immanence

This course (an Honors College course I’m happy to be to teaching this year) is already in progress, but I’d be curious to hear any comments on it. What would you include in a comparative overview of spiritual practices? What’s missing? 

Self-Cultivation and Spiritual Practice: Comparative Perspectives

This course introduces students to the comparative study of religious, spiritual, and psycho-physical practices — exercises by which individuals and groups deepen, develop, challenge, and transform their perceptions and capacities for action in harmony with religious, moral-ethical, or philosophical ideals. The course covers a range that spans from ancient Greek and Roman philosophers (such as Stoics, Epicurians, and Neoplatonists), yogis and monks of South and East Asia, Christian and Muslim ascetics and Renaissance mages, to practitioners of modern forms of westernized yoga, martial arts, ritual magic, and other forms of physical and psycho-spiritual practice. Readings of ancient texts and contemporary philosophical and sociological writings are complemented by practical exercises, writing and presentation assignments, and a practice project.

Overview

Philosophers in the ancient world were less interested in knowledge for its own sake than in the “art of living.” From ancient Greece and Rome to China and India, the core of philosophical practice often consisted of spiritual exercises (askesis, ἄσκησις, Gk.) aimed at self-cultivation (xiushen, 修真, Ch.). This interest has been revived in today’s growing fascination with spiritual practices undertaken both within and well outside the context of traditional religion.

This course introduces students to the comparative study of religious, spiritual, and psycho-physical practices — exercises by which individuals and groups deepen, develop, challenge, and transform their perceptions and capacities for action in harmony with religious, moral-ethical, or philosophical ideals. This involves a two-part definition of “spiritual practice,” with each of these two components being integral to the practices examined: (1) a physical and/or psychological activity that is performed regularly, with the aim of improvement or attainment toward a goal, and (2) an ideal that contains some moral or ethical understanding of “the good.” Such practices may be performed by individuals or by groups, and they can be pursued in tightly regulated or highly unregulated settings. For instance, they may function in traditionally religious contexts circumscribed by concepts of sanctity or strict codes of duty and prohibition; or they may be completely free of such constraints, as in today’s highly individualized “spiritual marketplace.”

The course covers a spectrum of such practices as well as the philosophies that inform them, drawn from a broad historical range, from ancient Greece and Rome (including Stoics, Epicurians, Skeptics, and Neoplatonists), ancient and medieval South and East Asia, medieval Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, to the ‘magical’ philosophy of Renaissance Europe, to practitioners of modern forms of westernized yoga, martial arts, meditation, neo-shamanism, ‘nature connection,’ environmental or other forms of activism, extreme sports, and computer apps for mental and emotional strength training and longevity.

Readings of original texts (in translation) and contemporary writings by philosophers such as Hadot, Foucault, and Sloterdijk will be complemented by practical exercises and writing and presentation assignments. We will discuss debates over the place of such practices in varying cultural contexts; their relations to religion, conformity and deviance, social order and dissent, economic class, race, and gender; their changing place in today’s pluralistic and globalized world; and diverse perspectives including neuroscience and “transpersonal” studies, the psychology of happiness and well-being, and the spiritual and “postsecular” turns in religious studies and sociology.

Outline

1. Introduction: Defining Our Terms  Overview of the Course. Defining terms: Religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology, secularism, post-secularism; Mysticism, esotericism, magic, occultism, ritual, shamanism; Self-cultivation, self-realization, self, God (or gods); Moral education, character development.

2. Philosophers as Practitioners in Ancient Greece & Rome  Philosophy as a way of life among the Stoics, Epicurians, Skeptics, and Neoplatonists

3. Spiritual Practices in South Asia  Yoga(s) in their many historical guises; Hindu and Buddhist self-cultivation practices

4. Spiritual Exercises in China & East Asia  Daoist, Confucian, and neo-Confucian self-cultivation, Daoyin/Qigong, martial arts, and related arts of cultivation

5. Spiritual Exercises in the Abrahamic Traditions  Christian spiritual practice, from Augustine, Hesychasm, and Ignatius to ‘Centering Prayer’; Judaism and the Kabbalah; Islam and Sufism.

6. Magic, Esoteric Gnosis, & the Arts of Self-Transformation  From the Ancients to the Renaissance to Romanticism to the ‘New Age.’  Defining terms: Hermeticism, esotericism, gnosis/Gnosticism, alchemy, occultism, magic, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, analytical/depth psychology, et al. Changing relations between religion, science, magic/occultism, and the arts.

7. Nature, Body, & Life Spiritualities in a Globalizing World  Nature spiritualities, from nature mystics, Boy Scouts, and ‘wannabe’ Indians to Neo-Pagans, eco-activists, and extreme sports enthusiasts. Body spiritualities, from 19th century ‘physical culture’ and bodybuilding to modern postural yoga(s), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and other ‘westernized,’ ‘easternized,’ and ‘traveling’ practices. Mind spiritualities, from New Thought to ‘positive thinking’ to ‘prosperity consciousness’ and the science of happiness.

8. ‘Spiritual But Not Religious’? The Future of Spirituality  Is there an evolving global spirituality? Is spirituality what happens to religion in neoliberal capitalism? Is spirituality individual or collective (or which should it be)? Is spirituality conducive to health? Should spirituality be ‘decolonized’? Assessing Positive Psychology, the Mindfulness movement, and the science, neuroscience, and ‘appification’ of spirituality.

Basic bibliography

• Bregman, L., The Ecology of Spirituality: Meanings, Virtues, and Practices in a Post-Religious Age. Baylor University Press, 2014.
• Carrette, J., and R. King. Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion. Routledge, 2005.
• Carter, R. E. The Japanese Arts and Self-Cultivation. SUNY Press, 2008.
• De Souza, M., J. Bone, J. Watson, ed. Spirituality Across Disciplines: Research and Practice. Springer, 2016.
• Farrer, D. S. and J. Whalen-Bridge, ed. Martial Arts as Embodied Knowledge: Asian Traditions in a Transnational World. SUNY Press, 2011.
• Flanagan, K. and P. C. Jupp, ed. A Sociology of Spirituality. Routledge, 2009.
• Giordan, G. and W. H. Swatos, ed. Religion, Spirituality, and Everyday Practice. Springer, 2011.
• Hadot, P. Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from Socrates to Foucault. M. Chase, trans. Blackwell, 1995.
• Heelas, P. Spiritualities of Life: New Age Romanticism & Consumptive Capitalism. Blackwell, 2008.
• Hunt, H. T. Lives in Spirit: Precursors & Dilemmas of a Secular Western Mysticism. SUNY Press, 2003.
• Irvine, W. B. A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy. Oxford U. Press, 2009.
• Martin, L. H., H. Gutman, and P. H. Hutton, ed. Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michel Foucault. U. of Massachusetts Press, 1988.
• Sheldrake, P., Spirituality: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford U. Press, 2012.
• Slingerland, E. Trying Not to Try: Ancient China, Modern Science, and the Power of Spontaneity. Broadway Books, 2015.
• Sloterdijk, P., You Must Change Your Life! Polity Press, 2013.
• Spatz, B. What a Body Can Do: Technique as Knowledge, Practice as Research. Routledge, 2015.
• Taylor, B. R. Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality & the Planetary Future. U. California Press, 2009.
• White, D. G., ed. Yoga in Practice, Princeton U. Press, 2011.

Comments welcome, as are reading suggestions. If you’re interested in the full syllabus, send me an e-mail.