Umar F. Abd‐Allah
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195187281
- eISBN:
- 9780199784875
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195187288.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter chronicles Webb's conversion to Islam. It is shown that Webb's conversion was actually a series of conversions. First, he adopted materialism, which he rejected for Buddhism in search ...
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This chapter chronicles Webb's conversion to Islam. It is shown that Webb's conversion was actually a series of conversions. First, he adopted materialism, which he rejected for Buddhism in search for new spirituality. Then, he adopted Theosophy and made changes in his eating habits and lifestyle. Finally, he embraced Islam. The parallels of Webb's conversion with other Victorian converts to Islam and Buddhism are discussed.Less
This chapter chronicles Webb's conversion to Islam. It is shown that Webb's conversion was actually a series of conversions. First, he adopted materialism, which he rejected for Buddhism in search for new spirituality. Then, he adopted Theosophy and made changes in his eating habits and lifestyle. Finally, he embraced Islam. The parallels of Webb's conversion with other Victorian converts to Islam and Buddhism are discussed.
Mark S. Morrisson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195306965
- eISBN:
- 9780199785414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306965.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter discusses how the close relationship between Theosophical theories of matter and the new atomic science led Theosophists to launch a decades-long research program of “clairvoyant ...
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This chapter discusses how the close relationship between Theosophical theories of matter and the new atomic science led Theosophists to launch a decades-long research program of “clairvoyant chemistry” in 1895. This research continued in the 20th century and has even occupied contemporary scientists in chemistry and physics.Less
This chapter discusses how the close relationship between Theosophical theories of matter and the new atomic science led Theosophists to launch a decades-long research program of “clairvoyant chemistry” in 1895. This research continued in the 20th century and has even occupied contemporary scientists in chemistry and physics.
David L. McMahan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195183276
- eISBN:
- 9780199870882
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183276.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter shows, with attention to the social, political, and polemical contexts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ways Buddhists and Buddhist sympathizers attempted to align Buddhism ...
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This chapter shows, with attention to the social, political, and polemical contexts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ways Buddhists and Buddhist sympathizers attempted to align Buddhism with scientific rationalism. A discourse of scientific Buddhism emerged in the context of two intertwined crises: the Victorian crisis of faith in the West and the crisis of colonialism and western hegemony in Asia. In Ceylon, Anagarika Dharmapala promoted the image of Buddhism as scientific to counter denigrations of Buddhism by colonialists and missionaries and to assert its superiority to Christianity. Paul Carus, who through science had lost his faith in traditional Christianity, presented Buddhism as a part of a triumphal vision of science that would eventually lead to a universal “religion of science.” Henry Steel Olcott saw Buddhism as representing an “occult science” aligned with Theosophy and spiritualism.Less
This chapter shows, with attention to the social, political, and polemical contexts of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the ways Buddhists and Buddhist sympathizers attempted to align Buddhism with scientific rationalism. A discourse of scientific Buddhism emerged in the context of two intertwined crises: the Victorian crisis of faith in the West and the crisis of colonialism and western hegemony in Asia. In Ceylon, Anagarika Dharmapala promoted the image of Buddhism as scientific to counter denigrations of Buddhism by colonialists and missionaries and to assert its superiority to Christianity. Paul Carus, who through science had lost his faith in traditional Christianity, presented Buddhism as a part of a triumphal vision of science that would eventually lead to a universal “religion of science.” Henry Steel Olcott saw Buddhism as representing an “occult science” aligned with Theosophy and spiritualism.
Luciano Chessa
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520270633
- eISBN:
- 9780520951563
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520270633.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Recently there has been a growing interest in the work of the Italian futurist painter, composer, and maker of musical instruments Luigi Russolo (1885–1947). As the author of the first systematic ...
