Leo Bersani
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226206059
- eISBN:
- 9780226206196
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226206196.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The essays in this book treat the question of connectedness: of how the human subject connects or fails to connect to other human subjects and the nonhuman world. Productive relations with the world ...
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The essays in this book treat the question of connectedness: of how the human subject connects or fails to connect to other human subjects and the nonhuman world. Productive relations with the world – with otherness in general – have been thwarted by the major current in Western thought emphasizing the disjunction between the thinking self and the world. Notable exemplifications of this tendency are the Cartesian assumption of an ontological gap between mind and non-mind, and the psychoanalytic argument for the external world’s foreignness (and always potential hostility) to the human subject. This book studies versions of that antagonistic relation in film, sociological and philosophical theories, and literature. It asks why it has been so easy to emphasize the differential nature of otherness – as if we had perversely worked to subordinate the possibilities of exchange with otherness to a conflictive, often violent relation to difference. How can we resist such oppressive strategies? Chapters Four and Five argue for the essential oneness of being, for our intrinsic connectedness to otherness both external and internal to us. Chapter Four seeks to define the relational terms of an undivided mind, one in which present consciousness always includes past and unconscious thought. Chapter Five extends the notion of unitary being to the relation between our bodies and the universe. The book’s nondualistic relational argument concludes with the assertion (authorized by contemporary cosmological theory) of our extension now into a cosmic past. Ultimately res cogitans and res extensa are united in the oneness of cosmic being.Less
The essays in this book treat the question of connectedness: of how the human subject connects or fails to connect to other human subjects and the nonhuman world. Productive relations with the world – with otherness in general – have been thwarted by the major current in Western thought emphasizing the disjunction between the thinking self and the world. Notable exemplifications of this tendency are the Cartesian assumption of an ontological gap between mind and non-mind, and the psychoanalytic argument for the external world’s foreignness (and always potential hostility) to the human subject. This book studies versions of that antagonistic relation in film, sociological and philosophical theories, and literature. It asks why it has been so easy to emphasize the differential nature of otherness – as if we had perversely worked to subordinate the possibilities of exchange with otherness to a conflictive, often violent relation to difference. How can we resist such oppressive strategies? Chapters Four and Five argue for the essential oneness of being, for our intrinsic connectedness to otherness both external and internal to us. Chapter Four seeks to define the relational terms of an undivided mind, one in which present consciousness always includes past and unconscious thought. Chapter Five extends the notion of unitary being to the relation between our bodies and the universe. The book’s nondualistic relational argument concludes with the assertion (authorized by contemporary cosmological theory) of our extension now into a cosmic past. Ultimately res cogitans and res extensa are united in the oneness of cosmic being.
Janja A. Lalich
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520231948
- eISBN:
- 9780520937512
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520231948.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
This chapter describes the spiritual, religious, and self-awareness milieu of the 1970s with reference to Heaven's Gate, a cult group influential at the time. The characteristic beliefs of that era ...
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This chapter describes the spiritual, religious, and self-awareness milieu of the 1970s with reference to Heaven's Gate, a cult group influential at the time. The characteristic beliefs of that era and that milieu had a tremendous impact on individuals who founded the group, as well as on many who joined in the early years. The mass suicide of 39 members of the group led to an uncovering of their actions and beliefs. The Heaven's Gate belief system grew out of a social phenomenon now identified as the New Age movement. The moral imperative of the New Age movement was guided not by a political vision but a cosmic one, which held to the belief that a person could and should transcend daily life by tapping into the universal mind, the oneness of all existence. It was in such an environment of cosmic oneness, altered states, socio-cultural influences, personal transformation, and reliance on seers and gurus that Heaven's Gate came into being. A careful socio-historical examination of the cult is provided: how and when it was formed, the interpersonal dynamics, the organizational crises, the highs and lows of daily life, the crucial aspects of the belief system that held it together, and the energies of the charismatic leaders who guided the way.Less
This chapter describes the spiritual, religious, and self-awareness milieu of the 1970s with reference to Heaven's Gate, a cult group influential at the time. The characteristic beliefs of that era and that milieu had a tremendous impact on individuals who founded the group, as well as on many who joined in the early years. The mass suicide of 39 members of the group led to an uncovering of their actions and beliefs. The Heaven's Gate belief system grew out of a social phenomenon now identified as the New Age movement. The moral imperative of the New Age movement was guided not by a political vision but a cosmic one, which held to the belief that a person could and should transcend daily life by tapping into the universal mind, the oneness of all existence. It was in such an environment of cosmic oneness, altered states, socio-cultural influences, personal transformation, and reliance on seers and gurus that Heaven's Gate came into being. A careful socio-historical examination of the cult is provided: how and when it was formed, the interpersonal dynamics, the organizational crises, the highs and lows of daily life, the crucial aspects of the belief system that held it together, and the energies of the charismatic leaders who guided the way.
