TThe Mysticism Group of the
American Academy of Religion
| Sessions 2011 |
in San Francisco, CA, USA November
19-22: Time and room assignments are subject to change; final time and room assignments are available in the onsite Annual Meeting Program Book. Location Key:
CC Moscone Center West Paper titles underlined below may be downloaded in PDF format.
This session will be held in honor of Robert Forman, founder of the Mysticicm Group Committee of the AAR, and lead scholar in the contemporary revisioning of mystical perennialism. The goal of the panel is to explore the points of contact, as well as the notable differences, between the ways in which ineffability is construed in different religious and cultural contexts. Darryl Smith’s paper explores the intersection between the Christian apophatic tradition and the African-American tradition of signifying, focusing on its literary rendition in works by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, and Toni Morrison. Regina Walton argues that the apophatic deconstruction of devotional poetry in George Herbert’s works transforms the author’s self-understanding as well as his relationship with the divine. Annette Wilke re-reads Vivekananda’s contribution to the transmission of Advaita Vedanta to the West in light of Sankara’s more “authentic” version of Vedanta inviting us to reflect on the way in which philosophical discourse may itself be limited by language. Throughout the three papers, ineffability is seen to reconfigure one’s inner life, as well as one’s conception of self. Robert Forman will comment on the papers. Theme: Revisiting Ineffability Across Traditions Darryl A. Smith, Pomona College Robert K. C. Forman, Forge Institute
Tibetan Buddhist mysticism is often seen as detached from the world and as the domain of men. Such depictions are ultimately limiting to practitioners of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, as they ignore the very practical functions and potentialities for mystical practice to be incorporated into the everyday world. This panel will focus on different approaches to utilizing Tibetan Buddhist mystic practice for women dealing with traumatic experiences, including death, violence, war and natural disasters. A gendered approach to this is necessary, in order to represent different victims of trauma and power differentials that influence these experiences. The panellists will challenge conventional notions of the applicability of mystical experiences in everyday life through demonstrating how tools of meditation, visualization, and generating compassion can be used to help in the healing of the most unpleasant circumstances including traumatic episodes of natural disaster, violence and war. Theme: Combining the Inner and Outer Worlds: Women's Uses of Tibetan Buddhist Mystical Practice for Dealing with Trauma Karma Lekshe Tsomo, University of San Diego Business Meeting: Laura Weed, College of Saint Rose
What role does the study of music play in the investigation of mystical experience, trance, and ritual? Our first paper will suggest one theoretical foundation for this question by arguing that the work of Schleiermacher offers resources for considering music as uniquely expressive of certain aspects of human receptivity. Drawing from two traditions influenced by non-Western materials — the phenomenon of batá drumming in Santería ritual and the Sufi-inspired Dances of Universal Peace movement — we will explore uses of music to evoke distinctive psychological experiences and express community values. Then we will shift to consideration of mystical turns in contemporary music groups. The issue of theodicy is taken up in very different ways, we will find, by Monsters of Folk and The Roots, and the religious self-understanding of a particular group of Grateful Dead fans — the Spinners — will take us into a consideration of alternative forms of consciousness as “tokens of transcendence.” Theme: Music, Mysticism, and Religion Jonas Lundblad, Lund University
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