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Recently there has been a growing interest in the work of the Italian futurist painter, composer, and maker of musical instruments Luigi Russolo (1885–1947). As the author of the first systematic aesthetics of noise and the alleged creator of the first mechanical sound synthesizer, Russolo is increasingly regarded as a key figure in the evolution of twentieth-century music. Adopting as its unifying leitmotif Russolo's interest in the occult throughout his life, this biography demonstrates that the occult arts were the foundation upon which the superstructure of his art of noises was erected, showing that both his noise aesthetics and its practical manifestation—the intonarumori—were for him and his associates elements of a multileveled experiment to achieve higher states of spiritual consciousness and a medium to catalyze materialization/incarnation. The book changes the current perception of Russolo from a rational scientist devoted to positivist thinking to a multifaceted man in whom the drive to keep up with the latest scientific trends coexisted with an embrace of the irrational and a critique of materialism and positivism. Uncovering Russolo's occult interests strengthens the connections between his best-known ideas and his spiritual legacy in the works of Edgar Varèse, Pierre Schaeffer, and John Cage.Less
Recently there has been a growing interest in the work of the Italian futurist painter, composer, and maker of musical instruments Luigi Russolo (1885–1947). As the author of the first systematic aesthetics of noise and the alleged creator of the first mechanical sound synthesizer, Russolo is increasingly regarded as a key figure in the evolution of twentieth-century music. Adopting as its unifying leitmotif Russolo's interest in the occult throughout his life, this biography demonstrates that the occult arts were the foundation upon which the superstructure of his art of noises was erected, showing that both his noise aesthetics and its practical manifestation—the intonarumori—were for him and his associates elements of a multileveled experiment to achieve higher states of spiritual consciousness and a medium to catalyze materialization/incarnation. The book changes the current perception of Russolo from a rational scientist devoted to positivist thinking to a multifaceted man in whom the drive to keep up with the latest scientific trends coexisted with an embrace of the irrational and a critique of materialism and positivism. Uncovering Russolo's occult interests strengthens the connections between his best-known ideas and his spiritual legacy in the works of Edgar Varèse, Pierre Schaeffer, and John Cage.
Nicholas Owen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199233014
- eISBN:
- 9780191716423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199233014.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, Political History
This chapter returns to Congress' dilemma of metropolitan organization. It examines the constellation of anti-imperialist groups in Britain in the early 1930s, identifying their relationships with ...
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This chapter returns to Congress' dilemma of metropolitan organization. It examines the constellation of anti-imperialist groups in Britain in the early 1930s, identifying their relationships with and dependence on British associations and parties. In doing so, it also tests the theory that London acted as an anti-imperialist junction box, providing connections between nationalists from India (and other colonized countries) and metropolitan radicals. It is argued that the tendency of metropolitan anti-imperialism was to become more parasitic, working not through direct connections between British anti-imperialists and Indian nationalists, but through a delicate web of connections between the nationalists and a variety of other-directed movements and causes: theosophy, socialism, communism, pacifism, feminism, and others. The strengths and weaknesses of each alliance are analysed, as are the uncompromising terms of the Gandhians with respect to them.Less
This chapter returns to Congress' dilemma of metropolitan organization. It examines the constellation of anti-imperialist groups in Britain in the early 1930s, identifying their relationships with and dependence on British associations and parties. In doing so, it also tests the theory that London acted as an anti-imperialist junction box, providing connections between nationalists from India (and other colonized countries) and metropolitan radicals. It is argued that the tendency of metropolitan anti-imperialism was to become more parasitic, working not through direct connections between British anti-imperialists and Indian nationalists, but through a delicate web of connections between the nationalists and a variety of other-directed movements and causes: theosophy, socialism, communism, pacifism, feminism, and others. The strengths and weaknesses of each alliance are analysed, as are the uncompromising terms of the Gandhians with respect to them.
Terryl L. Givens
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195313901
- eISBN:
- 9780199871933
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195313901.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Some contemporary theologians have called for a return to Origen. Nicholas Berdyaev advocated the idea, but the Eastern Orthodox Church strenuously resists the idea, as does the Roman Catholic ...
