Description
Book SynopsisWhile a rational consciousness grasps many truths, Gananath Obeyesekere believes an even richer knowledge is possible through a bold confrontation with the stuff of visions and dreams. Spanning both Buddhist and European forms of visionary experience, he fearlessly pursues the symbolic, nonrational depths of such phenomena.
Trade ReviewThe Awakened Ones is the most sustained and powerful treatment since William James of the forms of knowledge and life that visionary experience makes possible. It is a remarkable combination of panoramic reference, detached analysis, and the most personal intensity of feeling and style. -- Akeel Bilgrami, Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University
The Awakened Ones: Phenomenology of Visionary Experience is Gananath Obeyesekere’s magnum opus, his summa, his valedictory volume, to use three Latinate terms that come down to, it’s a great big book into which he’s put all the wisdom of his long lifetime. . . . Brilliant, erudite, and candid. -- Wendy Doniger * Current Anthropology *
In his impeccable style, with an unmatched eloquence, a series of sparking, sparkling insights, and an expansive comparative vision, Gananath Obeyesekere gives us what can only be called a spiritual-intellectual testament. In the process, he calls on us to unite the rational and the nonrational at the highest levels of scholarship and cultural work and to envision a cross-cultural enlightenment that is as indebted to the visionary teachings of a Buddha or a William Blake as to the humanities and social sciences. A stunning and edifying achievement from a major intellectual. -- Jeffrey J. Kripal, Rice University, author of
The Serpent's Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of ReligionIn a world subjugated by the reification, if not deification, of rationality and science, this is a sorely needed antidote.... Highly recommended. * Choice *
A stunning scholarly achievement. * The Ecclesial University *
[Obeyesekere's] cultural and historical range is as impressive as his epistemological thesis is focused and tight. -- Jeffrey J. Kripal * History of Religions *
In this finely written, massive essay, ethnographer Obeyesekere elucidates a dialectic epistemology that utilizes both rational-scientific thinking and what he calls "passive cerebration." * Religious Studies Review *
This is an excellent book on visionary experience. * Biz India *
I have read no more profound book in many years and recommend this book to anyone who is interested in visionary experiences that are salvific, whether explicitly religious or not. -- Ralph W. Hood Jr. * Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions *
