Although he mentions it in the text of the essay I included in the last post, I will point explicitly to Wouter Hanegraaff’s big book on the same topics. Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination: Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity is I think his most recent book and is very high on my reading list. Have fun!
And this will be of interest to most of you too. Lee Irwin has been writing wonderful things for years and he just sent me notice of his new book, which is just available:
From the publisher:
Sophos Ontology: On Post-Traditional Spirituality discusses religious plurality and post-traditional perspectives on emergent forms of sacred sensibility, particularly for those identifying as “spiritual but not religious.” This book is divided into three parts. The first part is a retrospective account of multiple religious traditions, with emphasis on esoteric thought as influenced by mystical writings, covering western, eastern, and Native American traditions. The second part discusses the need for a new conceptualization of the “sacred” as expressed through multiple spiritual perspectives relevant to a pansentient, post-traditional process ontology. Other topics in this section include the importance of an ethically shaped spirituality, collective influences, dreams, imagination, and the role of pluralism in shaping beliefs. Part three explores the role of faith, redefined as spiritual commitment, mysticism as direct experiential knowledge, and transpersonal theory influenced by comparative studies in altered states of consciousness, paranormal research, and the metaphysics of discovery — all contributing to the development of present and future spirituality.
And here he is talking with Arthur Versluis about the book
Loved Lee Irwin and Arthur Versluis talking about Lee’s book... especially the inclusion of personal experience with the multiple paths to spirituality and I see why here is a coupling of religion and spirituality. There is a limitless force of inspiration and exploration that challenges the dogma that colours even the word religion today, but combined exists a pathway that is beyond both. The corporeal world is ever changing and we either go with the flow or use our mental and spiritual abilities to assist in changes for the better having radial awareness and sovereignty of soul awareness within to better the changes in the self and our surroundings. Is this the Great Work that has been bantered about and seriously discussed for centuries by Hermeticists, shamans, poets, priests, yogis, shaktis and philosophers? And of course to find the ancestral parent source of all matter? X