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Some contemporary theologians have called for a return to Origen. Nicholas Berdyaev advocated the idea, but the Eastern Orthodox Church strenuously resists the idea, as does the Roman Catholic Church. In philosophy, J. M. E. McTaggart among others embraces the idea. Relevance to the free will debate, rather than to theodicy, is the idea's main appeal in the twentieth century. Theosophy defends the idea, and it appears sporadically in twentieth-century literature (in Robert Frost, for example). Parascience shows the latest interest in the idea.Less
Some contemporary theologians have called for a return to Origen. Nicholas Berdyaev advocated the idea, but the Eastern Orthodox Church strenuously resists the idea, as does the Roman Catholic Church. In philosophy, J. M. E. McTaggart among others embraces the idea. Relevance to the free will debate, rather than to theodicy, is the idea's main appeal in the twentieth century. Theosophy defends the idea, and it appears sporadically in twentieth-century literature (in Robert Frost, for example). Parascience shows the latest interest in the idea.
Cathy Gutierrez
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195388350
- eISBN:
- 9780199866472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388350.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines Spiritualist writings about health and the body. For a movement that was otherworldly in its focus, Spiritualists were extremely interested in medicine and many, including ...
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This chapter examines Spiritualist writings about health and the body. For a movement that was otherworldly in its focus, Spiritualists were extremely interested in medicine and many, including Andrew Jackson Davis, worked as healers and country doctors. In an epoch when bloodletting and heroic measures were still common, a spiritual or philosophical explanation for ill health was often preferable to mainstream authority. Spiritualists embraced the idea of the Grand Man from Swedenborg, where the microcosm of the human body reflected the macrocosm of the universe as a whole. Resembling the Kabbalah’s articulation of Adam Kadmon and tracing its roots to Plato’s Timaeus, this construction of the body as the cosmos in miniature did not distinguish between the material and spiritual worlds but rather saw them as united parts of the divine.Less
This chapter examines Spiritualist writings about health and the body. For a movement that was otherworldly in its focus, Spiritualists were extremely interested in medicine and many, including Andrew Jackson Davis, worked as healers and country doctors. In an epoch when bloodletting and heroic measures were still common, a spiritual or philosophical explanation for ill health was often preferable to mainstream authority. Spiritualists embraced the idea of the Grand Man from Swedenborg, where the microcosm of the human body reflected the macrocosm of the universe as a whole. Resembling the Kabbalah’s articulation of Adam Kadmon and tracing its roots to Plato’s Timaeus, this construction of the body as the cosmos in miniature did not distinguish between the material and spiritual worlds but rather saw them as united parts of the divine.
Mark Sedgwick
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195152975
- eISBN:
- 9780199835225
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195152972.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter goes back to the beginning. It covers Gu”non’s life from birth until 1908, and examines the nature and consequences of his involvement during the Belle Epoque with the Martinist Order ...
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This chapter goes back to the beginning. It covers Gu”non’s life from birth until 1908, and examines the nature and consequences of his involvement during the Belle Epoque with the Martinist Order and other occultist groups led by “Papus,”as well as in Gu”non’s own short-lived occultist group, the Renewed Order of the Temple. The chapter also examines the origins of Perennialism in fifteenth-century Italy, of Freemasonry in sixteenth-century Scotland, and of Western interest in Hinduism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (in India with Reuben Burrow, in Britain and France, and in America with Ralph Waldo Emerson). It traces these three influences on Gu”non through Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society and Encausse, as well as parallel influences on Gu”non’s collaborator Coomaraswamy.Less
This chapter goes back to the beginning. It covers Gu”non’s life from birth until 1908, and examines the nature and consequences of his involvement during the Belle Epoque with the Martinist Order and other occultist groups led by “Papus,”as well as in Gu”non’s own short-lived occultist group, the Renewed Order of the Temple. The chapter also examines the origins of Perennialism in fifteenth-century Italy, of Freemasonry in sixteenth-century Scotland, and of Western interest in Hinduism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (in India with Reuben Burrow, in Britain and France, and in America with Ralph Waldo Emerson). It traces these three influences on Gu”non through Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society and Encausse, as well as parallel influences on Gu”non’s collaborator Coomaraswamy.
