Abstract: The article raises the task of discussing the methodological problems stated in the book of P. G. Nosachev, which represents a panorama of contemporary Western studies of esotericism, previously unknown to the Russian reader. P. G. Nosachev demonstrates different approaches to the analysis of esoteric experience; the author of the article chooses one, the most controversial approach called in the book "classical rationalism" and refers to its analysis and consideration of alternatives. For the author, it is especially important to distinguish between the irrational and the non-rational, where by the non-rational we mean those features of the inner world that do not accept logical-conceptual forms.The author of the article stands on the positions of ideological openness with the desire for a holistic vision of the studied subjects, leans toward the dialogical form of perception of other people's experience, applies the notions "idealism and materialism", "rational and non-rational" for the qualification of the cognitive situation. The main methodological pathos of the article is to oppose reductionism. The author believes that the struggle of materialism and idealism, buried in the XX century, has not gone anywhere, and remains relevant. "Classic rationalism" is essentially materialism, and quite aggressive, although it is not inherent in Marxists, but in academic scientists. The attempt to speak exclusively "on behalf of science," understood according to the model of natural science, prevents the researcher from understanding the unfamiliar subjectivity. The article raises the question how to approach the understanding of foreign mystical experience, if you do not have one. The article demonstrates the two perspectives: the first is related to the desire to "advance into someone else's subjectivity" using fantasy, relying on the narrative of the bearer of experience, but with the subsequent return to one's own positions; The second angle assumes at least a short-term assumption from the researcher of the "ontological reality" of the figurative series experienced by the mystic. The author makes a conclusion on the need for taking into account the specifics of the subjectivity itself, treating this experience with respect, and not only with "rationalistic criticism", as well as considering the constant transition in the subjective experience from the rational to the non-rational and back.