Papers Session Annual Meeting 2024

Entangled Histories: Mysticism, Esotericism, and Hybridity

Monday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM | Convention Center-28B (Upper Level East) Session ID: A25-119
Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

The late 19th- and early 20th centuries saw a boom in what might today be considered “spiritual but not religious” movements. Spiritualism, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, to name only a few, synthesized – often uncritically – post-Protestant Christianity with imported traditions from Central and South Asian yoga and tantric traditions, along with a vast array of symbolic and mythological themes drawing from Gnosticism to medieval alchemy to astrology. How might contemporary scholars locate much less “define” the boundaries between “mysticism” and “esotericism” – and, are these terms even useful in organizing and categorizing these areas? This panel invites papers that address issues of hybridization in mysticism and esotericism, particularly from outside of European traditions, as well as challenge methodological and definitional assumptions, particularly a too rigid separation of “the esoteric” from “the mystic.”

Papers

Jean Toomer’s life (1894-1967) was marked by a series of conversions. His novel Cane – an essential work of the Harlem Renaissance – was the result of one such conversion. This paper traces Toomer’s conversions – to Quaker mysticism, for instance, or to the teaching of Georges Gurdjieff – as it challenges familiar accounts of religious conversion. While exploring white, evangelical expectations of conversion experiences, this paper interrogates the North American cultural reliance on redemption narratives as a persistent manifestation of American exceptionalism. Conversion experiences grounded Jean Toomer’s sense of self while propelling him forward on his quest for wholeness within himself and with the universe. In many ways, conversion was the work of his life. This paper explores his work and its implications for the American call to progress. Furthermore, it demonstrates the lived hybridity of mystic practice and esotericism by examining the progression of Toomer’s conversion experiences.

This paper discusses hybridization of “mystical” and “esoteric” in the thought and action of 20th century mystics Nicholas and Helena Roerich – Russian then cosmopolitan writers, artists, and peace activists. This enigmatic couple influenced Theosophy, Anthroposophy and New Age movements, but also sparked much controversy. We analyze their “Agni Yoga” book series to find three points where the boundaries between mystical and esoteric categories blur. These are (1) the architecture of transcendent reality, (2) how to access or unite with it, and (3) how this leads to practical transformation of consciousness. The Roerichs’ esoteric path connected to their interfaith cosmology of a “Fiery World” and their mysticism in action by way of world travels, peace activism, and sublime art, fusing Eastern Christian, Buddhist, Islamic and Hindu elements. Rather than artificially separate mystical and esoteric categories, we conclude it is more useful to empirically analyze more such cases along these three axes.

A People's History of Magic and Mysticism uses decolonial counter-narratives created with student scholars in a classroom setting to illuminate the less explored corners of Black theological and religious history.  Specifically Black esoteric thought, practices, and ontology of the Americas.

 

Audiovisual Requirements
LCD Projector and Screen
Play Audio from Laptop Computer
Comments
I'd be happy for this paper to be included in either unit- Mysticism or Religion in Premodern Europe and the Mediterranean Unit.
Tags
#Mysticism
#Liberation
#Resistance
#Conversion #HarlemRenaissance #BlackReligion #LivedReligion #LiteraryStudies
#Dorothee Sölle
#Selfhood