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Fernandez, Gustavo Orlando. "Esoteric quantization : the esoteric imagination in David Bohm's interpretation of quantum mechanics." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/23551.
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This thesis aims to explore the relationship between the science, the philosophy and the esoteric imagination of the American physicist David Bohm (1917-1992). Bohm is recognized as one of the most brilliant physicists of his generation. He is famous for his ‘hidden variables’ interpretation of quantum mechanics. Bohm wrote extensively on philosophical and psychological subjects. In his celebrated book Wholeness and the Implicate Order (1882) he introduced the influential ideas of the Explicate and the Implicate orders that are at the core of his process philosophy. Bohm was also a very close disciple of the Indian teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), whom he recognized to have had an important influence on his thought. Chapter 1 is a general explanation of what I intend to do, why my research is filling an important gap, introduce the field of Western esotericism as a scholarly subject and suggesting that it offers a fruitful way of approaching the thought of David Bohm. I also explain my research principles and a brief description of the philosophical standpoint from which I am approaching the material. Chapter 2 gives a description of the textual sources I used in my research. This is followed by a comprehensive literature review. Chapter 3 is a biographical essay where I give an account of Bohm’s life, career, works, major ideas and their development, stressing their significance for the development of Bohm’s holistic philosophy and his interactions with the esoteric. This chapter is an introduction to the main ideas of the dissertation. Chapter 4 revisits the genesis of the Causal Interpretation, Bohm’s first attempt to deal with the interpretation of quantum mechanics. I make emphasis on the philosophical developments that gave rise to it. I introduce all the relevant physics and give a detailed explanation of the problem of interpretation and Bohm’s first proposal. Chapter 5 is about the philosophical developments in Bohm’s thought brought by the Causal Interpretation. In particular I examine the influence that G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) had on Bohm’s thought and explain why I take the view that this is an esoteric influence. Chapter 6 reviews the developments in Bohm’s thought during the 1960’s. I describe Bohm’s search for radically new concepts in physics and his exchanges with several thinkers ending with his encounter with Jiddu Krishnamurti. Chapters 7 and 8 are devoted to the study of Bohm’s philosophy as he elaborated it after 1960. Chapter 7 concentrates on the idea of the Implicate Order and it also studies the Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Bohm’s last version of his interpretation effort, which is based on the Implicate Order. In chapter 8 I examine Bohm’s theory of how the mind and the body are connected through a ladder of consciousness formed by a series of Explicate and Implicate Orders, and finishes with an exposition of Bohm’s dialogue technique. In the last chapter I summarize my conclusions. An appendix is included with a brief overview of Bohm’s legacy. All the relevant details about the esoteric currents that Bohm encountered during his life and that are required to understand our argument are introduced as they are needed throughout the main body of the text.
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Menos, Kristopher G. (Kristopher Gerard). "Post-mordial : esoteric embodiment." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111468.
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Thesis: S.M. in Architecture Studies (Architectural Design), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2017.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Page 180 blank.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 172-176).
This thesis speculates that common funerary practices do not reflect a wide enough range of contemporary cultural attitudes towards religion, spirituality, and mortality. As human beings increasingly embrace the paradigms of bioinformatics and digital fabrication, this thesis proposes that alternative funerary practices will arise to reflect these cultural attitudes, with individuals taking on increasing levels of both personal and collaborative agency in the design of their own memorial artifacts, and those of their loved ones. Through a series of speculative models, this thesis projects a scenario in which a group of humans embrace their corporeal materiality and its internalized information as precious and sacred, to produce memorial artifacts that are constructed from their own biomatter, and that formally encode streams of genetic information. The artifacts become esoteric 'post-mordial' emodiments of human being, existing as totems of their lineage, and 'momento mori' for remaining humans.
by Kristopher G. Menos.
S.M. in Architecture Studies (Architectural Design)
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Stryzhachenko, К. О., and M. Y. Tykhomirova. "The esoteric programming languages." Thesis, Сумський державний університет, 2013. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/33872.
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An esoteric programming language is a programming language designed to test the boundaries of computer programming language design, as a proof of concept, or as a joke, for example:
Lolcode is designed to resemble the speech of lolcats. The following is the “hello world” example: in all lolcode programs, hai (“Hi!”) introduces the program. In many programming languages, one of the first statements will be a library inclusion for common functions such as input and output.
When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/33872
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Chen, Jinhua. "The formation of early Esoteric Buddhism in Japan, a study of the three Japanese esoteric apocrypha." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ30080.pdf.
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Galadari, Abdulla. "Spiritual ritual : esoteric exegesis of Hajj rituals." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2013. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=211314.
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Religion has a spiritual message embedded, as its purpose is to establish a relationship between the seen and the unseen worlds. However, to allow people to understand its spiritual message, it uses symbolism in such a way that the physical person would try to comprehend the inner meanings of the spiritual message that lies therein. This study is not about ‘how' the Hajj rituals are to be performed, because the answer to that question is trivial and have been thoroughly studied throughout centuries. This study is an attempt to answer the question ‘why.' Why is the Hajj to be performed in a certain way? This study delves into what must be a deeper meaning. Its methodology is through the etymological usage of the terminologies textually and intertextually between Scriptures, including the Qur'an and the Bible. It attempts to explore the polysemous nature of the root words and to resurrect the inner meanings that can be ascertained from the root. This study introduces a new methodology for Scriptural hermeneutics, while comparing the methods used by Biblical and Qur'anic scholars. Once the methodology is established, it is applied to increase understanding of the inner meanings of the Hajj rituals portraying the journey of a dead soul from death, sacrifice of the ego, resurrection into life, and spreading the seeds and Water of Life to other dead souls trying to fight their egos and, likewise, resurrect them into life.
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Yard, Deborah Ann. ""Esoteric Sips": Dickinson's Wine and Liquor Imagery." W&M ScholarWorks, 1995. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539625983.
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Reynolds, Frances. "Esoteric Babylonian Learning : A First Millennium Calender Text." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.499587.
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Montgomery, Barry. "Esoteric trends in twentieth century literature and theory." Thesis, University of Ulster, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.444516.
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Hendricks, Mogamat Mahgadien. "The Qur’ānic Sufi Hermeneutics of Shaykh Muṣṭafā’ al-‘Alāwī: A critical study of his Lubāb al- ‘Ilm Fī Sūrah al-Najm." University of the Western Cape, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6682.
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Magister Artium - MAThe main focus of this dissertation is a critical study of the Arabic text, titled: Lubāb al ‘Ilm Fī Sūrah al-Najm (The Kernel of Knowledge in the Chapter of the Star) by Shaykh Ahmad bin Muṣṭafā’ al-‘Alāwī. Due to the lack of research on esoteric commentaries of the Qurʾān in the English language, there is a need to embark upon an in-depth study of such texts. An important work on Shaykh al-‘Alāwī in English is Martin Lings’ A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century. This book is an excellent introduction to the life, works and thought of Shaykh al-‘Alāwī, but it does not deal with a specific text in any detail. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation is to examine closely the above-mentioned text of Shaykh al-‘Alāwī as a sample of his esoteric interpretation of the Qurʾān. For the purpose of this thesis, I shall undertake a translation of his exegesis (tafsīr) on Sūrah al-Najm (the Chapter of the Star). I will include with it explanatory notes and identification of key quotations and sources. This sample from Shaykh al-‘Alāwī’s work will form the basis of my critical analyses. It will also provide a means for comparison with some of his other works, and with Qurʾānic commentaries of the same genre by other Sufi scholars, both classical and modern. In this dissertation, I also seek to offer some answers and proofs concerning the validity of the existence of esoteric tafsīr and why it is needed. I will do this by examining key verses in the Qur’ān and the Sunnah (traditions of the Prophet Muḥammad). The distinction between esoteric and exoteric interpretations of the Qurʾān will also be dealt with in this dissertation. Although the emphasis will be on the esoteric dimension, neither the esoteric nor the exoteric dimension will be treated in a mutually exclusive way. Most Arabic commentaries on the Qurʾān tend towards the exoteric and literal meanings of the text, but the exoteric form also has an inner dimension which Shaykh al-‘Alāwī demonstrates in his commentary on Sūrah al-Najm.
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Krolick, Christine Margaret. "The esoteric traditions in the novels of Gustav Meyrink /." Ann Arbor, MI : UMI, 2008. http://opac.nebis.ch/cgi-bin/showAbstract.pl?sys=000252580.
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Slingsby, Thomas Luke. "The Sacred and the Esoteric : Locating Mary Butts' Modernism." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.508975.
