not prepared me for the depth of Carse's thinking. I started this collection of essays at the gym, as a way to distract me from my walking. It was more of a hindrance than a distraction for this was not light reading.
I really had to think about what Carse was telling me. He looks at twelve times in his life where the mystical became visible through ordinary life. Each essay made me think about life in a slightly different way and made me see that the ordinary is not quite so ordinary. So I am guessing that Carse would say he succeeded.
I would also say that the author succeeded in making me think. I don't think I got all his points, but that is my fault not his.
If you want a way to see our world slant (as Emily Dickinson would say), I suggest you try this book. The author will turn your vision to different aspects of daily life.
I am not sure what I thought this book was about. I had heard of it many times over the last years, but apparently the title had not prepared me for the depth of Carse's thinking. I started this collection of essays at the gym, as a way to distract me from my walking. It was more of a hindrance than a distraction for this was not light reading.
I really had to think about what Carse was telling me. He looks at twelve times in his life where the mystical became visible through ordinary life. Each essay made me think about life in a slightly different way and made me see that the ordinary is not quite so ordinary. So I am guessing that Carse would say he succeeded.
I would also say that the author succeeded in making me think. I don't think I got all his points, but that is my fault not his.
If you want a way to see our world slant (as Emily Dickinson would say), I suggest you try this book. The author will turn your vision to different aspects of daily life.
January 9, 2015
I'm a big fan of James Carse's "Finite and Infinite Games", which I read just after college. This book contains much of the same philosophy, albeit in a very different format. Carse is a religion and philosophy professor, but his writings appeal to an agnostic like me. These chapters are nearly parables, stories demonstrating his points. So he tells a story of a glorious night of boldly steering a ship by the stars, only to find himself badly off course the next morning -- because the stars wheel in the sky as the hours pass. Or the cook at the Victory diner, who didn't so much work as dance and pull all his patrons into an ephemeral and soul-soothing community. He rarely provides the "moral of the story", merely presenting the story itself for enjoyment and contemplation.
I like Carse. I'm glad to have finally found this book of his.
I like Carse. I'm glad to have finally found this book of his.
June 4, 2008
Philosphy of Religion professor James Carse's challenging loose memoir provides a jumping off point for discussing extraordinary things encountered in every day living. It lost me for significant stretches during what seemed to be learned digressions, but I was intrigued nonetheless. He embraces possibility and alternative explanations and viewpoints that tread the border between absurd and sublime. I will return to this book some time to see if I can more fully borrow his lens as an alternative way of seeing the things up close and back from a distance.
September 15, 2008
The Sufi parable at the beginning of the title essay is alone worth the price of the book. Carse seeks (and finds) the sacred in the pedestrian, in those "modest events" that "came and went without announcing they were special." Best of all these is recounted in the inestimable "The Way the Soul Sees." This is a spiritual quest that finds its heaven in *this* life.
May 2, 2009
was my very favorite, read-once-a-year book from age 22 to 28. not sure if i went back if i would still like it or have outgrown it (a la tim robbins novels). given to me by the punk i worked at 7-11 with in champaign, it's a book about the mysticism of everyday life, an anecdotal intro to ideas of zen, tao, and other spiritual traditions.
March 12, 2008
This is a very stirring read. The chapters are independent, so you can skip around, re-read, etc., in a very inductive, living way.
It's a book you stumble across in a private, old bookstore and believe you were cosmically divined to cross paths.
It's a book you stumble across in a private, old bookstore and believe you were cosmically divined to cross paths.
August 6, 2008
Meditations on the rich paradoxes of everyday experience.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews