In Island (1962), Aldous Huxley presents a utopian community in which theinhabitants aim to become "fully human beings" by realizing their "potentialities."I demonstrate how Huxley's notion of the "human potentialities" havebeen misrepresented, both by scholars and by the founders of the Esalen Institute.Huxley's focus on human potentialities arose from a shift in his thinkingfrom the other-worldly mysticism of The Perennial Philosophy (1945) to thelife-affirming traditions of Tantra, Zen and Mahayana Buddhism. In Island,the population attempt to realize their human potentialities and engage in anexperiential spirituality that celebrates the body and nature as sacred throughthe use of the moksha-medicine and the practice of maithuna. I argue thatwhereas Tantric adepts practised maithuna as a means to acquire supernormalpowers (siddhis), in Island the Palanese version of maithuna is quite differentand is used to valorize samsara and the acquisition of human potentialities.
{"title":"Fully Human Being","authors":"Jake Poller","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.38893","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.38893","url":null,"abstract":"In Island (1962), Aldous Huxley presents a utopian community in which theinhabitants aim to become \"fully human beings\" by realizing their \"potentialities.\"I demonstrate how Huxley's notion of the \"human potentialities\" havebeen misrepresented, both by scholars and by the founders of the Esalen Institute.Huxley's focus on human potentialities arose from a shift in his thinkingfrom the other-worldly mysticism of The Perennial Philosophy (1945) to thelife-affirming traditions of Tantra, Zen and Mahayana Buddhism. In Island,the population attempt to realize their human potentialities and engage in anexperiential spirituality that celebrates the body and nature as sacred throughthe use of the moksha-medicine and the practice of maithuna. I argue thatwhereas Tantric adepts practised maithuna as a means to acquire supernormalpowers (siddhis), in Island the Palanese version of maithuna is quite differentand is used to valorize samsara and the acquisition of human potentialities.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1558/ijsnr.38893","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48982884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Kabbalah Centre is an international organization founded in the 1960sby Philip Berg in the USA. Initially founded as a group for the study ofOrthodox Judaism, through marketing strategies and de-traditionalisation,Kabbalah has been transformed, universalized, and presented as a series of"spiritual tools" for self-improvement by Berg and his successors. Throughthe Centre, religious seekers can adapt Kabbalistic elements to their personalspiritual journey, consume Kabbalistic products like Kabbalistic candles andincense or the Red String bracelets (The Kabbalah Centre, "The KabbalahOnline Store") and participate in Kabbalistic events, workshops, and seminarsonline ("Kabbalah University"). This article explores the ways in whichthe Centre aims to provide its members with a fully-equipped world of religiousexperiences, offering a form of consumable religion tailored to the selffocusedlifestyle of the postmodern seeker.
{"title":"Kabbalah Centre and Spirituality of the Self","authors":"N. Bauer","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.38593","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.38593","url":null,"abstract":"The Kabbalah Centre is an international organization founded in the 1960sby Philip Berg in the USA. Initially founded as a group for the study ofOrthodox Judaism, through marketing strategies and de-traditionalisation,Kabbalah has been transformed, universalized, and presented as a series of\"spiritual tools\" for self-improvement by Berg and his successors. Throughthe Centre, religious seekers can adapt Kabbalistic elements to their personalspiritual journey, consume Kabbalistic products like Kabbalistic candles andincense or the Red String bracelets (The Kabbalah Centre, \"The KabbalahOnline Store\") and participate in Kabbalistic events, workshops, and seminarsonline (\"Kabbalah University\"). This article explores the ways in whichthe Centre aims to provide its members with a fully-equipped world of religiousexperiences, offering a form of consumable religion tailored to the selffocusedlifestyle of the postmodern seeker.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1558/ijsnr.38593","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49087731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Traditionalism involves the concept of a perennial philosophy, a central truth,underlying all major religions. Though little has been written about SwedishTraditionalism, consideration of the ideologies of figures such as Ivan Aguéli,Kurt Almqvist, and Tage Lindbom provides important insights into the developmentof this concept and its political connotations. Here, the influence offoundational Traditionalists René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon, Christianity,Sufism, and radical conservatism on the ideas of Aguéli, Almqvist, and Lindbomare explored.
{"title":"Traditionalism in Sweden","authors":"Olav Hammer","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.38763","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.38763","url":null,"abstract":"Traditionalism involves the concept of a perennial philosophy, a central truth,underlying all major religions. Though little has been written about SwedishTraditionalism, consideration of the ideologies of figures such as Ivan Aguéli,Kurt Almqvist, and Tage Lindbom provides important insights into the developmentof this concept and its political connotations. Here, the influence offoundational Traditionalists René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon, Christianity,Sufism, and radical conservatism on the ideas of Aguéli, Almqvist, and Lindbomare explored.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1558/ijsnr.38763","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46441705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
New Age in Norway, edited by Ingvild Sælid Gilhus, Siv Ellen Kraft and James R. Lewis. 2017. Equinox Publishing. Hb. £75.00/$100.00, ISBN-13: 9781781794166; Pb. £30.00 / $40.00, ISBN-13: 9781781794173; eBook £30.00 / $40.00, ISBN-13: 9781781795101.
