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In this paper certain religious mystical experiences, theophany and kenosis, are compared with some schizophrenic phenomena and with certain aspects of normal creative thinking. The early development of the ego in certain individuals is characterized by a continuing struggle between the 'self-system' ego and the 'mother system', or the 'mother inspired' demands of the superego. The sudden capitulation of the self-system to the mother-system gives rise to the psychic experience