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During her lifetime, the modernist novels and short stories of Mary Butts (1890 1937) were championed by luminaries such as Bryher and Ezra Pound. Thereafter her work fell into neglect. Since 1984 Butts has been the subject of renewed critical interest which has gathered pace over the last decade. Still, much of her oeuvre is yet to receive sustained attention, and scholars are divided over whether Butts' sacral modernism should be championed as a harbinger of liberatory subjectivities or denounced as validating a racial nationalism. Whereas critics have tended to emphasise one of these elements of Butts' oeuvre to the exclusion of the other, this thesis uses the concepts of the sacred and the esoteric to illustrate their intermeshed nature. Butts' preoccupation with spiritual experience produces not doctrinal constancy, but constellations of syncretic and geographically contingent practices. The term sacred describes Butts' hope that her literary rituals would rejuvenate the "Waste Land" of interwar culture. This attitude prevails in her work of 1916 - 1928, and correlates with a phase of "flight" which sees her react against dispossession from her native Dorset, absorb continental influences, and explore the fractal subjectivities of the city. Chapter Two sees Butts developing a Bergsonian optics which posits the redemption of her "war-ruined generation" from the urban "logic of solids". Chapter Three considers transitional texts in which the object is deployed to probe the ontological limits of the sacral text. Butts' work from 1928 onwards is marked by a shift to esoteric poetics: it encodes a process of "settlement" which retreats from modernity into centripetal, exclusionary metaphysics. In Chapter One, analysis of the holographs of The Crystal Cabinet (1937) shows how a conflicted attitude to the body restricts Butts' palingenetic autogeographics to esoteric registers of meaning. Chapter Four explores the revisionary, homosocial politics of her 1930s classical novels and shows how the rarified psychological spaces privileged here are invested in violence against the African 'other
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Bogdan, Henrik. "From darkness to light : Western esoteric rituals of initiation /." Göteborg : Göteborg university, 2003. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb39130668p.
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Licha, Kigensan Stephan. "The imperfectible body : esoteric transmissions in medieval Sōtō Zen Buddhism." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.594108.
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Mather, Matthew. "The alchemical Mercurius : esoteric symbol of Jung's life and works." Thesis, University of Essex, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.589451.
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The word Mercurius hardly features in contemporary works and biographies on Jung. In contrast a study of primary writings indicates that this phenomenon traverses, in a significant way, Jung's life and works. A qualitative study also reveals the great significance of this phenomenon for Jung. Accordingly, the present study claims to have identified neglect of this figure in post-Jungian writing and scholarship. It therefore endeavours both to clarify Jung's experience and portrayal of this phenomenon and to situate it more firmly within contemporary post-Jungian studies. A key method used is the construction of historical and biographical perspectives to allow for a phenomenological interpretation of how synchronistic experiences, coalesced around mercurial themes, may have informed Jung's life myth. Such perspectives also serve as a contextualisation for a close textual analysis of his later works such as Synchronicity, Aion, and Mysterium Coniunctionis. The most notable finding is that placing the alchemical Mercurius as a central concern reveals a Jungian interpretation in which the grail legend, alchemy and precessional astrology converge. In such a treatment Jung's belief in the dawning of a new Platonic month, the Age of Aquarius, emerges as a central consideration. An esoteric perspective on Jung's life and works is thus brought more fully to light and a life-myth interpretation is constructed.
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Pearson, Joannne Elizabeth. "Religion and the return of magic : Wicca as esoteric spirituality." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.322133.
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Abdelkhalek, Saliha Osama Farid. "Being, reification and ritual : the esoteric paradigm of Ibn Arabi." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/34518.
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Despite being a key notion in the examination of the process of human objectification, reification has not received sufficient attention in recent years, especially in the study of religion. Building on Axel Honneth’s analysis, I examine the concept of reification within a Sufi context, more precisely, within the esoteric paradigm of Ibn ‘Arabī’s oneness of being (waḥdat al-wujūd). I contend that the root of reification, not only lies in the forgetfulness of the origin of cognition in recognition, as Honneth argued, but also in the forgetfulness of the origin of recognition in pure consciousness, i.e. the oneness of being. I argue that since the problem of reification consists of the loss of the primacy of our non-discursive dimension over the discursive one, the solution must lie in the rectification of that order. This can only be brought about through mystical experience, in which a momentary suspension of thought occurs, and our identity as part and parcel of the continuum of consciousness is disclosed. Hence, I argue for the necessity of the preparation for mystical experience through ritual practice, as it moves us from discursive to non-discursive states of being. Through physical activity, our sense of embodiment is increased, shifting us from a ‘thinking’ to a ‘sensory’ mode, which paradoxically detaches us from our identification with the physical body. Using phenomenological methods and knowledge by presence theories, I examine Ibn ‘Arabī’s esoteric approach to the ritual practice of purification, prayer and fasting. I maintain that the essence of ritual is the disclosure of one’s ontological poverty, which within the paradigm of the oneness of being (waḥdat al-wujūd), must also amount to the phenomenal self-differentiation of the divine. Thus, I conclude that the root of the problem of reification essentially lies in accounts of selfhood.
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Boag, Alan Morgan. "Concealed and Revealed: Madame Blavatsky’s “Lost Word” Key and Esoteric Eschatology in the Teachings of J. Krishnamurti." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/16842.
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This study traces the development of the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti through the primary source material of his first writings in 1912 until he left the Theosophical Society in 1930, as well as his post-Society published work until his death on 17 February 1986. Where they are helpful, the primary source materials of the teenage Krishnamurti’s two influential guardians, Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater are also consulted. Since the teachings in which they indoctrinated the young Krishnamurti were a reworked presentation of the impressive macrohistorical worldview of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky co-founder of the Theosophical Society, this study begins with certain fundamental aspects of her work. A crucial aspect of Blavatsky’s mature teaching was the occult potency of the natural order; sights, smells, sounds, words and conversely silence, were all avenues whereby “one feels oneself rebecoming a god”. Further, the potency of the natural order and the gnosis of one’s divinity, were the substance of a Path of Initiation which had been transmitted from earlier human root races and lay hidden in the books of (1) Enoch, Daniel and Revelation. Jesus had held the gnosis of the mysteries of the Path of Initiation, as well as the knowledge of the cycles of time. According to Blavatsky, his three-year public ministry, which began when he was thirty years of age, reflected a “Cycle of Initiation”. While Blavatsky promoted a seven-key hermeneutics, she concealed and revealed in The Secret Doctrine and The Voice of the Silence a “Lost Word” key. That “Lost Word” key was the voluntary holding of the breath while mentally intoning the keynote Fa, in an occult meditative practice of sensory deprivation. When practiced by the disciple on the Path of Initiation, that occult meditation would raise the energy of kundalini, overcome and eradicate karma, and finish (cf. Dan. 12:7; Rev. 10:7) the cycle of incarnations in the crucifixion of the personality (cf. John 19:30) to an awakened god-consciousness: Blavatsky’s “Consummatum Est”. The successful disciple who finished the seven-gated Path of Initiation outlined in The Voice of the Silence, and who renounced Nirvana in order to help suffering humanity, would be the new Bodhisattva for the present historical period. It was Besant, Blavatsky’s friend, confidante and star of her exclusive Inner Group of pupils, who brought to Leadbeater the gnosis that Blavatsky’s “inner purpose” for the Theosophical Society was to proclaim the coming of a new Teacher. Besant and Leadbeater secretly reworked Blavatsky’s “Messianic Cycle” and her 1975 prediction for the coming of the new Teacher, and Besant defied her mentor’s year date by “perhaps half a century”. Krishnamurti became disillusioned by a perceived failure of his mentors to fulfil the perfectionist ideals of the Path of Initiation in which they had indoctrinated him. With a fidelity to certain sacramentally potent words and phrases in The Voice of the Silence, and unreferenced biblical texts which composed the Theosophical discourse of his early training, Krishnamurti in 1922 at Ojai, California, claimed to have finished the Path of Initiation and to have gained all the qualities of the Lord Maitreya the World Teacher. This study shows Krishnamurti’s claimed initiatory status to have been the result of his imagination and practice of Blavatsky’s occult breathless meditation. Since for Blavatsky, Besant, Leadbeater and Krishnamurti the faculty of imagination held a mythopoeic and sacred function in human consciousness, and since Besant and Leadbeater had created their own Fourth Initiation Adept status, they were trumped by Krishnamurti’s claim. Leadbeater left all responsibility for Krishnamurti to Besant. Besant supported Krishnamurti yet decreed he had passed only the Third Initiation. Krishnamurti, in an uneasy alliance with Besant, publicly defied her authority in his published writings and talks by his use of the sacramental vocabulary of his early indoctrination. As the initiate triumphant, Krishnamurti urged his supporters to use their imagination, as he admitted of himself, to conquer karma and time and finish their evolutionary journey towards a god-conscious perfection and be “the few” (cf. Matt. 7:14) who would help him “change the world”. When Krishnamurti at thirty years of age announced himself as the Teacher in 1925, he mimicked Blavatsky’s proposal that Jesus began his ministry at the age of thirty. Besant confirmed the event as Krishnamurti’s “consecration” in a temporary possession by the Lord Maitreya. On 11 January 1927, in a claimed context of involuntary breathlessness, Krishnamurti declared himself to be the Beloved. Besant ratified his declaration as the permanent possession by the World Teacher for three years, as in the three-year ministry of Jesus in Palestine. Following his 1927 breathless declaration, Krishnamurti placed in his talks and writings a number of literary indicators to the efficacy of the state of involuntary breathlessness apart from any formal Path of Initiation. Three years from 11 January 1927, Krishnamurti dissolved the Order of the Star in the East, his support organization, and resigned from the Theosophical Society. Apart from a few oblique examples in the 1950s, Krishnamurti did not allow any clear reference to the state of involuntary breathless attention to appear in the public domain until 1960. He did, however, during that long silence and until his death use the phrases “rare moments” and “the key”. In The Voice of the Silence, the words rare and key were highly significant. It is shown herein that when Krishnamurti did recommence reference to the state of involuntary breathless attention, those examples, as also his references to “rare moments” and “the key”, were couched in a similar vocabulary derived from both unreferenced biblical texts and non-biblical Theosophical discourse. Further, it is argued herein that Krishnamurti’s commencement once again to refer to a breathless state of attention, was due to a break with his long-time operations manager and editor Rajagopal. Krishnamurti feared Rajagopal would usurp or undermine his World Teacher status by drawing attention to the significance of the state of spontaneous breathlessness.