《挪威新时代》，Ingvild Sælid Gilhus、Siv Ellen Kraft和James R.Lewis编辑。2017.春分出版社。Hb。75.00英镑/100.00美元，13英镑：9781781794166英镑；Pb。30.00英镑/40.00美元，13英镑：9781781794173英镑；电子书30.00/40.00美元，ISBN-13:9781781795101。
{"title":"New Age in Norway, edited by Ingvild Sælid Gilhus, Siv Ellen Kraft and James R. Lewis. 2017","authors":"Karen Swartz","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.39317","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.39317","url":null,"abstract":"New Age in Norway, edited by Ingvild Sælid Gilhus, Siv Ellen Kraft and \u0000James R. Lewis. 2017. Equinox Publishing. Hb. £75.00/$100.00, ISBN-13: \u00009781781794166; Pb. £30.00 / $40.00, ISBN-13: 9781781794173; eBook \u0000£30.00 / $40.00, ISBN-13: 9781781795101.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43551442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Les Douze Tribus: La communaute messianique de Sus en France by Bernadette Rigal-Cellard. Les Éditions l’Harmattan, 2019. 126pp., Pb. 13.5€, ISBN-13: 9782806636737; ePDF 9.99€, ISBN-13: 9782806651495.
{"title":"Les Douze Tribus: La communaute messianique de Sus en France by Bernadette Rigal-Cellard. Les Éditions l’Harmattan, 2019","authors":"S. Palmer","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.39975","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.39975","url":null,"abstract":"Les Douze Tribus: La communaute messianique de Sus en France by Bernadette \u0000Rigal-Cellard. Les Éditions l’Harmattan, 2019. 126pp., Pb. 13.5€, ISBN-13: \u00009782806636737; ePDF 9.99€, ISBN-13: 9782806651495.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48805479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article examines the possible effects of the unique terminology of theChurch of Scientology on its members. It connects the concepts of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis with experimental data on the linguistic effects of differentword categories and applies them to oft-used terms within the Churchof Scientology. A thematic content analysis of an internal Scientology videoassesses the possible linguistic effects of the Scientological lexicon. The analysisis comprised of quantitative and qualitative elements. Unique words inthe video are cataloged by frequency and then tagged by one or more of sixword categories previously proven to have an associated linguistic effect, andthen qualitatively analyzed in regards to the categories' associated effects. Itwas concluded that key effects were exclusivity, complexity, and ambiguity,with terms veiling meaning, possibly causing an impression of Scientology asarcane and distant. Moreover, it was found that the ambiguity of terms andtheir sense of professionalism may cause Scientologists and non-Scientologistsalike to more easily place faith in the legitimacy of the concepts behindthe words. This shows that the kind of terminology used in Scientology orsimilar groups likely has an effect on perception and/or behavior, and maybetter inform Scientologists on the factors that influence their attitudes. Thepaper opens the gates for deeper studies into the discourse, behaviors, andnature of an enigmatic new religious movement.
{"title":"“The Bridge” and the Veiling of Meaning","authors":"Benjamin L. Fischer","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.38937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.38937","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the possible effects of the unique terminology of theChurch of Scientology on its members. It connects the concepts of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis with experimental data on the linguistic effects of differentword categories and applies them to oft-used terms within the Churchof Scientology. A thematic content analysis of an internal Scientology videoassesses the possible linguistic effects of the Scientological lexicon. The analysisis comprised of quantitative and qualitative elements. Unique words inthe video are cataloged by frequency and then tagged by one or more of sixword categories previously proven to have an associated linguistic effect, andthen qualitatively analyzed in regards to the categories' associated effects. Itwas concluded that key effects were exclusivity, complexity, and ambiguity,with terms veiling meaning, possibly causing an impression of Scientology asarcane and distant. Moreover, it was found that the ambiguity of terms andtheir sense of professionalism may cause Scientologists and non-Scientologistsalike to more easily place faith in the legitimacy of the concepts behindthe words. This shows that the kind of terminology used in Scientology orsimilar groups likely has an effect on perception and/or behavior, and maybetter inform Scientologists on the factors that influence their attitudes. Thepaper opens the gates for deeper studies into the discourse, behaviors, andnature of an enigmatic new religious movement.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46313353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Romanticisms, not colonialisms, drive the indigenizing and the religionizing in the cases described and analyzed in this special issue. In what follows, I shall explain what I mean by this observation and suggest ways to think about it critically. The task of this essay is to highlight entangled methodological and political contexts for the discussion about “indigenizing” that Graham Harvey opened in his introduction, a discussion that the different case studies then continued and exemplified. Inspired by Paul Christopher Johnson’s theorizing about indigenizing (Johnson 2002a), Harvey asks whether it is useful to employ the concepts “indigenous” and “indigenizing” in studies of contemporary movements in Europe: British Druids (studied by Suzanne Owen), Italian shamans and witches (by Angela Puca), The English Bear Tribe (by Graham Harvey), Irish or Celtic Pagans (by Jenny Butler), English Powwow enthusiasts (by Christina Welch), Anastasians in Lithuania and Russia (by Rasa Pranskevi?i?t?), and Goddess devotees in Glastonbury (by Amy Whitehead). These are movements (and scholars) that have been associated with the study of paganisms and the study of new religious movements, but usually not with the study of indigenous religions (except Harvey and Owen who have worked extensively in both fields of research).
