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THINGS WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT Jeffrey J. Kripal

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THINGS WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT Jeffrey J. Kripal INTRODUCTION: THINGS WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT Jeffrey J. Kripal and Wouter J. Hanegraaff In recent years, the academic study of Western esotericism has been developing rapidly from a somewhat obscure specialty pursued by a few dedicated researchers into a burgeoning professional fi eld of scholarly activity and international organization. Once a domain restricted to the relatively secluded circles of specialists and hence hidden from the sight of most academic and non-academic readers, it is now becoming an increasingly popular topic of public and critical discussion in the context of journals, monographs, conferences, and scholarly organiza- tions.1 The book you now hold in your hands is the fruit, one of many, of this growing branch of knowledge. That there are connections between Western esotericism and the domains of eros and sexuality (which extend far beyond what we nor- mally mean by “sex”) has, of course, been recognized before, not least by practitioners, and the various contributions to this volume provide abundant illustration of that fundamental and indubitable fact. But 1 For an overview of the fi eld and its recent development, see Hanegraaff, “The Study of Western Esotericism: New Approaches to Christian and Secular Culture,” in Antes, Geertz & Warne, eds., New Approaches to the Study of Religion. There are two international academic organizations: the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (http://www.esswe.org), with an associated journal Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism (see http://www.brill.nl/m_catalogue_sub6_id9470.htm) and an associated monograph series, the “Aries Book Series” (see http://www.brill .nl/default.aspx?partid=18&pid=24740); and the USA-based Association for the Study of Esotericism (http://www.aseweb.org), which publishes an electronic journal Esoterica (http://www.esoteric.msu.edu). Conferences on Western esotericism are organized each year, alternately by the ASE in the USA and the ESSWE in Europe; permanent ses- sions on Western esotericism have been organized at the quincentennial conferences of the International Association for the History of Religion since 1995, and at the annual conferences of the American Academy of Religion since 2005. The present volume is based upon papers presented at a conference that is part of an annual series organized at Esalen Institute, San Francisco. Further conferences in the domain of Western esotericism, with names of participants and titles of papers, are listed in each issue of Aries. Chairs and teaching programs on Western esotericism currently exist at the Ecole Pratiques des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne) in Paris, at the University Copyright © 2011. Fordham University Press. All rights reserved. University Press. All © 2011. Fordham Copyright of Amsterdam, and the University of Exeter. Hanegraaff, W., & Kripal, J. J. (2011). <i>Hidden intercourse : eros and sexuality in the history of western esotericism</i>. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com<br>Created from uhm on 2017-11-23 22:57:35. x jeffrey j. kripal and wouter j. hanegraaff scholarly analyses of how and why the two domains of esotericism and eroticism are so intimately interwoven are diffi cult to fi nd. Moreover, the closely related problem (or is it a promise?) of how the history of sexuality in the West might be related to the history of Western eso- tericism implies a range of further questions that still remains virtually untouched. In the absence of any such developed analysis, only a few tentative suggestions will be made here. In a historical fi eld this new, this rich, and this provocative, all we can reasonably do is point to the heavy fruit hanging low on the branches, and then hope a suffi cient number of readers will choose to begin plucking it. Our own general sense is that such fruit contains its own important truths, but these are, at best, diffi cult to grasp for a whole host of intellectual, linguistic, political, historical, and social reasons. In different ways and for different reasons, or so we would suggest, the domains of Western esotericism, on the one hand, and that of eros and sexuality, on the other, have both tended to become the object of censorship, suppression, concealment, and a certain polite public silence. Both the esoteric and the erotic have, in effect, been repressed, made to hide, “made occult,” as it were. Rather like the Greek god of fertility, Pan, whose iconography was transformed into the cloven-footed and horned “Devil” within the repressions of the Christian imagination, that which is repressed always returns, but as something else, as something “dark” and “dirty,” even “demonic,” that is, as something we should not talk about. And so we don’t. It was one thing to speak of Pan. It is quite another to speak