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Cheatham, Harvey M. "Exploration of an esoteric psychology clinical practice with humanistic/transpersonal roots." Thesis, Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3566371.
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This dissertation used the exploratory single-case study method to address the research question of: How and to what extent has Uta Hoehne, a licensed psychologist, applied Alice Bailey's principles of esoteric psychology in a humanistic/transpersonalbased clinical practice?
Alice Bailey was an esotericist in the first half of the 20th century whose principles of esoteric thought resonate with many of the founding principles of humanistic/transpersonal psychology. Bailey wrote extensively about a type of psychology she called esoteric psychology (EP), which uses principles potentially applicable to clinical psychology. Uta Hoehne is a present-day licensed psychologist and skilled esotericist whose clinical practice has humanistic/transpersonal psychology roots.
She has applied EP techniques successfully in her clinical practice, originally as a supplement to conventional therapeutic techniques.
The research question was investigated using three data sources: 10 structured interviews with Hoehne; other Hoehne source data including published articles on her nonprofit Web site, approximately 200 unpublished documents, 60 hours of lecture recordings; and interviews with two of her senior students, also licensed psychologists.
The data involved general background information, the clinical use of esoteric psychology principles including what she called "higher psychic powers and energy," the esoteric perspective and protocol for multiple categories of DSM-IV-TR psychological disorders, and specific clinical tools with potential general application in humanistic/transpersonal psychology clinical practices. Also, the effectiveness of esoteric psychology techniques in others' clinical practices was addressed with two of Hoehne's students.
Content analysis yielded five principal categories that encompass esoteric psychology in general and Hoehne's specific clinical practices in particular. These categories concern esoteric psychology's perspective, orientation, understanding of disease, practices, and interface with humanistic/transpersonal psychology, and each contains further subthemes.
Hoehne's apparent success in therapeutic outcomes with application of Bailey's esoteric principles in a clinical practice with humanistic/transpersonal psychology roots demonstrates the appropriateness of further research into both the theory and practice of esoteric psychology and of consideration of a more general application in other humanistic/transpersonal psychology clinical practices. A clear resonance is revealed between these two approaches to psychology, and their areas of confluence and difference may work together to address the greater unfolding of human potential.
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Lai, I.-Mann. "The Famensi reliquary deposit : icons of esoteric Buddhism in ninth-century China." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.428500.
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Swann, Diana Thena. "Gentlemen v. players : alientation and the esoteric in English music 1900-1939." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.242640.
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Torijano, Pablo A. "Solomon the esoteric king : from king to magus, development of a tradition /." Leiden : Brill, 2002. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb38824115j.
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Selby, John. "Dion Fortune and her inner plane contacts : intermediaries in the Western esoteric tradition." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/41936.
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Whereas occultists of the standing of H.P. Blavatsky, Annie Besant, C.W. Leadbeater, and especially Aleister Crowley have been well served by academic enquiry and by published accounts of their lives and work, Violet Evans, neé Firth (aka ‘Dion Fortune’), has suffered comparative neglect, as has her concept of the ‘Masters’ who inspired and informed her work. These factors, alongside the longevity of her Society of the Inner Light (still flourishing), are the catalysts for my embarking on this thesis. Chapter 1 discusses the method of approach, covers Fortune’s definitions of frequent occult terms, and compares observations of her work by fellow occultists and outside observers. Chapter 2 is a comprehensive review of mainly recent academic research into the role of intermediaries in magic and religion from ancient times, and serves as a background to Fortune’s own esoteric philosophy, showing that she was heir to a tradition with a long history. Chapter 3 reviews those features of her early history relevant to her occult involvement to and her literary output and training, with special reference to her teachers and collaborators. The composition and content of the Inner Worlds is contained in Fortune’s understanding of the Kabbalah and the glyph of the Tree of Life, which served as a most important framework for classifying the range of beings said to inhabit the invisible worlds. Chapter 4 therefore clarifies her contribution to Western Esoteric Kabbalah by comparing it with the work of others, showing how she consolidated and added to existing knowledge, producing what was acknowledged as a groundbreaking exegesis in its day. Chapter 5 compares Fortune’s viewpoint with that of major British occultists concerning the identity, nature and tasks of the Masters of Wisdom, leading into Chapter 6, which investigates techniques and methods that Fortune and others have found favourable for contacting them. Chapter 7 concludes by emphasising once again the relative neglect of Fortune’s work in contrast to that of Helena Blavatsky, and the major role in occultism that both Fortune and the Masters played.
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Psilopoulos, Dionyscious. "A conspiracy of the subconscious : Yeats, Crowley, Pound, Graves and the esoteric tradition." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.491640.
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Butler, Ronald Kenneth. "The Influence of Theosophy on the Tradition of Speculative and Esoteric Theories of Music." Thesis, Griffith University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/365232.
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This thesis examines the influence of the teachings of the Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Madame Blavatsky, on the tradition of speculative and esoteric theories of music from its founding until the present day. Three fundamental propositions are identified: that music is of divine origin; that music can act as a moral determinate; and that music has healing and therapeutic powers. These speculative ideas have informed the Western occultic tradition throughout the centuries. The core teachings of the Theosophical Society are examined, and it is argued that while Blavatsky wrote only a minimal amount about music and metaphysics relating to music, her overall cosmological and occultic ideas had a profound influence on those musical thinkers and composers whose spiritual ideas were of an occultic leaning.
The writings of various authors are examined, showing how these Theosophical notions have informed their views concerning speculative ideas of music. A number of contradictions within their writings are examined, as is the veracity of some of their claims. The primary focus is on the writings of Rudolf Steiner, Corinne Heline and Cyril Scott, as well as the effect of Theosophical teaching on the life and work of composers Alexander Scriabin and Gustav Holst. The final part of the thesis examines the ways in which Theosophical notions have been used and described from the 1970s until the present day under the rubric of the New Age Movement. It is contended that although these individuals interpreted Theosophical notions in various ways, they can all be categorised as having in common what Antoine Faivre, in his definition of esoteric, has called “a form of thought”. Faivre describes this as having six characteristics, four of which are essential: Correspondences, living nature, mediation, transmutation, praxis of concordance and transmission.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Queensland Conservatorium of Music
Arts, Education and Law
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Willmett, John Patrick. "Maurice Nicoll and the Kingdom of Heaven : a study of the psychological basis of 'esoteric Christianity' as described in Nicoll's writings." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/31220.