Robert C. Fuller
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195146806
- eISBN:
- 9780199834204
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195146808.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Metaphysical spirituality has found a receptive audience among middle‐class Americans. The New Thought movement combined mesmerist psychology and the “power of positive thinking” to show Americans ...
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Metaphysical spirituality has found a receptive audience among middle‐class Americans. The New Thought movement combined mesmerist psychology and the “power of positive thinking” to show Americans how they might learn to become inwardly connected with powerful spiritual forces. Theosophy built upon this tradition and added a new vocabulary, partially drawn from Asian religions, for describing the higher spiritual worlds to which we are said to be inwardly connected. Avid interest in such topics as mysticism, altered states of consciousness, angels, and near‐death experiences have all been avenues through which Americans have pursued spiritual discovery outside of our established churches. The phenomenal popularity of James Redfield's bestseller The Celestine Prophecy illustrates how fully metaphysical spirituality has penetrated the American religious vernacular.Less
Metaphysical spirituality has found a receptive audience among middle‐class Americans. The New Thought movement combined mesmerist psychology and the “power of positive thinking” to show Americans how they might learn to become inwardly connected with powerful spiritual forces. Theosophy built upon this tradition and added a new vocabulary, partially drawn from Asian religions, for describing the higher spiritual worlds to which we are said to be inwardly connected. Avid interest in such topics as mysticism, altered states of consciousness, angels, and near‐death experiences have all been avenues through which Americans have pursued spiritual discovery outside of our established churches. The phenomenal popularity of James Redfield's bestseller The Celestine Prophecy illustrates how fully metaphysical spirituality has penetrated the American religious vernacular.
James A. Santucci
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195156829
- eISBN:
- 9780199784806
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019515682X.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This essay examines the history and development of the Theosophical Society and its offshoots. The Theosophical Society was founded in New York City in 1875 by sixteen individuals with shared ...
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This essay examines the history and development of the Theosophical Society and its offshoots. The Theosophical Society was founded in New York City in 1875 by sixteen individuals with shared interests in spiritualism and occultism. The objectives of the society were to “collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the universe.” Theosophy, as understood in the Theosophical Society and in many of the societies that derived from it, should not be considered static in its definition and content, but understood as an organic body of teachings that has undergone reinterpretation and development over time. Nonetheless, most Theosophical organizations understand Theosophy through the teachings of Helena P. Blavatsky, who is regarded as the ultimate and, for some, an infallible source of Theosophical learning. Organizations that ultimately derive from the Theosophical Society include the Temple of the People founded by Dr. William H. Dower and Mrs. Francia LaDue, Alice Bailey’s Arcane School, Guy Ballard’s “I AM” Religious Activity, the Church Universal and Triumphant (formerly the Summit Lighthouse) founded by Mark Prophet, and the Aetherius Society founded by George King.Less
This essay examines the history and development of the Theosophical Society and its offshoots. The Theosophical Society was founded in New York City in 1875 by sixteen individuals with shared interests in spiritualism and occultism. The objectives of the society were to “collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the universe.” Theosophy, as understood in the Theosophical Society and in many of the societies that derived from it, should not be considered static in its definition and content, but understood as an organic body of teachings that has undergone reinterpretation and development over time. Nonetheless, most Theosophical organizations understand Theosophy through the teachings of Helena P. Blavatsky, who is regarded as the ultimate and, for some, an infallible source of Theosophical learning. Organizations that ultimately derive from the Theosophical Society include the Temple of the People founded by Dr. William H. Dower and Mrs. Francia LaDue, Alice Bailey’s Arcane School, Guy Ballard’s “I AM” Religious Activity, the Church Universal and Triumphant (formerly the Summit Lighthouse) founded by Mark Prophet, and the Aetherius Society founded by George King.