{"title":"Romantic Indigenizing of New Religions in Contemporary Europe Critical Methodological Remarks","authors":"Bjørn Ola Tafjord","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.37626","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.37626","url":null,"abstract":"Romanticisms, not colonialisms, drive the indigenizing and the religionizing in the cases described and analyzed in this special issue. In what follows, I shall explain what I mean by this observation and suggest ways to think about it critically. The task of this essay is to highlight entangled methodological and political contexts for the discussion about “indigenizing” that Graham Harvey opened in his introduction, a discussion that the different case studies then continued and exemplified. Inspired by Paul Christopher Johnson’s theorizing about indigenizing (Johnson 2002a), Harvey asks whether it is useful to employ the concepts “indigenous” and “indigenizing” in studies of contemporary movements in Europe: British Druids (studied by Suzanne Owen), Italian shamans and witches (by Angela Puca), The English Bear Tribe (by Graham Harvey), Irish or Celtic Pagans (by Jenny Butler), English Powwow enthusiasts (by Christina Welch), Anastasians in Lithuania and Russia (by Rasa Pranskevi?i?t?), and Goddess devotees in Glastonbury (by Amy Whitehead). These are movements (and scholars) that have been associated with the study of paganisms and the study of new religious movements, but usually not with the study of indigenous religions (except Harvey and Owen who have worked extensively in both fields of research).","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44798703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article presents a study into the implementation of environmental and spiritual ideas of alternative communitarian movements during the establishing of quickly spreading nature-based spirituality communities and their settlements in the East-Central European region. It focuses on the Anastasia “spiritual” movement, classifiable as New Age, which emerged in Russia in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and since has spread to East-Central Europe and beyond. It considers the process of indigenization via assembled nature-based spiritualities and traditionalistic ideas in the movement. It will discuss how the Anastasian process of sacralization of natural space, together with the romantic mode of a narrativization of the archaic past, serve as a source for the formation of images of “indigenousness” in the movement. During the process of “indigenization,” a negotiation, interpretation and presentation of nationalistic and traditionalistic ideas serve as a basis for an imagination of (trans)local prehistoric and local national pasts— including a golden age myth, a “back to nature” worldview with attempts to reconstruct variously perceived traditions, as well as a development of utopian visions of a prospective heaven on earth—intended to widely spread future social projects. The findings are based on data obtained from fieldwork in 2005–2015, including participant observation and interviews with respondents in the Baltic countries and Russia.
{"title":"Negotiation of the Prehistoric Past for the Creation of the Global Future","authors":"Rasa Pranskevičiūtė-Amoson","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.37625","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.37625","url":null,"abstract":"The article presents a study into the implementation of environmental and spiritual ideas of alternative communitarian movements during the establishing of quickly spreading nature-based spirituality communities and their settlements in the East-Central European region. It focuses on the Anastasia “spiritual” movement, classifiable as New Age, which emerged in Russia in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and since has spread to East-Central Europe and beyond. It considers the process of indigenization via assembled nature-based spiritualities and traditionalistic ideas in the movement. It will discuss how the Anastasian process of sacralization of natural space, together with the romantic mode of a narrativization of the archaic past, serve as a source for the formation of images of “indigenousness” in the movement. During the process of “indigenization,” a negotiation, interpretation and presentation of nationalistic and traditionalistic ideas serve as a basis for an imagination of (trans)local prehistoric and local national pasts— including a golden age myth, a “back to nature” worldview with attempts to reconstruct variously perceived traditions, as well as a development of utopian visions of a prospective heaven on earth—intended to widely spread future social projects. The findings are based on data obtained from fieldwork in 2005–2015, including participant observation and interviews with respondents in the Baltic countries and Russia.","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42700371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editor's Introduction","authors":"Asbjørn Dyrendal, Alex Norman","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.v5i1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v5i1.1","url":null,"abstract":"Editor's Introduction","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49003709","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-08-12DOI: 10.1558/ijsnr.v6i2.29639
B. Zeller
{"title":"Religious Experience: North and South, edited by René Gothóni Peter Lang, 2012. ix+282pp., SFR 68.00/€ 56.20, ISBN-13: 9783034308533","authors":"B. Zeller","doi":"10.1558/ijsnr.v6i2.29639","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsnr.v6i2.29639","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53821,"journal":{"name":"International Journal for the Study of New Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2019-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1558/ijsnr.v6i2.29639","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44345858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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