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Maurice Nicoll (1884-1953) was a Harley Street doctor, an analytical psychologist trained by C. G. Jung (1875-1961), and a student of the independent 'spiritual' teachers G. I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949) and P. D. Ouspensky (1878-1947). In his later years he became a mystical philosopher, a biblical exegete, and leader of his own groups of students. Early in his life he rejected his natal Christian religion associated with his father, Sir William Robertson Nicoll (1851-1923), eminent litterateur and Free Church of Scotland minister. Vindication of this rejection came to Maurice Nicoll through a mystical experience: a 'moment of insight' which propelled him into a life-long search to discover what 'really mattered'. I will argue that although this apparently involved a journey away from his natal Christian practice, Nicoll came to understand that he was working towards a 'truer' form of it. Nicoll's oeuvre as a whole - published works as well as archival sources, including a large amount of recently discovered original material - will be analysed to show the development of his thinking on what he came to call 'esoteric Christianity'. After a biographical 'portrait' the start of Nicoll's journey will be presented as a reaction against the religious stance of his father. Maurice Nicoll's early 'moment of insight' is described and analysed in the light of the ideas of William James (1842-1910) on mystical experience. Following this Nicoll's first book, Dream Psychology (1917), an interpretation of the views of Jung which demonstrates clearly the early formative influence of Jung on Nicoll is treated. I then turn to Living Time (1931), in which Nicoll integrates Ouspenksy's ideas on time and higher dimensions into his own psychological system. Following the influence of Jung and early Ouspensky, Nicoll's next work reveals the influence of the system of ideas and practices known as 'the Work' taught by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, which Nicoll encountered at first hand in Gurdjieff's colony near Paris and subsequently at Ouspensky's classes in London. The Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G.I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky (1957) was compiled from notes used by Nicoll in teaching his groups his own version of 'the Work' from 1931. However, the completion of Nicoll's quest for an understanding of 'esoteric Christianity', it will be argued, is documented in his two mature texts, The New Man (1950) and The Mark (1954). These books analyse New Testament writings in the light of influences partly absorbed from Jung, but most centrally from Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. In these books Nicoll interprets the narrative theology of the New-Testament texts in terms of a form of 'esoteric psychology', encapsulating his vision of how 'the Kingdom of Heaven' is really to be understood: not in terms of a life after death, or a millennial restoration of Christ's Kingdom, but as the psychological development and fulfilment of the individual in this life. It is argued that this 'esoteric psychology' is Nicoll's version of the psychology he saw as underlying the Gurdjieff-Ouspensky system, but given an explicitly Christian locus and interpretation. In conclusion some reflections are made on the significance of understanding Nicoll's writings as 'esoteric Christianity' and their implications for contemporary religious thought.
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Johnston, Jennene, of Western Sydney Hawkesbury University, and Faculty of Social Inquiry. "Subtle exchanges : cultivating relations with duration : eastern, western and esoteric approaches to contemplating art practice." THESIS_FSI_XXX_Johnston_J.xml, 1999. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/419.
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This thesis aims to consider the potential for perception of the subtle exchanges of viewers and artwork; subject and object. This necessitates an examination of ontologies, concepts of the body, perceptive schemas and modes of consciousness that ultimately destabilise the assumed solidity and individuality of subject and object. Exchanges of subtle effects are continually taking place between viewer and object, and the space between subject and object is alive with interaction. Process philosophy is introduced as the basic ontological perspective underlying this reflection of subject-object relations. Three conceptualisations of subject-object interaction are considered: Western, Esoteric and Eastern, and three types of body-mind proposed by these investigations are discussed. The process and practice of cultivation required to activate intuition as a faculty able to perceive subtle effects are considered. This focuses mainly upon Eastern practices, with emphasis on the interrelation of cultivation and the creation/contemplation of visual art works.Master of Arts (Hons)
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Johnston, Jennene Louise Hooper. "Subtle exchanges : cultivating relations with duration : Eastern, Western and esoteric approaches to contemplating art practice /." [Richmond, N.S.W.] : University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 1999. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030527.120956/index.html.
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Keane, Lloyd Kenton. "Routes of wholeness : Jungian and post-Jungian dialogues with the Western Esoteric Tree of Life." Thesis, University of Essex, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.442514.
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Henriquez-Mendoza, Juan Carlos. "The Belief System and the Pop-esoteric Wave: a Theory on the Operational Belief System." Thesis, Boston College, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/3321.
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Thesis advisor: Stephen PfohlThis work inquires about the subjectivity construction individuals perform in our contemporary media culture. It examines the structure of believing that can be inferred from the narrative elaboration of beliefs exerted in social conversations when pop-media related to spirituality or transcendency are used as inputs for conversation. For this purpose, I investigate the consumption of three films that triggered for their audiences intense controversies that included topics belonging to the blurry crossroad where spirituality, science, and religion intersect: What The Bleep do We (k)now!? (USA 2004), The Da Vinci Code (USA 2006), and The Passion of the Christ (USA 2004). My approach departs from the sociology of spirituality perspective, and draws on some insights developed by ritual studies, sociology of religion, social psychoanalysis, consumer studies, and visual studies. Based on a multi-method strategy of inquiry, formal film analysis, focus and discussion groups, and interview data collected from the audience, this dissertation finds that the burgeoning of a media driven popular culture spirituality in Mexico is creating a wave of Pop-Esotericism. As a rational narrative with consumption and conversational drives, Pop-Esotericism is not only a resonant media-reference, but also constitutes a pre-text in the construction of ephemeral and collective conversational spaces wherein the belief system is engaged and refurnished. To give a full account on the pop-esoteric phenomenon and on overall contemporary belief systems, I propose a theoretical model aimed to uncover the dynamics and strategies we engage to articulate spirituality, identity, and reality in our current global media context
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Sociology
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Bushelle, Ethan David. "The Joy of the Dharma: Esoteric Buddhism and the Early Medieval Transformation of Japanese Literature." Thesis, Harvard University, 2015. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:17467509.
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This dissertation explores the nexus between Buddhism and literature in Japan’s early medieval period. Specifically, it elucidates the process by which forms of court literature such as Chinese-language verse (kanshi), Japanese poetry (waka), and romance tales (monogatari) were incorporated into Buddhist rites and liturgies from the tenth through twelfth centuries and attempts to show how this process supported and was supported by Esoteric Buddhist discourse. I call special attention to a discourse on ritual performance that understands the chanting of a mantra, hymn, or poem as an act of giving the joy of the Dharma (hōraku) to the kami and buddhas. By attending to this discourse and the rituals through which it was articulated, this dissertation sheds light on the doctrinal reasons why and the practical paths by which even literary genres that were considered to be “worldly” such as nature poetry, love poetry, and romance tales were reconceived as vehicles for offering the joy of the Buddha’s teachings.
The three body chapters examine a variety of rites and liturgies intended for a lay audience—often called “Dharma assemblies” (hōe) in Japanese-language scholarship—and endeavor to demonstrate how they contributed to key transformations in Japanese literature. Chapter 1 investigates the liturgy of the lecture assembly (kō-e) at Shinto shrines and elucidates how it shaped the formation of a key genre of medieval Japanese poetry called “Dharma joy” waka (hōraku waka). Chapter 2 analyzes repentance rites dedicated to Fugen (Sk. Samantabhadra) bodhisattva and considers their impact on the invention of Buddhist love poetry. Finally, Chapter 3 looks at sutra-offering ceremonies and clarifies their role in the consecration of the exemplary Heian-period romance tale, The Tale of Genji, and the imagination of its author, Murasaki Shikibu.
In addition to situating a particular transformation of court literature in its ritual context, each chapter also locates a given example of ritual in its discursive locus. I show that at the center of this locus lies a system of Esoteric Buddhist doctrine and ritual concerned with demonstrating the identity of the esoteric teachings (mikkyō) with those of the Lotus Sūtra. Terming this system “Lotus-Esoteric discourse,” I show how it provided the epistemic framework for the practice of using a mantra, hymn, or poem as a medium for giving the joy of the Dharma to others, rather than receiving it for oneself (jiju hōraku), as was stressed in Japanese Esoteric Buddhism of the late ancient period.
In short, through its attention to Lotus-Esoteric discourse on Dharma joy, this study offers a corrective to an over-emphasis on the liturgical formula of “wild words and fanciful phrases” (kyōgen kigo), which has been the focus of many previous studies on the relationship between Buddhism and medieval Japanese literature, and clarifies the concrete discursive strategies and ritual practices by which Buddhism in early medieval Japan consecrated new liturgical uses for three representative genres of court literature—kanshi verse, waka poetry, and monogatari tales. In this way, it endeavors to show how Buddhist discourse on Dharma joy—in both its doctrinal and ritual dimensions—may constitute a new paradigm for understanding the early medieval transformation of Japanese literature.East Asian Languages and Civilizations
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Weston, Donna. "Music and Musical Thought of the New Age." Thesis, Griffith University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366138.
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The aims of this paper are firstly to show the principal ways in which music and musical thought are associated with the New Age Movement and to demonstrate how these are related to New Age ideologies, and secondly to show that the musical thinking of the movement reflects a trend originating in the late nineteenth century. It is proposed that music plays an important and integral role within the movement, and that the way in which it is viewed in this context is not specific to the New Age, but rather is based on a tradition which can, like the movement itself, be traced back to late nineteenth century esoteric thought and indeed, further. Consequently, New Age music and its associated ideologies constitute the culmination of an important trend in musical thinking which stretches over an entire century and beyond.
This proposal is based on two assumptions - firstly that a restricted number of themes can be identified as comprising New Age ideology, and secondly that these themes can be related to a wider, global paradigm shift. This is approached firstly through the identification of the ideologies and practices of the New Age Movement and how they are interrelated. The historical and sociological origins of the movement are then analysed to show that these practices and themes have much earlier precedents. From this information, a concise definition of the New Age Movement is identified, and the remainder of the paper is based upon this definition.