June O. Leavitt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199827831
- eISBN:
- 9780199919444
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199827831.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This book aims to show that the “Kafkaesque” in Franz Kafka may be immediate or residual impressions of the clairvoyance which Kafka admitted he suffered from: Those aspects of his writings in which ...
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This book aims to show that the “Kafkaesque” in Franz Kafka may be immediate or residual impressions of the clairvoyance which Kafka admitted he suffered from: Those aspects of his writings in which the solid basis of human cognition totters, and objects are severed from physical referents, can be understood as mystical states of consciousness. However, this book also demonstrates how the age in which Kafka lived shaped his mystical states. Kafka lived during the modern Spiritual Revival, a powerful movement which resisted materialism, rejected the adulation of science and Darwin and idealized clairvoyant modes of consciousness. Key personalities who were Kafka’s contemporaries encouraged the counterculture to seek the true essence of reality by inducing out-of-body experiences and producing spiritual visions through meditative techniques. Most importantly, they inspired the representation of altered perception in art and literature. Leaders of the Spiritual Revival also called for changes in lifestyle in order to help transform consciousness. Vegetarianism became essential to reach higher consciousness and to return humanity to its divine nature. It is no surprise that Kafka became a vegetarian and wrote several important narratives from an animal’s point of view. Interweaving the occult discourse on clairvoyance, the divine nature of animal life, vegetarianism, the spiritual sources of dreams, and the eternal nature of the soul with Kafka’s dream-chronicles, animal narratives, diaries, letters, and stories, this book takes the reader through the mystical textuality of a great psychic writer and through the fascinating epoch of the great Spiritual Revival.Less
This book aims to show that the “Kafkaesque” in Franz Kafka may be immediate or residual impressions of the clairvoyance which Kafka admitted he suffered from: Those aspects of his writings in which the solid basis of human cognition totters, and objects are severed from physical referents, can be understood as mystical states of consciousness. However, this book also demonstrates how the age in which Kafka lived shaped his mystical states. Kafka lived during the modern Spiritual Revival, a powerful movement which resisted materialism, rejected the adulation of science and Darwin and idealized clairvoyant modes of consciousness. Key personalities who were Kafka’s contemporaries encouraged the counterculture to seek the true essence of reality by inducing out-of-body experiences and producing spiritual visions through meditative techniques. Most importantly, they inspired the representation of altered perception in art and literature. Leaders of the Spiritual Revival also called for changes in lifestyle in order to help transform consciousness. Vegetarianism became essential to reach higher consciousness and to return humanity to its divine nature. It is no surprise that Kafka became a vegetarian and wrote several important narratives from an animal’s point of view. Interweaving the occult discourse on clairvoyance, the divine nature of animal life, vegetarianism, the spiritual sources of dreams, and the eternal nature of the soul with Kafka’s dream-chronicles, animal narratives, diaries, letters, and stories, this book takes the reader through the mystical textuality of a great psychic writer and through the fascinating epoch of the great Spiritual Revival.
June O. Leavitt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199827831
- eISBN:
- 9780199919444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199827831.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter presents the classical theory about clairvoyance and contrasts it to Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner about being clairvoyant and to the discourse on clairvoyance popularized by the ...
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This chapter presents the classical theory about clairvoyance and contrasts it to Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner about being clairvoyant and to the discourse on clairvoyance popularized by the modern Theosophical movement. The chapter analyzes the statement that Kafka made to Steiner during their meeting that his soul yearned for “Theosophy,” in light of the tremendous impact which the founder of modern Theosophy, Madame H.P. Blavatsky, made on European arts, literature and culture.Less
This chapter presents the classical theory about clairvoyance and contrasts it to Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner about being clairvoyant and to the discourse on clairvoyance popularized by the modern Theosophical movement. The chapter analyzes the statement that Kafka made to Steiner during their meeting that his soul yearned for “Theosophy,” in light of the tremendous impact which the founder of modern Theosophy, Madame H.P. Blavatsky, made on European arts, literature and culture.