of the Devil. If we ask ourselves how and why this has happened, it may be useful to distinguish between fi ve categories of “things we do not talk about”: those that are concerned, respectively, with secrecy, taboo, concealment, intimacy, and ineffability. As each of these terms carries a different, if also related, semiotic range and its own set of connotations, it seems wise to discuss each in turn before we proceed to the essays. In the process, we hope to give some sense of the essays themselves—their content, their excitement, their own spoken secrets. Secrets and Rumors To begin, we might note that the term esotericism has often been under- stood as referring to “secrets reserved for an elite,” and hence to the Copyright © 2011. Fordham University Press. All rights reserved. University Press. All © 2011. Fordham Copyright concept of initiation into hidden wisdom in contexts such as mystery Hanegraaff, W., & Kripal, J. J. (2011). <i>Hidden intercourse : eros and sexuality in the history of western esotericism</i>. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com<br>Created from uhm on 2017-11-23 22:57:35. introduction xi cults or secret societies.2 The basic idea here is that certain kinds of knowledge should not be divulged to the multitude, because they would inevitably be misunderstood, misused, or profaned. Certain truths are considered too profound, too complex, too unconventional, perhaps even too shocking to be understood by the common man or woman. Therefore they should be revealed only to those who have gone through a process of careful selection, training, and preparation and have thereby shown themselves capable of a correct understanding. Other truths may be considered too dangerous to be made public. For example, such truths might involve knowledge about techniques and procedures for gaining superior occult powers that should not fall into the wrong hands. Or they may be concerned with secrets about “what is really going on” in history or society: here the assumption is that if the general public would discover the truth, revolts and other threats to social stability and the status quo could be the result.3 And fi nally, the supreme divine truth may simply be considered too sacred to be made available to the profane public: the pearls of spiritual wisdom should not be thrown before the swine, but should remain rather the preserve of a dedicated and pure elite. It is only to be expected, of course, that the need for secrecy will be emphasized even more strongly if such esoteric truths are somehow associated with sexual matters and mysteries. In such cases, after all, the risk of misunderstanding and profanation is particularly strong.4 In some real sense, sex is the secret par excellence. Perhaps this is why the two 2 The term “esotericism” as a substantive was fi rst used by the French scholar Jacques Matter in 1828, but the adjective “esoteric” goes back to the second century (Lucian of Samosata). The fi rst author who used it to refer to secret teachings seems to have been Clement of Alexandria (see Hanegraaff, “Esotericism,” 336; Riffard, L’ésotérisme, 70–73). On esotericism in the sense of “secret teachings” and its relation to Western esotericism, see Faivre, “The Notions of Concealment and Secrecy in Modern Esoteric Currents since the Renaissance”; Hanegraaff, “Esotericism”; de Jong, “Secrecy I: Antiquity”; Fanger, “Secrecy II: Middle Ages”; and Faivre, “Secrecy III: Modernity.” 3 When the secret is considered somehow dangerous, discourses on secrecy tend to take the shape of conspiracy theories. For an excellent discussion of this topic, see Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy. 4 But even in cases belonging to the second subcategory just mentioned—secrets concerning “what is really going on”—one very often fi nds that they include a sexual dimension. A convenient example is the notorious case of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code: the basic idea is that the Roman Catholic Church has suppressed the truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene, but, of course, that truth becomes much more titillating by the very concept that Jesus had sex and by the motif of an underground tradition Copyright © 2011. Fordham University Press. All rights reserved. University Press. All © 2011. Fordham Copyright of sexual rites that have continued to the present day. Hanegraaff, W., & Kripal, J. J. (2011). <i>Hidden intercourse : eros and sexuality in the history of western esotericism</i>. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com<br>Created from uhm on 2017-11-23 22:57:35. xii jeffrey j. kripal and wouter j. hanegraaff domains have historically been linked in the social imagination, even when they have not been necessarily linked in historical fact. Indeed, the fact that numerous groups and organizations have had a practice of secrecy has often caused suspicions about sexual goings-on: things that are so carefully kept hidden from the light of day must surely be somehow scandalous and obscene, that is, the secret must be about sex.
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