The ideas represented in New Age musical texts are discussed and compared to determine common themes and how these relate to New Age ideology. This is followed by the analysis of a selection of European esoteric musical writings from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is proposed that the same continuation of thought demonstrated earlier in the paper, that is from the esoteric movements of the nineteenth century into the era of the New Age Movement, is also present within esoteric musical thought. Therefore, the themes isolated as representative of the New Age Movement are recognisable in both the writings of the movement and those of the nineteenth century, continuing into the twentieth century.
In an attempt to arrive at a stylistic description of New Age music, 133 CDs are analysed, which are representative of commercially available recordings of New Age music. The results of this musical analysis are then compared with the cover notes and illustrations to determine the relationship between the music and the extra-musical features of the CDs. The result of both the musical and extra-musical analysis is then compared with New Age ideology, with special reference to those themes outlined in the first chapters of the paper.
The conclusion draws together this information to demonstrate that firstly, a distinct musical ideology, reflecting New Age themes, is an identifiable component of the movement. Secondly, that this musical thought is reflected in both New Age music, and in practices using music in the context of the New Age Movement. Finally, that this movement is a continuation of a trend in mystical thinking, or a spiritual movement which can be traced back to the nineteenth century, wherein it enjoyed an increase in popularity and exposure, and beyond. New Age music and musical thought are not exclusive to a contemporary movement, but rather are representative of a centuries old trend which is culminating now in what is known as the New Age Movement.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Queensland Conservatorium
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Tantoush, Mansour Ali. "Analysis of selected allegorical Qur’anic verses with specific reference to Sūrat Yūsuf: A hermeneutic approach." University of the Western Cape, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6665.
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Philosophiae Doctor - PhDArabic is the language of the Holy Qur'an, which was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) who in turn dictates it to His companions. The Prophet's companions did not encounter any difficulty in the understanding and comprehension of the Qur‘anic verses simply because the Qur'an was revealed in a language variety with which they have been quite familiar. Yet, the companions of the prophet differ in their understanding of the Qur'an. Their understanding may vary according to their competencies and their closeness to the prophet. In addition, the Qur'an includes verses that appear to be contradictory. Some verses of the Qur'an, for instance, may imply that man is free to select either the path of faith or the path of blasphemy.
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Young, Aaron J. "An Examination of Cultures of Innovation within Esoteric Technology Provider| A Look into Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE)." Thesis, Pepperdine University, 2017. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10685521.
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The 1960’s space race in the United States gave rise to a unique culture of innovation embodied by an engineering class of professionals (Wisnioski, 2009). As knowledge workers, engineers were applying niche knowledge to solve big problems in the world (Kasdan, 1999). The result of their efforts in utilizing specific knowledge (i.e. esoteric knowledge) would become the basis for advanced development and production technology (Kasdan, 1999). One byproduct of this era is the advancement of engineering methods and computational mechanics (i.e. simulation) used to solve difficult, but semi-generalizable physics and engineering problems (Sinha, Paredis, Liang, & Khosla, 2001). However, sharing knowledge involved in engineering methods and esoteric knowledge (McMahon, Lowe, & Culley, 2004), as a whole, is difficult and a limiting factor in progressing similar large-scale, innovations (Alic, 1994). The response from organizations hoping to capitalize on developing esoteric technologies may turn to fostering a culture of innovation (Zairi and Al-Mashari, 2005). While research suggests innovation can be cultivated within an organization based on proposed frameworks and attributes (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010), an examination of lived-experiences of leaders, whose mission is to seek out the development of new esoteric technology, may provide rich insight into how cultures of innovation actually operate (Jucevi?ius, 2010). Therefore, this study proposes that a study of esoteric technology providers, beyond a contextual inquiry, may provide insights into how cultures of innovation may lead to new breakthroughs in technology and possibly an enabler to the next space race.
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Andreeva, Anna Victorovna. "At the crossroads of esoteric Kami worship : Mt Miwa and the early beginnings of Miwa(ryû) Shintô." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.614240.
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Crosby, Henrietta Kate. "Studies in the medieval Pali literature of Sri Lanka with special reference to the esoteric Yogavacara tradition." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.394966.
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Strachan, Shirley. "The Esoteric Osteopath : Thomas Ambrose Bowen (1916-1982) and his contemporaries : exploring influences, networks, creativity and embodiment." Thesis, Federation University Australia, 2019. http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/178654.
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This PhD is the first prosopographical study of two generations of Australian manual healers in the twentieth century. The central historical figure is Thomas Ambrose Bowen (1916-1982) a self-titled Australian osteopath and arguably a therapeutic genius turned victim of health politics of the twentieth century. Bowen was stripped of his osteopathic identity as a result of political machinations that occurred during regulation of the industry in the late-1970s and early-1980s. This thesis reveals the legitimacy of Bowen’s claim to osteopathic stature and how his career is representative of the experience of a number of osteopaths during regulation of chiropractic and osteopathy. Bowen’s career was obscured in two respects. Firstly, in the lead up to the Chiropractors and Osteopaths Act 1978, overseas educated interests sought to disenfranchise Australian practitioners. This was offset by a successful response from the Australian chiropractic lobby. Secondly, posthumous commercial popularisation of Bowen’s claimed work, absent observer consensus and historical research, has further served to obfuscate Bowen’s prowess and marginalised his legacy. This thesis is the first to link Bowen’s practice to the influence of F G Roberts, an early Australian pioneer of naturopathic osteopathy. It explores Bowen’s emergence from a network of prominent football masseurs to his professional engagement with osteopathic advocates. This thesis is the first historical study to present the clinical life and times of Bowen among his contemporaries. In doing so it examines his broader significance as a consummate Australian osteopath. New historical narratives founded on extensive primary sources, oral histories as well as discourse analysis, ethnography, biography, hermeneutics and cultural mapping are used to place Bowen in context with his peers on the Australian osteopathic stage. Posthumous narratives that underpin commercial global marketing are challenged to the extent they obscure a clear historical view of Bowen and his marginalised contemporaries as unique actors in their struggle for recognitionDoctor of Philosophy
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Wilkins, Ryan T. "The Influence of Israelite Temple Rites and Early Christian Esoteric Rites on the Development of Christian Baptism." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2011. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2908.
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This thesis seeks to answer the question of the origin of some of the most fundamental additions made to early Christian baptism. Christian baptism began in a relatively simple liturgical form, but became, by the fourth century, a much more dramatic set of initiation rituals. Among the added elements to baptism were washing ceremonies in the nude, physical anointing with oil, being marked or signed with the cross on the forehead, and receiving white garments. Scholars have proposed different theories as to the origins of these baptismal rituals. Some claim the elements existed in the New Testament practice of the rite. Others have supposed that the Christian church adopted the elements from either the Jewish synagogue or from contemporary pagan modes of initiation. This thesis argues that the initiation rituals of the Israelite tabernacle and temple provide a much more likely source for the added elements of Christian baptism. The esoteric practices of the temple priests became the esoteric tradition of early Christianity. The rites of this temple-oriented esoteric tradition in both the Old and New Testaments parallel, and may have been the origin for, the evolutions made to Christian baptism during the third and fourth centuries of the church. Christian groups such as the Valentinians provide evidence of higher esoteric rites being interpreted as baptism. Somehow the esoteric rites of the Israelite temple and the esoteric rites of early Christianity were adopted into the practice of Christian baptism.
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Pustay, Steven. "Becoming God, Becoming the Buddha: The Relation of Identity and Praxis in the Thought of Maximus the Confessor and Kūkai." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/361666.
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ReligionPh.D.
