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Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity Andre van der Braak

Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity By Andre van der Braak

Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity by Andre van der Braak


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Summary

Using the work of Bruno Latour, this book reimagines ayahuasca as liquid divinity, asking fundamental ontological questions that shift the focus from ayahuasca experiences to ayahuasca-based ritual practices that aim at cultivating relationships with more-than-human powers, described by Latour as beings of transformation and religion.

Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity Summary

Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity: An Ontological Approach by Andre van der Braak

Ayahuasca often yields transformative experiences that merge such familiar categories as the sacred and the secular, transcendence and immanence, subject and object, and the human and the nonhuman. However, such experiences are interpreted differently by Western and indigenous discourses. Using the work of French philosopher Bruno Latour, Andre van der Braak asks fundamental ontological questions in order to reimagine ayahuasca as liquid divinity, shifting the focus from ayahuasca experiences to ayahuasca-based ritual practices that aim to cultivate relationships with more-than-human powers, described by Latour as beings of transformation and religion. Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity: An Ontological Approach describes Santo Daime practices as a contemporary form of theurgy (god-work), as defined by the third-century Platonic philosopher and mystagogue Iamblichus. Theurgical practices aim at drawing down divine action through ritual procedures, using the imagination as an active faculty. Van der Braak argues that ayahuasca religiosity is ultimately not about individual recreation or healing, or even personal visions, but rather about engaging in communal transformative ecodelic practices that let us work as companions of the gods in order to practice solidarity with all sentient beings.

Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity Reviews

This compelling book delves into the still underexplored territory of what ayahuasca can mean for human beings and the challenge this beverage poses for interfaith religious studies. Throughout this lucid and thoughtful text, Andre van der Braak analyses the ontology of ayahuasca as a liquid object/subject relative to social contexts of ayahuasca traditions like Santo Daime, expertly integrating his philosophical observations with references to the anthropological literature. The result is a text that is a pure joy to read while at the same time offering new questions upon which future scholars can build.

-- Marc Blainey, author of Christ Returns from the Jungle: Ayahuasca Religion as Mystical Healing (2021)

In this clear-headed, thoughtful, and groundbreaking text, the comparative philosopher Andre van der Braak grapples with the ontological shock that can emerge in those who engage, in an ongoing and overtly religious way, with ayahuasca - a mind-altering brew originally found in indigenous contexts in the Amazonian rainforest, and which is now the sacramental center of a variety of religious traditions found across the globe. Van der Braak, drawing upon the experimental metaphysics of the French thinker Bruno Latour, argues that the often earth-shattering experiences and transformative practices linked to ayahuasca religiosity should encourage us to create a more fluid ontology that makes room for more than human entities or powers, even while he refuses to endorse any particular substantive ontology. This wide-ranging, courageous, and self-reflexive text not only directly addresses the philosophical ramifications of the relatively recent encounter between Amazonian ayahuasca religiosity with the secular assumptions of the modern Western worldview, but also underscores the societal relevance of this newly emerging contemplative tradition for a Gaian religiosity in which human beings become interconnected participants with the natural world. Read this text and emerge with your own ontological assumptions profoundly shaken.

-- G. William Barnard, Southern Methodist University

About Andre van der Braak

Andre van der Braak is professor of comparative philosophy of religion at the Vrije Universiteit.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Ayahuasca

Chapter 1: Making Sense of Ayahuasca in the West

Chapter 2: Latour's Experimental Metaphysics

Chapter 3: Reimagining Ayahuasca

Part 2: Ayahuasca Religiosity

Chapter 4: Religiosity as Engaging with Beings of Religion

Chapter 5: Santo Daime Religiosity as Theurgy

Chapter 6: Facing Gaia Through Ayahuasca

Additional information

NGR9781666906448
9781666906448
1666906441
Ayahuasca as Liquid Divinity: An Ontological Approach by Andre van der Braak
New
Hardback
Lexington Books
2023-05-26
240
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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