Interesting perspectives here, though I'm not sure I agree that the idea of learning magic is diametrically opposed to career-mindedness. Magicians in the classical sense were always looking for institutional support for their pursuits, some more successfully than others. Usually if they could throw in a bit of alchemy, they might get royal patronage.
Anyway, this reminds me of a pipe dream I have about finding people to start a Hermetic Academy, in the tradition of Ficino's school, but actually have it be a liberal arts school. You wouldn't just learn magic and esoteric traditions as such, but you could have an accredited liberal arts degree. There are 4 year institutions guided by Bible Study, why not this? You could get an English degree or a Math degree or history, anthropology, whatever, but with an over-riding Hermetic philosophy. In this dream, I gather scholars who are willing to teach their field from this perspective, so you might have classes on environmental sustainability, quantum physics, postmodernism, feminism, etc. The possibilities are endless. It could start out online maybe and then grow into a real place.
Who's with me?
Oh wait, maybe I better finish that dissertation and get an actual full-time job first. Adjunct can't cut it forever. It's not cutting it now, for that matter.
As I said, I can dream.
JLW
June-Marie Courage <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
In a message dated 24/04/2007 10:06:38 GMT Daylight Time, JuneMCourage writes:
Dear Chris, thanks for your email. I guess my response is - it kinda depends why you want a Phd - to become a career academic, or to learn. Now maybe these two aims sometimes come down to the same thing (though I've got my doubts, at least so far as esotericism is concerned, see below) - but your objections to Exeter seem to amount to the fact that you don't think its a good career move.
Secondly, the fact that the Esotericism course at Exeter raises a few eyebrows is exactly why its such a good course : ie it isn't philosophy, theology, history or whatever, its esotericism, and yes, that scares & confuses a lot of academics who don't know how to cope with the real thing, but want it validated by being presented as any or all of the above.
I took the original query to mean - where can I learn this stuff at a higher level ? Not, how can I advance my career ?
I have no idea, & don't very much care where anybody should go for a Phd if they want to be a career academic. For myself, I think such a career is at least possibly at odds with the pursuit of magical thinking, at any rate, in the present climate, & I believe your own response illustrates this fact very well. By which I mean that so long as people insist on commercial (ie careerist) criteria in assessing the validity of a course of learning, the academic path will remain incompatible with the true pursuit of enchanted ways of life. I'm not saying one is better or worse that the other in any moral sense, simply that they are different, & will suit different kinds of people. So the important thing is to know what you want & go for it.
And from my perspective, the important thing about a particular course is its content, not its commercial prestige. That ws why I queried your apparently offhand dismissal of the Exeter course: but as your comments were, as you say, based on career prospects rather that what one might learn, & my assessment was entirely concerned with the latter, we really have no disagreement at all, simply differing perspectives about what is important.
Even so, if you would just take the time to have a closer look at the course content before making your mind up you might be surprised at just how good it is, quite apart from its extremely important connections to the sister courses at the Sorbonne & Amsterdam. Please at least consider the idea that the Academy is about community & knowledge as well as commerce. And please don't be so quick to judge the course before you have taken the trouble to properly find out about it.
I'd like to add, however, that I do believe that neither the Academy nor the Esoteric tradition can, or ever have been, best served by commercial interests (see my comments above re opposing ideologies) Spirituality is a soul choice, not a career move.
Best Wishes June-Marie
From: [log in to unmask]
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 05:06:38 EDT
Subject: Re: [ACADEMIC-STUDY-MAGIC] PhD
To: [log in to unmask]
Dear Chris, thanks for your email. I guess my response is - it kinda depends why you want a Phd - to become a career academic, or to learn. Now maybe these two aims sometimes come down to the same thing (though I've got my doubts, at least so far as esotericism is concerned, see below) - but your objections to Exeter seem to amount to the fact that you don't think its a good career move.
Secondly, the fact that the Esotericism course at Exeter raises a few eyebrows is exactly why its such a good course : ie it isn't philosophy, theology, history or whatever, its esotericism, and yes, that scares & confuses a lot of academics who don't know how to cope with the real thing, but want it validated by being presented as any or all of the above.
I took the original query to mean - where can I learn this stuff at a higher level ? Not, how can I advance my career ?
I have no idea, & don't very much care where anybody should go for a Phd if they want to be a career academic. For myself, I think such a career is at least possibly at odds with the pursuit of magical thinking, at any rate, in the present climate, & I believe your own response illustrates this fact very well. By which I mean that so long as people insist on commercial (ie careerist) criteria in assessing the validity of a course of learning, the academic path will remain incompatible with the true pursuit of enchanted ways of life. I'm not saying one is better or worse that the other in any moral sense, simply that they are different, & will suit different kinds of people. So the important thing is to know what you want & go for it.
And from my perspective, the important thing about a particular course is its content, not its commercial prestige. That ws why I queried your apparently offhand dismissal of the Exeter course: but as your comments were, as you say, based on career prospects rather that what one might learn, & my assessment was entirely concerned with the latter, we really have no disagreement at all, simply differing perspectives about what is important.
Even so, if you would just take the time to have a closer look at the course content before making your mind up you might be surprised at just how good it is, quite apart from its extremely important connections to the sister courses at the Sorbonne & Amsterdam. Please at least consider the idea that the Academy is about community & knowledge as well as commerce. And please don't be so quick to judge the course before you have taken the trouble to properly find out about it.
I'd like to add, however, that I do believe that neither the Academy nor the Esoteric tradition can, or ever have been, best served by commercial interests (see my comments above re opposing ideologies) Spirituality is a soul choice, not a career move.
Best Wishes June-Marie
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