My dissertation investigates the concept of ‘divinization’, or becoming like (or identical to) God or the Buddha in the thought of two early medieval monk-philosophers from radically different religious-philosophical traditions, Maximus the Confessor (580-662 CE) and Kukai (774-835 CE). I use this as a means of comparing the relationship between understandings of identity and praxis advocated by these two thinkers. Maximus was a Christian monk who lived during a period of great theological and political turmoil in the Byzantine Empire and participated in the theological debates of his day. Kukai was a Japanese monk who studied esoteric Buddhism in China and returned to establish an esoteric lineage in Japan, allowing it to survive after its demise in China. In the first half of my dissertation, I investigate their philosophical understandings of identity, what makes a thing what it is and not something else. I consider this their metaphysic (using the term in the broadest sense of an account of reality). I begin by looking at their religio-philosophical contexts which informed their thought and then on texts written by my principles themselves. Maximus’ understanding, shaped by Greek philosophy and early Christian theologians, is embodied in a triad of concepts – logoi, divine ideas and wills which bestow being on created things and hold them in existence; tropoi, the modes of existence of particular creatures and hypostasis, the individual existent or creature which exists in the tension between logoi and tropoi. The core of Kukai’s understanding is funi (不二) or non-duality, a doctrine that has both epistemic and ontological implications. It is grounded in the experience of meditation as well as the esoteric Buddhist teaching of muge (無礙), the mutual interpenetration and non-obstruction of all things. It is a doctrine central to esotericism but also has roots in prajnāpāramitā (“perfection of wisdom”) literature, important to many schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. How they understand ‘identity’ is central to their philosophy and will reflect in both the practices they advocate and the rationale for them After establishing and explicating their understanding of identity, in consequent chapters I look at the praxes that they advocate and their metapraxis or reasoning behind these practices. I focus on regimes of self-cultivation, such as meditation, prayer, virtuous behavior, various ritual activities and how they lead to the ultimate goal of divinization. In Maximus, this process of divinization is called theosis (θέωσις), ‘deification’. He follows in a long line of Christian thinkers who hold that God created human beings in order to make them like himself, to become by grace what God is by nature. In Kūkai, this process is known as sokushin jōbutsu (即身成仏), ‘becoming a Buddha in this very existence’. He is the heir to an esoteric tradition that holds that all sentient beings are originally enlightened, they have Buddha-mind or already are the Buddha, but this reality is obscured by a profound miscognition of the reality which gives rise to egoistic craving. In the final section, I look more closely at these respective accounts of divinization, to show the profound parallels and divergences found in their thought and elucidate the source of these differences in their respective metaphysic, their accounts of identity; how does identity shape practice? What informs this understanding of identity? This is the larger question I am seeking to address. In doing so, even though my research is limited in focus to two particular thinkers, they do act as representatives of two larger traditions, Early/Eastern Christianity and Japanese Buddhism. The answers they give to this question reflect the insights and positions offered by these larger traditions.
Temple University--Theses
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Thompson, Anna Kay. "Esoteric spirituality and popular mysticism in the fourteenth century tension in the thought of Marguerite Porete and Meister Eckhart /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2005. http://www.tren.com.
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Schick, Irvin Cemil. "The Legitimation of Esoteric Practices of Dubious Orthodoxy : magic and Divination as Textual Practices in Early Modern Ottoman Islam." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Paris, EHESS, 2024. http://www.theses.fr/2024EHES0053.
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Le Coran indique que l’Invisible (al-ghayb) est prédéterminé ; c'est-à-dire qu'il est écrit depuis le début des temps et pour toute l’éternité. Le Coran indique aussi que l’Invisible est hors de portée des humains ordinaires. Et pourtant, les pratiques occultes de divination et de magie visant à examiner et à intercéder dans l’Invisible ont souvent été pratiquées dans le monde musulman. Cette thèse demande comment des musulmans pieux ont concilié les pratiques occultes avec l’injonction coranique contre l’interaction humaine avec l’Invisible. Quelles histoires se sont-ils racontés afin de légitimer leur transgression de sanctions aussi clairement énoncées ? Je cherche des réponses à cette question en me concentrant sur trois études de cas: l’oniromancie, la physiognomonie et les talismans. Je ne dis pas que ces pratiques répandues sont illicites ; je soutiens plutôt que, par souci de cohérence interne, ils auraient dû l’être, et le fait qu’ils ne le soient pas nécessite donc une explication. Bien que je me concentre principalement sur l’Empire ottoman aux premiers temps modernes, une grande partie des sources écrites relative aux sciences occultes au cours de cette période est constituée de traductions et d’adaptations de textes arabes médiévaux ou des premiers temps modernes, eux-mêmes souvent redevables à des antécédents mésopotamiens, égyptiens, grecs et juifs. Dans le but de mettre en évidence ce qu’il y a de « spécifiquement islamique » dans les pratiques en question, j’ai tenté de les comparer avec leurs précurseurs préislamiques et cherché à voir comment elles ont été « islamisées » et donc acceptées dans l’Empire ottoman. Je montre qu’il y avait trois voies principales pour la légitimation des pratiques occultes :• Légitimation exégétique. La grande majorité des traités analysés dans les trois études de cas commencent par de nombreuses citations du Coran et des ḥadīths ainsi que par des textes qui les interprètent d’une manière qui semble légitimer la pratique en question. C’est ce qu’on appelle al-dalāʾil al-naqliyyah , c’est-à-dire « preuve relayée ».• Légitimation hagiographique. Un bon nombre des traités analysés ici contiennent des anecdotes qui lient la pratique en question à un ou plusieurs personnages historiques et religieux importants – depuis des philosophes grecs aux compagnons du Prophète et au-delà – les légitimant ainsi par association. C’est ce qu’on appelle al-dalāʾil al-ʿaqliyyah , c’est-à-dire « preuve rationnelle ».• Légitimation sémiotique. Bien que je discute des légitimations exégétique et hagiographique, mon principal argument dans cette thèse est que dans le monde musulman, la divination et la magie sont généralement conçues comme des pratiques de lecture et d’écriture . En conséquence, ce qui aurait dû être considéré comme des pratiques illicites a gagné en légitimité grâce à la centralité des concepts de lecture et d’écriture dans l’Islam. Ce dernier point repose sur le fait que la notion de texte, et les concepts étroitement liés d’écriture et de lecture, traversent l’Islam de part en part. Le Prophète aurait dit que la première chose que Dieu a créée était le qalame, tandis que le premier mot de la Révélation est « Lis ». Pour l'Islam, toute la Création est un texte, comme l’est la séquence d’événements qui s’y déroulent. Le Coran est un texte qui explique la Création, et la vaste littérature exégétique, ainsi que les expériences quotidiennes des croyants individuels, sont des textes qui, à leur tour, expliquent le Coran. Il est impossible d’imaginer l’Islam comme un système religieux et culturel sans parler de texte, d’écriture et de lecture. Je soutiens que cette centralité sous-tend la légitimation des pratiques occultes, de sorte que, par exemple, l’interprétation des rêves est considérée comme le déchiffrement d’un texte lu sur la Tablette Préservée, tandis que les talismans sont considérés comme l’activation du pouvoir de l’écriture en tant qu’intermédiaire du pouvoir divinThe Qurʾān indicates that the Unseen (al-ghayb) is predetermined; that is, it is written from the beginning of time and for all eternity. At the same time, the Qurʾān makes it clear that the Unseen is beyond the reach of ordinary humans. And yet, occult practices of divination and magic aiming to look into and intercede in the Unseen are and have often been practiced throughout the Muslim World. This thesis asks how pious Muslims have reconciled occult practices with the Qurʾānic injunction against human interaction with the Unseen. What stories have pious Muslims historically told themselves in order to legitimate their transgression of such unambiguously stated sanctions? I seek answers to this question by focusing on three case studies: oneiromancy, physiognomy, and talismanry. I am not saying that these widespread practices are illicit; rather, I argue that for the sake of internal consistency, they should have been illicit, and the fact that they are not therefore requires an explanation.Although my main focus is on the early modern Ottoman Empire, much of the written documentation pertaining to the occult sciences during that period are translations and/or adaptations of mediaeval or early modern Arabic texts, which are themselves often heavily indebted to antecedents including Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Jewish sources. In an effort to highlight what is “specifically Islamic” about the practices in question, I have tried to compare them with their pre-Islamic precursors and sought to see how they were “Islamicized” and thereby became accepted in the Ottoman Empire. I show that there were three main avenues for the legitimation of occult practices:• Exegetic legitimation. The large majority of the treatises analyzed in the three case studies begin with numerous citations from the Qurʾān and the ḥadīths as well as passages that interpret them in ways that appear to legitimate the practice in question. This is named al-dalāʾil al-naqliyyah, that is, “relayed evidence.”• Hagiographic legitimation. Again, many of the treatises analyzed here contain anecdotes that link the practice in question to one or more important religio-historical individuals—ranging from Greek philosophers to the Prophet’s companions and beyond—thus legitimating them by association. This is named al-dalāʾil al-ʿaqliyyah, that is, “rational evidence.”• Semiotic legitimation. Although I do discuss exegetic and hagiographic legitimation, my principal claim in this thesis is that in the Muslim World, divination and magic are generally conceived as reading and writing practices. As a result, what should in theory have been considered illicit practices have gained legitimacy thanks to the centrality of the concepts of reading and writing in Islam.This last point is based on the fact that the notion of text, and the closely related concepts of writing and reading, permeate Islam through and through. The Prophet is related as having said that the first thing God created was the pen, while the first word of the Revelation is “Read.” For Islam, all of Creation is a text, as is the sequence of events that unfolds in it. The Qurʾān is a text that explicates God’s creation, and the large body of exegetic literature, together with individual believers’ everyday experiences, are texts that in turn explicate the Qurʾān. It is impossible to imagine Islam as a religio-cultural system without text, writing, and reading. I argue that this centrality underlies the legitimation of occult practices, so that, for example, the interpretation of dreams is seen as deciphering text read from the Preserved Tablet, while talismanry is seen as activating the power of writing as a conduit of divine power
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Beghi, Clemente. "Changing aspects of the 'immovable one' : a study of the multiple forms and functions of a single esoteric Buddhist deity." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.708794.