June O. Leavitt
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199827831
- eISBN:
- 9780199919444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199827831.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter presents two major implications that can be drawn from Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner that he occasionally experienced states of clairvoyance while writing. First, Kafka’s prose ...
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This chapter presents two major implications that can be drawn from Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner that he occasionally experienced states of clairvoyance while writing. First, Kafka’s prose necessarily contains indications of clairvoyant perception. Second of all, the fact that he deferred to Steiner’s explanation of clairvoyance suggests that Kafka was immersed in the occult discourse of his day, and this discourse would leave traces in his prose. Subsequently, this chapter aims to identify the indications of clairvoyant experience in Kafka’s prose while at the same time it draws attention to occult referents which may have shaped this experience. In addition to presenting definitions of “occult” “occultism” “mystic,” and “mysticism,” the chapter relates to trends in contemporary literary studies that are relevant to a discussion on the mystical life of Franz Kafka but have fallen short of elucidating the textuality of a clairvoyant writer.Less
This chapter presents two major implications that can be drawn from Kafka’s confession to Rudolph Steiner that he occasionally experienced states of clairvoyance while writing. First, Kafka’s prose necessarily contains indications of clairvoyant perception. Second of all, the fact that he deferred to Steiner’s explanation of clairvoyance suggests that Kafka was immersed in the occult discourse of his day, and this discourse would leave traces in his prose. Subsequently, this chapter aims to identify the indications of clairvoyant experience in Kafka’s prose while at the same time it draws attention to occult referents which may have shaped this experience. In addition to presenting definitions of “occult” “occultism” “mystic,” and “mysticism,” the chapter relates to trends in contemporary literary studies that are relevant to a discussion on the mystical life of Franz Kafka but have fallen short of elucidating the textuality of a clairvoyant writer.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
Western esotericism combines spirituality with an empirical observation of the natural world while also relating humanity to the universe through a harmonious celestial order. This introduction to ...
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Western esotericism combines spirituality with an empirical observation of the natural world while also relating humanity to the universe through a harmonious celestial order. This introduction to the Western esoteric traditions offers a concise overview of their historical development. It explores these traditions, from their roots in Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, and Gnosticism in the early Christian era up to their reverberations in today's scientific paradigms. While the study of Western esotericism is usually confined to the history of ideas, the book examines the phenomenon much more broadly. It demonstrates that, far from being a strictly intellectual movement, the spread of esotericism owes a great deal to geopolitics and globalization. In Hellenistic culture, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, which stretched across Egypt and Western Asia to provinces in India, facilitated a mixing of Eastern and Western cultures. As the Greeks absorbed ideas from Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, they gave rise to the first esoteric movements. From the late 16th to the 18th centuries, post-Reformation spirituality found expression in theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry. Similarly, in the modern era, dissatisfaction with the hegemony of science in Western culture and a lack of faith in traditional Christianity led thinkers like Madame Blavatsky to look east for spiritual inspiration. The book further examines Modern esoteric thought in the light of new scientific and medical paradigms along with the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung.Less
Western esotericism combines spirituality with an empirical observation of the natural world while also relating humanity to the universe through a harmonious celestial order. This introduction to the Western esoteric traditions offers a concise overview of their historical development. It explores these traditions, from their roots in Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, and Gnosticism in the early Christian era up to their reverberations in today's scientific paradigms. While the study of Western esotericism is usually confined to the history of ideas, the book examines the phenomenon much more broadly. It demonstrates that, far from being a strictly intellectual movement, the spread of esotericism owes a great deal to geopolitics and globalization. In Hellenistic culture, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, which stretched across Egypt and Western Asia to provinces in India, facilitated a mixing of Eastern and Western cultures. As the Greeks absorbed ideas from Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, they gave rise to the first esoteric movements. From the late 16th to the 18th centuries, post-Reformation spirituality found expression in theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and Freemasonry. Similarly, in the modern era, dissatisfaction with the hegemony of science in Western culture and a lack of faith in traditional Christianity led thinkers like Madame Blavatsky to look east for spiritual inspiration. The book further examines Modern esoteric thought in the light of new scientific and medical paradigms along with the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung.
