Dear Folks,
After listening carefully to the responses that have been posted, I agree
with you Wouter, and others who point out that a public Academy intended to
be non-exclusive has to continue striving for objectivity.
Personal "religion" is just that--private, not public; and personal practice
is as varied as there are people, an impossibility to institutionalize with
equality. The answer is that spiritual practice IS too private to be taught
in public institutions.
As you and others have commented Wouter, there are many private institutions
that specialize in personal spiritual development.
As I have said before, and attested to by the responses regarding political
resistance to esotericism in the Academy, colleagues who have succeeded in
creating departments, programs, and classes in esotericism have performed a
nearly impossible task, and one with much heavy lifting yet to go.
Hats off to each of us for our role in "the Great Work," as some would
poetically term it. I sincerely hope that dialogue between practitioners and
academics will continue to enrich our mutual teaching and learning.
Kathryn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hanegraaff, W.J." <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Kathryn" <[log in to unmask]>; "Lee Irwin" <[log in to unmask]>;
"Allison Coudert" <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2007 2:39 AM
Subject: RE: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Esoterism in the Classroom
Dear all,
I'm not sure how I ended up in this discussion list, but I've been reading
the recent discussion (with some amazement, I confess), and would like to
add my opinion, which is a very simple one: "No. Never".
Kathryn wrote in an earlier message "one root of the problem is the
insistence on a scientific viewpoint in Academia". But this is like saying
"the problem with Christian churches is their insistence on a Christian
viewpoint". Academia is about scholarship, not about personal spiritual
development. This doesn't imply any negative opinion about the importance of
the latter, but the academy simply isn't the place for it, nor should it be.
Whoever wants to work on his/her personal spiritual development has plenty
of other places to go.
The study of religion has fought hard to emancipate itself from theology so
as to become a genuinely scholarly enterprise, and the study of esotericism
is still in the middle of a similar process. If we want that process of
emancipation to continue, the very last thing we should do is re-introduce
esoteric practice into the academy; and this not only because it's simply
not the appropriate place for it, but also because this is really the best
way to prevent esotericism from being ever accepted by our colleagues. It's
suicidal. The only reason why this field is now in the process of gaining a
foothold in the academic world is precisely because scholars have insisted
on a scholarly approach and have clearly kept this separate from esoteric
practice. As soon as you start to introduce the latter into the academic
study of esotericism, you give your opponents all the weapons they need.
Yet another reason to say "no, never" is of a more theoretical nature: the
idea that there is such a thing as "the esoteric perspective" is quite as
unfounded as the idea that there is such a thing as "the Christian
perspective" (or "the Buddhist perspective" and so on). There are many
perspectives that all claim to be true Christianity; likewise there are many
perspectives that claim to be "true" esotericism. Our job is to study them,
and be critically aware of the huge differences between them. Of course
there may be similarities as well, but if so, pointing them out is a
possible result of research, not a starting point. Ignoring this means
giving up the academic study of esotericism in favour of some form of
dogmatic esoteric theology.
My penny...
Wouter Hanegraaff
-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Kathryn [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Verzonden: di 6-11-2007 21:47
Aan: Lee Irwin; Allison Coudert; Hanegraaff, W.J.
Onderwerp: Fw: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Esoterism in the Classroom
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chas S. Clifton" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 12:38 PM
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] Esoterism in the Classroom
> -----Original Message-----
> >From: Sabina Magliocco <[log in to unmask]>
>
> >snip... But on the whole I'd rather operate in a system dominated by one
of so-called objectivism, than in one dominated by the kinds of discourses
that can come to prevail when spiritual and/or esoteric knowledge is
combined with power.
>
> ...snip
>
> You mean you would not want to live, say,
> in ancient Tenotchitlan? How un-"diverse" of you!
>
> And just four days after every mediocre "Aztec" dance troupe
> in California had its one guaranteed annual gig.
>
> :-)
>
> Chas
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