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Hynum, Barbara J. "Indigenously authored and illustrated literature: An answer to esoteric notions of literacy among the Numanggang adults of Papua New Guinea." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 1999. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/1719.
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Heeley, Melanie J. "Resurrection, renaissance, rebirth : religion, psychology and politics in the life and works of Daphne du Maurier." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2007. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/4434.
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This thesis looks at the life and works of Daphne du Maurier in the context of the inter-related ideas of religion, psychology and politics. Throughout, I use a methodology based on the concept of the palimpsest. But I also use theory provided by Jung, Plato and Nietzsche – all of which were known to du Maurier to a greater or lesser degree. Other theory is used occasionally, but only as it suggests itself in the context under consideration. The ideas of ‘Resurrection, Renaissance and Rebirth' give the thesis a structure and a theme. The interaction of Christianity and Paganism is also examined. Section One, ‘Introduction – Resurrecting Texts/Lives', introduces the idea of the palimpsest. In reality, this is a twice-written document frequently containing a Christian text which is written over a Pagan one, with the Pagan text resurrecting itself over time. In theory, the palimpsest is a textual space where disparate texts collide and collude in an involuted manner. Section Two, ‘Life and Text – Renaissance Inspired Men', looks at two men who drew their inspiration from the Renaissance as either age or idea - the socialist Victor Gollancz and the conservative Frank Buchman - and to what degree du Maurier interacted with both the people and their conceptual framework. Section Three, ‘Life into Text – Renaissance Men', concerns itself with du Maurier's biographies of two Renaissance brothers, Anthony and Francis Bacon, and how their lives have been read, gnostically, by herself and others, notably The Francis Bacon Society and Nietzsche. Section Four, ‘Spectralised Lives in Text - Rebirthing', examines how the foregoing discussion plays itself out in two of du Maurier's novels, Jamaica Inn (1936) and The Flight of the Falcon (1965). The chapter on Jamaica Inn looks at Celtic Revivalism and how the Celtic gods spectralise the characters of the novel leading to a rebirthing experience for the protagonist Mary Yellan – implicit in this is the concept of the Renaissance-as-idea. The chapter on The Flight of the Falcon shows how the Renaissance-as-age daimonises characters of the twentieth-century. The palimpsest as either a document or a theoretical perspective weaves itself in and out of all my chapters. Section Five, ‘Concluding Remarks', leads to two related conclusions, firstly that du Maurier has been spectralised by the Renaissance, and secondly that du Maurier's life and works, taken together, can be read as an involuted palimpsest.
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Solera, Osvaldo Olavo Ortiz. "A magia do ponto riscado na Umbanda esotérica." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2015. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/1946.
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Umbanda is known for being a genuinely Brazilian religion, but its origin is still controversial and subject to discussion. The richness and diversity of ritualization and understanding of the Sacred has arised the curiosity of scholars and academics. In such a milieu, the scratched signs on the magic of Esoteric Umbanda constitute yet an understudied topic. Thus, this research is based on the scratched signs that are nominated by their followers as Pemba Signal. The comparative study of scratched signs resulted a correlation with the three forming matrices of the Brazilian people: the Indo-European, the Indian and the African. In this study, we noticed that the scratched signs have elements that establish a hierarchy and determine and identify the spiritual entity that is evoked to work in public attendances of Umbanda Esoteric. By using these signals, the followers of Esoteric Umbanda revive them and therefore give continuity to the myths that contain such signs, sometimes Indian, sometimes African, sometimes Indo-European. In tracing such signals, followers / initiated establish the sacred space where such signs and entities will act as well as the collective heritage evoked that make up the structure of theirs consciousness. It may be noted that the Brazilian man is unique because he carries inside himself and in his religiosity the ancestral element of the matrices which constitute his conscience
A umbanda é conhecida por ser uma religião genuinamente brasileira e sua origem ainda é controversa e sujeita a muitas discussões. A riqueza e a diversidade de ritualização e do entendimento do Sagrado despertam a curiosidade de estudiosos e acadêmicos, e os sinais riscados na magia da Umbanda Esotérica configuram tema ainda pouco estudado. Sendo assim, esta pesquisa baseia-se nos sinais riscados e que são denominados por seus adeptos de Sinal de Pemba. O estudo comparativo dos sinais riscados demonstrou uma correlação com as três matrizes formadoras do povo brasileiro: o europeu, o indígena e o africano. Neste estudo, notou-se que os sinais riscados apresentam elementos que estabelecem uma hierarquia, bem como determinam e identificam qual entidade espiritual é evocada para trabalhar nos atendimentos públicos da Umbanda Esotérica. Ao utilizar esses sinais, os adeptos da Umbanda Esotérica reavivam-nos e, por consequência, dão continuidade aos mitos que os abrangem, ora indígena, ora africano, ora europeu. Ao traçar tais sinais, os adeptos/iniciados estabelecem o espaço sagrado em que atuarão, bem como a herança coletiva evocada dessas etnias, que fazem parte da estrutura de sua consciência. Pode-se notar com tudo isso que o homem brasileiro é único, pois carrega sobre si e na sua religiosidade a carga ancestral dessas matrizes formadoras de sua consciência
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Evans, Erin Michelle. "Books of Jeu and the Pistis Sophia : system, practice, and development of a religious group." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/9438.
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The primary objective of this thesis is to argue that the Books of Jeu (in the Bruce Codex) and the Pistis Sophia (the Askew Codex) are the product of a hitherto largely unrecognized religious group or community emerging from the dynamic religious climate of the first four centuries of the Common Era. It presents evidence that they have their own coherent system of theology, cosmology and soteriology, and demonstrates the strong ties that bind the individual tractates contained within these texts to one another. Chapter One provides a brief introduction to the history of the manuscripts, discusses methodology, presents definitions and a short thesis outline, and delivers a review of literature on the subject. Chapter Two examines each of the texts under consideration, giving a brief overview of their contents; arguments are presented for their chronological order, the exclusion of certain texts and fragments from the wider codices, and reasons these texts should be considered products of a religious group as opposed to being pure literary products of individual thinkers. Chapter Three traces the cosmology from the earliest to the latest of the texts, outlining shifts that take place and proposing explanations for these changes within an overall developmental framework. Chapter Four examines the roles of individual figures from the earliest to the latest texts; it demonstrates that although on the surface these roles may seem to change, their underlying nature remains constant, supporting the notion that they are the products of a group with a consistent underlying system. Chapter Five analyses the profusion of diagrams found in the two Books of Jeu, breaking them down into categories based on their nature and use as expressed by the texts. It further demonstrates that such images had a precedent in the religious and cultural atmosphere of Greco-Roman society. Chapter Six discusses potential outside religious influences present in these texts, and shows that while they are highly syncretistic, outside ideas are always incorporated within the existing framework of the group’s system: conflicting notions are subordinated to the existing theology and soteriology. The thesis concludes that these texts represent evidence of a practicing religious group that remained active over a period of time, producing multiple texts by multiple authors, adapting to a changing religious climate but maintaining the ideas that remained central to their underlying theological and soteriological system.
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Umewaka, Naohiko. "The inner world of the Noh : the influence of esoteric concepts on the classical drama of Japan, as evidenced through an analysis of the choreographic manuals of the Umewaka family." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.288102.
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Mendia, Fabio. "A Rosa do Encoberto: uma hermenêutica exploratória do pensamento esotérico de matiz rosacruciano de Fernando Pessoa." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2016. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/18974.