Andreas Grünschloß
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195331493
- eISBN:
- 9780199852321
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331493.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The “Church of Scientology” has gradually surfaced as the most hotly debated movement during the second half of the twentieth century, and it continued to stimulate ongoing discussions up to the ...
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The “Church of Scientology” has gradually surfaced as the most hotly debated movement during the second half of the twentieth century, and it continued to stimulate ongoing discussions up to the present. If Scientology is viewed as a religion at all, it is mainly perceived as a candidate that might fit into the “alternative” realm of modern religiosity denoted by labels like New Age or Esotericism. This chapter examines Scientology in terms of its parallels with the so-called New Age movement. These parallels are not accidental, but arise out of the influence of common predecessor movements. Theosophy, for example, is the source of certain interpretations of Asian religions like Buddhism that influenced both Hubbard and the New Age.Less
The “Church of Scientology” has gradually surfaced as the most hotly debated movement during the second half of the twentieth century, and it continued to stimulate ongoing discussions up to the present. If Scientology is viewed as a religion at all, it is mainly perceived as a candidate that might fit into the “alternative” realm of modern religiosity denoted by labels like New Age or Esotericism. This chapter examines Scientology in terms of its parallels with the so-called New Age movement. These parallels are not accidental, but arise out of the influence of common predecessor movements. Theosophy, for example, is the source of certain interpretations of Asian religions like Buddhism that influenced both Hubbard and the New Age.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter examines the works of Jacob Boehme on theosophy and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. During the 17th and 18th centuries, esotericism found particular expression in the ...
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This chapter examines the works of Jacob Boehme on theosophy and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. During the 17th and 18th centuries, esotericism found particular expression in the currents of Christian theosophy and Pietism which arose in response to the hardening orthodoxy of the Lutheran Reformation. Boehme established early his reputation as a leading Protestant mystic. His works present an esoteric psychology of the individual soul and its union with divinity through the mediation of Sophia.Less
This chapter examines the works of Jacob Boehme on theosophy and its relation to the history of Western esotericism. During the 17th and 18th centuries, esotericism found particular expression in the currents of Christian theosophy and Pietism which arose in response to the hardening orthodoxy of the Lutheran Reformation. Boehme established early his reputation as a leading Protestant mystic. His works present an esoteric psychology of the individual soul and its union with divinity through the mediation of Sophia.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter examines 18th-century Freemasonry and illuminism and its influence on the history of Western esotericism. After Rosicrucianism supplied the myth of a secret society cultivating hermetic ...
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This chapter examines 18th-century Freemasonry and illuminism and its influence on the history of Western esotericism. After Rosicrucianism supplied the myth of a secret society cultivating hermetic sciences, Freemasonry provided a vehicle for the historical transmission of theosophical and alchemical traditions. The Illuminist societies were high-grade varieties of Freemasonry and they were overtly esoteric in their ideas and practices.Less
This chapter examines 18th-century Freemasonry and illuminism and its influence on the history of Western esotericism. After Rosicrucianism supplied the myth of a secret society cultivating hermetic sciences, Freemasonry provided a vehicle for the historical transmission of theosophical and alchemical traditions. The Illuminist societies were high-grade varieties of Freemasonry and they were overtly esoteric in their ideas and practices.
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320992
- eISBN:
- 9780199852062
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320992.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This chapter examines the works of Swedish Christian mystic and theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg, and his influence on Western esotericism. Swedenborg occupied a key position in the history of Western ...