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The purpose of the present research is to develop a hermeneutical process to better understand Fernando Pessoa’s Rosicrucian hued esoteric thought, within the cultural horizon of each reader, through Pessoa’s notes and the sense of the esoteric experience expressed in his poems. Its main objectives are to contribute to the understanding of Pessoa’s work and to the expansion of Western Esotericism field of research in Brazilian academy. The process adds to the rational analysis of the text the emotional experience of the poems, and is based upon Gadamer’s phenomenological hermeneutic, the imaginary, contemplative practices of several esoteric, mystical and traditional religious currents, and utilizes an adaptation of Alfonso López Quintás “Lúdico Ambital” method. The work is presented in six chapters, starting with a discussion on Western Esotericism’s definition and a brief history of its sources and main currents up to nowadays. It follows with an introduction on phenomenological hermeneutics and a discussion on religious expression, the imaginary, the “imaginal world”, and the ways religious experiences can be expressed. It includes a brief presentation of Fernando Pessoa’s life and thought, particularly his notes on esotericism, and selects 31 poems to illustrate the study. It develops and applies a hermeneutical method to interpret these poems, followed by an appendix in which the method is exemplified through fictional characters. The work is completed by an addendum containing a more complete version of the poems for reference, as well as images to better explain some esoteric concepts
O presente trabalho se propõe a estabelecer um processo hermenêutico para melhor compreender o pensamento esotérico de matiz rosacruciano de Fernando Pessoa, dentro do horizonte cultural de cada leitor, através das anotações do poeta e do sentido da vivência esotérica expressa por ele em suas poesias. Pretende com isso, de um lado, contribuir no esclarecimento deste pensamento para um melhor entendimento de sua obra, e, do outro, auxiliar a abrir mais o campo de estudo do Esoterismo Ocidental na academia brasileira. Este processo, que agrega à análise racional dos textos a vivência emocional dos poemas, se baseia na Hermenêutica Fenomenológica de Gadamer, na teoria do imaginário, na prática contemplativa de várias correntes religiosas, místicas e esotéricas tradicionais, acrescido de uma adaptação do método Lúdico-Ambital de Alfonso López Quintás de interação com os textos. O trabalho em seis capítulos se inicia com a discussão do que é o Esoterismo Ocidental e faz um breve histórico de suas fontes e principais correntes até os dias de hoje. Segue discutindo o sentido da Hermenêutica Fenomenológica; da linguagem religiosa; do imaginário e do “mundo imaginal”; e o modo como as experiências religiosas podem ser expressas. Apresenta a vida e o pensamento de Pessoa, em particular suas anotações sobre o Esoterismo, e seleciona trinta e um poemas para ilustrar o estudo. Desenvolve e aplica um processo hermenêutico para a compreensão desses poemas e, por fim, inclui um apêndice onde o método é ilustrado através do uso de personagens fictícios. O trabalho é completado por um Anexo para consultas, contendo os poemas selecionados numa versão mais completa, e algumas figuras que ilustram conceitos esotéricos
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Chalendar, Vérène. "Quand l’animal soigne… Les utilisations thérapeutiques de l’animal dans le corpus médical cunéiforme assyro-babylonien." Thesis, Paris Sciences et Lettres (ComUE), 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PSLEP022.
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Cette thèse est consacrée à l’usage des animaux dans les pratiques thérapeutiques mésopotamiennes. Elle s’intéresse autant à l’animal utilisé à titre d’ingrédient pour la préparation des médications, qu’à l’animal participant aux rituels thérapeutiques. La première partie dresse un panorama des sources cunéiformes à disposition pour la reconstitution des pratiques médicales et propose une exploration de la perception de la faune par les Mésopotamiens en s’intéressant à la taxinomie ainsi qu’aux valeurs symboliques associées à l’animal. Elle s’attache également à l’examen de questions d’ordre pratique induites par l’usage des animaux dans la pharmacopée (approvisionnement, conservation, modalités de mise en œuvre etc.). La seconde partie de cette étude consiste en l’élaboration d’un catalogue des animaux rencontrés dans les textes médicaux cunéiformes. Celui-ci répertorie et examine les usages thérapeutiques de chaque animal en essayant de comprendre les raisons de leurs utilisations dans des contextes pathologiques spécifiques. La troisième partie est dévolue à l’étude du contexte culturel et intellectuel dans lequel ont été rédigées ces tablettes scientifiques mésopotamiennes. Les notions de « secret » et de « cryptage » du savoir sont ici mises en lumière. Le point central de cette partie consiste dans la présentation du document Uruanna = maštakal et des différentes hypothèses émises quant à son interprétation ; certaines de celles-ci remettant en question l’usage d’ingrédients d’origine animale dans la pharmacopéeThis thesis focuses on the use of animals in Mesopotamian therapeutic practices. It explores the animal used as ingredient for the preparation of medications, as well as the animal, which took part in the healing rituals. The first part reviews the cuneiform sources available for the reconstruction of medical practices and offers an exploration of Mesopotamian fauna through an overview of the taxonomy and the symbolic values attached to animals. It also investigates the practical issues resulting from the use of animals in pharmacopoeia (supply, conservation, methods of implementation etc.). The second part of the study consists in establishing a catalogue of animals encountered in the cuneiform medical texts. It lists and highlights the therapeutic uses of each animal and explores the reasons for their use in specific pathological contexts. The third part is devoted to the cultural and intellectual context in which these scientific Mesopotamian tablets were written. On this occasion, the concepts of “secret” and “encryption” of knowledge are considered. The main interest of this third chapter consists of a presentation and a new proposal for Uruanna = maštakal. This text has been the subject of several assumptions, which question the use of animal ingredients in the pharmacopoeia
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Darbyshire, Ian. "The notation of 'esoteric' masses in the early Tudor festal repertory : a case study of Fayrfax's mass 'O quam glorifica', its numerical structure and a comparison with his mass 'Tecum principium'." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.413357.
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Debiyat, Fayad. "Ismaélisme : interaction dynamique entre histoire et pensée : vision originale de l'homme." Thesis, Lyon, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016LYSE2110.
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Le chiisme est contrairement au sunnisme, s’appuie sur une théorie ésotérique qui met en avant la question de l’imamat en islam, alors que le sunnisme s’appuie essentiellement sur les textes et la tradition prophétique. Selon des critères historiques, le chiisme comprend d’autres branches qui ont finalement imposé deux grandes écoles chiites ; la duodécimaine (chiisme de l’Iran actuel), et l’ismaélisme. Ce dernier présente une pensée fondée non seulement sur l’imamat, mais aussi sur la charia sunnite avec une interprétation ésotérique. Cela a contribué à mettre en place une pensée qui dépasse les limites de la religion en tant que telle. L’ismaélisme se présente alors, dès son apparition intellectuelle « physique », avec les Épîtres des Frères de la Pureté, vers le début du Xème siècle, comme un courant de pensée philosophique ésotérique « bāṭinīya ». Ce courant tente de comprendre l’existence dans sa relation avec la religion. De ce point de vue, plusieurs questions, auxquelles nous avons tenté d’y répondre tout au long de ce travail de recherche, se posent : quelle est la place des événements historiques dans l’interprétation ésotérique ? Quelle est la place de l’Homme par rapport à tout ce qui l’entoure comme phénomènes matériels et spirituels ? En effet, selon cette pensée, rien n’échappe à un système cyclique construit divinement. Ainsi, partant de l’histoire ismaélienne et de sa signification, d’après cette pensée elle-même, l’Homme prend la place principale et devient le but de tout développement matériel et spirituel. La première partie de ce travail donne un panorama historique afin de situer l’Ismaélisme au sein des différentes branches et écoles, et par rapport aux autres religions. Ensuite, la deuxième partie, tend à comprendre cette pensée en essayant de suivre ce qui a été préconisé par les émissaires ismaéliens tout en développant une réflexion personnelle sur l’influence de cette méthode sur les individus. Enfin, la dernière partie montre le dynamisme de cette pensée qui n’est ni figée ni immobilière du point de vue exotérique. En effet, l’existence d’un imam vivant permet de guider les adeptes selon le changement du monde tout en continuant à interpréter la foi. En somme, l’histoire a une interprétation qui dépasse les faits historiques eux-mêmes pour une compréhension d’un système céleste construit d’une manière très rigide et ponctuelle. Ce système complexe est le miroir du corps humain. Partant de cette idée, toute science pourrait être abordée et interprétée selon ce systèmeShiism, unlike Sunnism, is based on an esoteric philosophy placing primary importance on the role of Imamat in Islam, while Sunnism is based primarily on texts and prophetic tradition. Shiism also includes other branches - according to historical criteria - that eventually prompted two major Shiite schools; Twelver (Shi'ism of Iran today), and Ismailism. The latter is a school of thought based not only on the Imamat, but also on the Sunni Sharia with an esoteric interpretation. This helped put in place thought beyond the limits of religion as such. Ismailism appears from its intellectual “physical”, appearance, by the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, around the beginning of the tenth century, as a stream of esoteric philosophical thought "bāṭinīya". This thought attempts to understand existence in its relationship with religion. From this perspective, several questions arise: what is the place of historical events in the esoteric interpretation? What is the place of mankind in relation to everything that surrounds it as material and spiritual phenomena? According to this thinking, nothing escapes a cyclical system that has been divinely built. Thus, starting from Ismaili history and its meaning, according to this thinking, mankind takes the “main stage” and becomes the purpose of all material and spiritual development. The first part of this work provides a historical overview to locate Ismailism within different branches and schools, and in relation to other religions. Then the second part, attempts to understand Ismaili thought, following what was recommended by the Ismaili emissaries while developing a personal reflection on the influence of this framework on individuals. Finally, the last part demonstrates the dynamism of this thought that is neither frozen nor inflexible, from an exoteric point of view. Indeed, the existence of a living Imam helps guide followers, according to changes in the world while continuing to interpret the faith. To conclude, history provides an interpretation that goes beyond the historical facts alone, for an understanding of a celestial system constructed in a very rigid manner and at a very particular point in time. This complex system is a mirror of the human body. Starting from this idea, science can be addressed and interpreted according to this system