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This chapter examines the works of Swedish Christian mystic and theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg, and his influence on Western esotericism. Swedenborg occupied a key position in the history of Western esotericism as a major representative of 18th-century theosophy. He offered a relatively sober, matter-of-fact mesocosm full of spirits and his esotericism was heavily influenced by Enlightenment science, rationalism, and Protestant pietism. His assimilation of these secularizing influences makes him a key figure in the development of modern esotericism.Less
This chapter examines the works of Swedish Christian mystic and theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg, and his influence on Western esotericism. Swedenborg occupied a key position in the history of Western esotericism as a major representative of 18th-century theosophy. He offered a relatively sober, matter-of-fact mesocosm full of spirits and his esotericism was heavily influenced by Enlightenment science, rationalism, and Protestant pietism. His assimilation of these secularizing influences makes him a key figure in the development of modern esotericism.
Leigh Wilson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748627691
- eISBN:
- 9780748684441
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748627691.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
While the engagement of modernist artists with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, as an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse ...
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While the engagement of modernist artists with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, as an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as a hidden history of ideas, this book argues that the discourses of the occult were used by a range of modernist artists, writers and filmmakers because at their heart is a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. The discourses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated. The book explores the aesthetic and political implications of this, and argues that those modernists who were most self-consciously experimental – including Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein – drew on the magical mimesis at the heart of occult discourses in order to renew and transform their art.Less
While the engagement of modernist artists with the occult has been approached by critics as the result of a loss of faith in representation, as an attempt to draw on science as the primary discourse of modernity, or as a hidden history of ideas, this book argues that the discourses of the occult were used by a range of modernist artists, writers and filmmakers because at their heart is a magical practice which remakes the relationship between world and representation. The discourses of the occult are based on a magical mimesis which transforms the nature of the copy, from inert to vital, from dead to alive, from static to animated. The book explores the aesthetic and political implications of this, and argues that those modernists who were most self-consciously experimental – including Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Dziga Vertov and Sergei M. Eisenstein – drew on the magical mimesis at the heart of occult discourses in order to renew and transform their art.
Carol J. Oja
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195058499
- eISBN:
- 9780199865031
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195058499.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Noise was but one tool for modernist composers in the early 20th century. For many, the principal challenge came in devising alternatives to the tonal system on which much Western music had been ...
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Noise was but one tool for modernist composers in the early 20th century. For many, the principal challenge came in devising alternatives to the tonal system on which much Western music had been based. One particular group of Americans—the “ultra-moderns”—took this mission especially seriously. Including composers who spanned a range of styles, the ultra-moderns seized experimentation as their rallying cry, and dissonance as their ideal. One facet of the ultra-moderns' music—especially that of Carl Ruggles, Henry Cowell, and Ruth Crawford—has been largely forgotten over time: the degree to which they associated dissonance with spirituality. In this realm, the French-American composer and philosopher Dane Rudhyar (1895-1985) became their quiet leader. Although Rudhyar's perspective represented only one part of ultra-modernism in the United States, it was influential for a time, and affected the way some of the most difficult strains of new music were being composed and perceived. All in all, Rudhyar fused an abundant array of ideas and influences into a distinctive vision of American dissonance.Less
Noise was but one tool for modernist composers in the early 20th century. For many, the principal challenge came in devising alternatives to the tonal system on which much Western music had been based. One particular group of Americans—the “ultra-moderns”—took this mission especially seriously. Including composers who spanned a range of styles, the ultra-moderns seized experimentation as their rallying cry, and dissonance as their ideal. One facet of the ultra-moderns' music—especially that of Carl Ruggles, Henry Cowell, and Ruth Crawford—has been largely forgotten over time: the degree to which they associated dissonance with spirituality. In this realm, the French-American composer and philosopher Dane Rudhyar (1895-1985) became their quiet leader. Although Rudhyar's perspective represented only one part of ultra-modernism in the United States, it was influential for a time, and affected the way some of the most difficult strains of new music were being composed and perceived. All in all, Rudhyar fused an abundant array of ideas and influences into a distinctive vision of American dissonance.
